Startup Guides > Email Marketing Tips for Small Business

Keeping the doors of your small business open can depend upon your ability to market to potential clients. Email marketing has been a cornerstone strategy throughout the technological era. Prior to this, companies were limited to direct mail for advertising. Using the postal service could cost a small fortune and your materials might end up in the trash as junk mail. On top of that, a 2% response to a direct mailing was considered excellent. Since its inception, email marketing has trumped direct mail in many ways.

Comparing social media with email marketing

While social media may appear to be the center of many small business marketing strategies, an effective email blast is a more dependable way to increase your customer base. It also allows you to create a personal voice for your existing customer base - the people who have already expressed an interest in purchasing from you.


Twitter is one of the most popular websites for social media marketing. However, as with many social media sites, their algorithms are always changing. Today, if you don't spend money advertising with social networking sites like Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, then the chances of your followers actually seeing your posts are minimal.

However, sites like 40Billion.com have made this easier by broadcasting and promoting your business to its large network of several million users across the most popular social networking sites for businesses - including Twitter, LinkedIn, 40Billion, and even Facebook. Innovative services like tweet ads and promoted company listings were created for small business entrepreneurs to tap into a growing, active network online without spending thousands on pay-per-click ads or traditional advertising.

With email marketing, though, you call the shots. You are the one deciding how often your list hears from you. Also, you can track precisely how many clients are actually opening your email. A successful email campaign can take time to build, but that's true with any good marketing plan.

Collecting email addresses

When it comes to email lists, the old adage size doesn't matter just isn't true. It could be argued that with email lists size may be the only thing that matters. As an email marketer, your job is to continue to find new and creative ways to expand your list.

There are a few strategies you can use to increase your list, which are quick, easy, and take advantage of tools you are most likely already using:

*Create a pop-up window on your website, offering to sign visitors up for your newsletter.

*Offer incentives to employees for adding new subscribers.

*Include an opt-in link with your email signature whenever you send an email.

Tips for keeping your readership

Billions of emails are sent whizzing into inboxes every day. With that kind of activity, you need to get noticed without becoming a nuisance. The last thing you want is to find your well-crafted emails sitting in your customer's trash or junk folder. These elements are more likely to trigger a positive reaction and produce loyalty:

*Just as you'd spend time creating the perfect title for a book you were writing, the same goes for the subject line of your email. Strive to make it catchy but not too long.

*Another important tip is to find the best time to launch your emails. There is really no magic time, as it really depends upon your reader's habits and behaviors, the industry you're in, as well as when your competitor tends to send their email. Ideally, you want to time it so that your email doesn't get lost in your subscribers' inboxes. According to industry experts, emails sent on the weekend have the highest open rate and ones sent between 7:00PM to 5:00AM have the best response rates overall.

*Finally, focus on directing emails to the correct demographic and interests of your customers.

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