Email marketing: The business advantage

Email can offer an effective and flexible tool for low-budget marketing:

• With the right list, you can reach customers anywhere with no delay, no print bills and no distribution costs.
• Your message can be sent to hundreds of people and companies around the world for the cost of a local phone call.
• Your email can be precisely targeted. It goes direct to a named person’s desktop.
• Emailed newsletters and mailing lists can be developed to give regularly updated information and build customer loyalty.
• Automated systems can save handling time and reduce costs when reacting to sales enquiries or requests for product details.
• Email provides instant, simultaneous distribution of press releases to the media.

The Web can help you promote products, and launch new ones:

• For a few pounds a month, your product details, catalogue and price list can be available to the world, all day, every day.
• A website, with a hotlink for email replies, provides a great channel for customer feedback.
• You can improve your customer service by providing tips, answers to frequently asked questions, background information and links to other sites.

Joining in relevant newsgroup discussions creates opportunities for marketing and business intelligence activity:

• Exploring the universe represented by many thousands of newsgroups can help you uncover new niche markets.
• Newsgroup debates can provide openings for careful but effective PR initiatives.
• By assessing participants’ views on your industry or your products, you can pick up ideas and focus on what customers want.