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This article originally
appeared in Business Lexington.
Email Marketing Ideas - Part 2 (see part 1)
Producing remarkable content in direct-to-customer email communications
is a cornerstone for B2C and B2B marketing efforts. Having great material,
sent to the right people at the right time can keep recipients interested
and your brand in mind.
But let’s think outside the in-box for a moment. What are we really doing
when we create a direct email campaign? I believe we’re trying to influence
thinking in three critical periods of time. When recipient gets your first
message, when they open and view the contents, and when they get the next
message. What governs the actions taken at these critical junctures is not
very complicated. People are making rather selfish economic decisions when
they skim messages – “Is it worth the time?” “What’s in this for me?” Strong
visuals can help, but what the business customer is looking for is the same
thing web surfers are seeking… great content.
 I
believe we’re trying to influence thinking in three critical periods
of time. When recipient gets your first message, when they
open and view the contents, and when they get the next
message. |
Interactive emails are about “creative thinking and linking.” It’s nearly
impossible to insert interactive content directly inside an email’s body as
today’s filters will disable it to prevent viruses. This is why we use links
to outside content, known as “landing pages” or “landing media.” Each email
may have several landing destinations. In addition to providing
interactivity options, you can gauge interest by measuring traffic to each
destination. Audio interviews, for example, are a very easy enhancement and
make great newsletter content.
A client of mine is publishing an email newsletter with links to interviews
with experts in the field the recipients care about. This client sells
information products to the financial services industry. For phone
interviews the set-up costs were low – around $150 for the software and
hardware needed – a Sennheiser PC headset,
Audacity free audio editing
software, Skype (a free PC-based telephone,)
Pamela Call recording software,
plus broadband service.
My client speaks with interesting people in his industry, recording the
20-25 minute conversations directly to his computer. He does this from a
variety of locations, and the slight ambient noise injected a type of “on
the go” energy we both like. Back at the office, call recordings were
converted to MP3 format, saved on his website, and later referred to in his
email newsletter as a MP3 link to support a story. Every interview he’s done
has sounded terrific, but it’s those he’s chosen to speak with, and what
they have to say that matter. I suspect the same would be true for you.
As an optional extra, the podcast version of these interviews (found on
iTunes and
Yahoo! Podcasts) will contain shorter teasers ending with an
invitation to sign up for the whole interview, which is delivered via email
link only after registration. This lets listeners get a feeling for the
content but gives us the strong “push” component needed for effective
marketing. We’re now rewarding referral subscriptions and letting
subscribers contribute questions for future interviews, automating almost
all of this functionality on-line. Integrating viral marketing techniques is
the next step in growing the subscriber base.
Another powerful use of landing media is the “Flash movie” screen recording.
Think VCR for your computer screen plus voice-over. The latest and most
powerful of these I’ve seen are created with Camtasia Studio or Adobe Captivate
software tools. With these, you can give on-screen tours of products,
websites, real-estate listings, and anything else that can be recorded on
the monitor and add voice-overs. The resulting clips are viewable in almost
any web browser linked from your email messages. The power of this is
stunning, especially for training and “tips” oriented emails.
Remember “Baking tips by Betty Crocker?”… then you know exactly what I’m
talking about. When a visitor opens your message and reads the newsletter,
you can have links that say things like “Click to let us show you three
secrets to……” and then showing those tips in a flash movie followed by a
“tips brought to you by…” and your own little blurb. It’s so easy that I’m
amazed it’s not done more often. Interactive demos can be linked, repeated,
rewound and forwarded to others.
Before MP3, Skype, iTunes, iPod, and other tools, we could have never put
together this type of collection to give small business this kind of reach.
But it’s here, and customers are reading, watching, listening, and talking.
High precision, interactive direct email marketing will be a bigger part of
closing the loop of communications with customers as time goes on. The
effectiveness of this medium will continue to be refined as we learn. None
of these innovations will carry our messages alone. A blend of podcast, RSS,
email, animation, mobile, local and other technologies will be the
instruments through which we will send the voice of our business to the
right person at the right time.
©Scott Clark - Originally Appeared on Business
Lexington Magazine
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