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The Right Way of Using A Mailing List To Build Your BusinessIf you’ve even so much as dabbled with the idea of setting up an online business, you will have heard the phrase ‘email list,’ ‘mailing list,’ ’subscriber base/list,’ or simply, ‘list.’ All of these terms are one and the same - they simply refer to a list of subscribers to your website who are willing to give you their email address in return for getting some valuable information from you, the business owner. The term for using email addresses as a form of marketing is known as (surprise surprise) ‘email marketing.’ This should, in no way, be confused with spamming. Spamming is email marketing’s ugly, dysfunctional cousin and is never tolerable. I’m sure that most people are familiar with those pesky emails which arrive uninvited in their inbox - this is definitely NOT what we’re talking about here. Legitimate email marketing is a permission-based system which is mutually beneficial to both, the marketer, and the subscriber. You probably know the scenario already. Let’s say that you are browsing the web, looking for some information on weight loss. You arrive at Google’s front page and a link jumps out at you: ‘Shed All Your Unwanted Pounds In 10 Days, Guaranteed!’ Eagerly, you click the link and get whisked away to a page which has a box that reads: ‘5 Secrets To Lose Weight NOW! Sign Up Below For The Free Report And Get The Body You’ve Always Dreamed Of…’ Now you think to yourself, “Wow! This is information that I could really use, and if they’re promising not to share my email address with anyone… why not?” When you check your email inbox, you find an introductory email with a neat little free report with some weight-loss tips, which are actually beneficial to you. Right at the bottom of your email, if it is from a legitimate company, there will be a link which reads something along the lines of: ‘If you no longer wish to receive these emails, click here.’ Now the marketer has your email address in his subscriber base and, if he has integrity, he will gradually build your confidence in his character as an honest business man, while trying to sell you his product. This may take weeks, months, or even years, and he knows it. He also knows that you are entitled, at any point, to unsubscribe from his email list - this is the risk he is willing to take to keep you as one of his valued customers. I have personally signed up for many email lists in order to get the information I was looking for. Without exception, those marketers who had any kind of integrity all had one thing in common, that is, they were prepared to part with way more than they were asking of me. They were quite willing to do this because they knew that it was the only way I would learn to trust them enough to buy their product. As you think about building your own subscriber base, remember that an email campaign is a way for you, the online entrepreneur, to forge a lasting relationship with your customers. A legitimate email list is: • An easy way to keep track of all your customers. Perry Pearson - Financial Advisor, Internet entrepreneur and Dad! |
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