Building an Audience

The internet has something for everyone at many different levels. A recent study showed that whatever activities a computer user is performing, 89% of them are using email.*

A well developed and well designed email newsletter, whether HTML or simple text, is one of the most effective communication tools in the industry. Use it to inform, to market and sell, to make an announcement.

As long a the recipient wants it, they will read it, keep it, and you will have maintained your relationship with your audience and will accomplish your goals. Building Audience is perhaps an even better term or goal than to simply say "building an email list".

Building Audience

Small organizations and larger businesses alike care about what they do. Email provides a natural way for you to deliver your organization's brand or message to your subscribers. Now begin to turn those subscribers into an audience.

Seriously effective relationship building

Permission-based marketing, using opt-in practices, is the law in the U.S. Even so, these practices are the best for your bottom-line and here are some of the reasons:

Why you will want to build you own email lists

It is more cost-effective. At first, it may seem daunting to begin your list from scratch. Later on, however, if you have readers not interested in your offerings, they will take away from your budget and place a drag on much needed resources for customers who are interested in your message, product, or services.

Make sure they want it

We already have too many spammers. They are causing issues with an otherwise much needed email service. Make sure you don't annoy people and insure you make a potential reader a long-term customer. Find people who choose to receive your email.

Better results

So your bottom line is tied to your performance, or it should be. Make sure your list is totally from people who want your email, and then your tracking and reporting results will out-perform any other method of gathering email lists.

You will know your customers

If you've gathered your own email list, you will know who your readers are and will be able to better tailor your email to your audience. Furthermore, you will know how to segment your subscribers and further target your message.

And finally, your email list will be an asset.

Permission

Seth Godwin, in his book, Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers into Friends and Friends into Customers (1999, Simon & Schuster publishers) analyzes a marketing method that captures the attention of a willing audience. This search leads to what is called permission-based marketing. He observes that traditional marketing is based on interrupting people, on-air advertisements during your favorite show for example.

With email newsletters, permission-based marketing shouldn't be an interruption or an annoyance. Instead, asking people to join you will win a loyal subscriber.

The business case for permission-based marketing means that your subscriber will open your email, read the message, and more likely take action. Permission-based marketing, per US CAN-SPAM Act, is called opt-in email marketing or affirmative consent. In other words, someone has chosen in favor of receiving your email.

Start gathering your email addresses right away. There are many ways to go about this process both online and with more traditional "off-line" methods.

Bluebird Courier, as part of its planning services, can help you develop an online registration or sign-up process for your website. We can develop enticing ways to capture the interest of a visitor so that they will want to sign up for your newsletter. When you know what you have to offer, you can attract your potential subscribers with convincing content and design.

Contact Bluebird now to ask about newsletter planning services for your organization.

* Pew Internet, http://www.pewinternet.org/Trend-Data/Online-Activites-Total.aspx