One of the most effective sales tools your business can have is email marketing, but at the same time it can also be one of the quickest ways to ruin the reputation you’ve spend so long building.
If you decide to buy in lists and send umpteen unsolicited emails out to people who have never heard of you before, you’ll quickly get a reputation as a spammer – not good.
But if you’re sensible and build you own list and only send emails to people who have opted in to your list, you’ll be seen as a responsible email marketer because you’ll only be sending information out to people who have asked for it.
The only problem is building your own list takes time, which is why so many companies opt for the first option.
But if you use WordPress there are a few tools you can use to help you along:
- Pippity customers popups
- Hellobar
- Comment Redirect
- WP-Leads
- OptinSkin
- Gravity Forms
- DiggDigg
(Source: Social Media Examiner)
Of course, if you attend trade fairs and shows you can always gather email addresses there. In fact, when people call in to your shop or offices, you can have a sign up form ready for them to complete should they wish to get regular updates from them.
Offering a freebie in return of an email address is always a good idea, just make sure it’s something of value. It could be a report, white paper, eBook or free trial. It doesn’t have to cost you a lot, but can generate a very useful mailing list.