What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is an important, frequently used method of Internet advertising. The fundamental procedure underlying this approach – email – is commonplace and relatively simple to understand. However, email marketing is often a dynamic operation that can become somewhat befuddling, especially to newcomers in the field. Below I define, in simple terms, a few central terms and concepts in e-mail marketing.
Email Marketing Campaign:
An email marketing campaign is a series of emails, with each email fulfilling a different “role” in the process of promoting a message, product, or service. These emails are spaced out over a period of time, perhaps dispatched on a regular basis, and differentiated into “steps” to help acclimate the potential customer on a slower, more comfortable basis. The first few emails, for instance, are usually meant as introductions, laying the groundwork for future communication. This is the “foot in the door” part of the campaign. Over the course of the several emails that follow, you can introduce the more substantive portion of your marketing. Finally, your efforts will culminate in a “call to action,” which will be discussed in more detail later, that prompts the reader to take his or her participation in your campaign to the next level. This “tread softly approach” has the benefit of, potentially, creating a greater sense of trust – a kind of relationship – with the reader.
Email Marketing Blast:
On the opposing side of the “tread softly approach” is an email marketing blast – a one-time flux of emails. Unlike an email campaign, the element of process is much less significant. Without having to engage in a stream of emails, there is not as much waiting in between, and the time from hitting the final “send” button to the time when you get your final results is much shorter. And, instead of dissecting your marketing into a series of emails, you pack the entirely of your efforts (no doubt shortened to fit the confines of one email) into a single dispatch. The drawback to this approach is that it may be harder to garner the trust and enthusiasm of the reader.
Call to Action:
A call to action is the portion of the email, or the last email(s) of a campaign, aimed at stirring the reader to participate in your message, product, or service. This is one of the most important parts of your email marketing efforts. Indeed, if this part fails, you could say that your marketing has, more or less, failed (although one could make an argument that if the reader has become more familiar with your company in the process, you have gained brand exposure).
Spam:
It would be hard to find anybody who enjoys receiving spam. Unsolicited, often irksomely designed, email advertisements can get on anybody’s nerves. For email marketers, drawing the line between “legitimate” email marketing and spam can sometimes be difficult. To certain people, this line doesn’t exist. However, you can rest easy on this regard if someone voluntarily chooses to participate in your marketing practices, by subscribing on his or her own volition. One clear threshold that should not be crossed is the boundary demarcating criminal activity. Committing acts such as phishing (soliciting sensitive information under false pretenses) and other malicious undertakings are definite off-limit areas.
On a daily basis, millions of emails are sent streaming across the Internet. Some are personal communications – old friends exchanging greetings and catching up from opposite ends of the country, some are professional missives – business memos disseminated down from the higher ups, and some are pieces of marketing. This last category, 