Email Marketing Tips, Tricks, & Articles

Email Marketing Video Tutorials Show you how to plan, create, and send successful newsletters.

Read Email Marketing Tips and Lessons written by Michelle Keegan, Constant Contact's Email Marketing Diva.

Learn E-Marketing Lingo from the glossary of Email Marketing terms.

by Michelle Keegan, Constant Contact's Email Marketing Diva(TM)

Tips on planning for 2003

As we quickly approach the end of 2002, we look forward to the beginning of a brand new year filled with promise and opportunity. This brief lull between holidays is a great time for setting goals and planning your email marketing strategy for 2003.

A good way to get started is to first take a look back and learn from your successes and failures in 2002. Which of your campaigns were most successful and why? And how can you avoid making any mistakes you may have made - twice? Your experience is invaluable, so be sure you draw from it when creating your plan for 2003.

 

Set your goals
Keep your eye on the prize. Goal setting is important as it will ensure that you remain focused and on track. Here are some possibilities for goals that you may want to achieve this year:

 

  • Building your email list
  • Acquiring new customers
  • Increasing customer retention
  • Strengthening customer relationships
  • Building your brand
  • Driving repeat sales
  • Increasing your average sale with cross-selling and up-selling
  • Decreasing communication costs

     

A good brainstorming session, including all individuals involved in your email marketing efforts, will help you refine your goals and prepare you for the next steps.

What to communicate and when?
Take a look at your 2003 calendar to decide what kinds of communications you want to send this year and when. Consider seasons (e.g. tax season, sports seasons or back to school), holidays and events as opportunities to reach out to customers and prospects in a meaningful way. Here are some types of email communications to consider:

  • Newsletters
  • Coupons
  • New product or service announcements
  • Press releases
  • Event Invitations
  • Company updates
  • Product or service promotions
  • Sale or preferred customer announcements

     

Remember that newsletters should always be sent on a predetermined interval, but other communications can be sent on a more flexible schedule to suit your business objectives. Creating a communications plan will give you a strong foundation to work from and build upon. It will also help you keep track of how often you are communicating with a given audience. Don't forget that communicating too infrequently can be just as unwise as communicating too often.

Boost the effectiveness of your other marketing activities
You may be planning a direct mail campaign, a newsletter sponsorship, search engine placement, a newspaper ad or a flyer or coupon distribution that could be complimented by an email, or a series of emails. So, take a look at your other marketing activities and coordinate online and offline efforts to maximize your time, and your dollars.

 

Thank you for allowing me to provide you with email marketing advice. I appreciate your readership and look forward to contributing to your success in 2003. Until then, don't forget about the Email Marketing Hints & Tips archive where you can find over 40 other articles on a wide range of topics from subject lines to testing.

Happy New Year!

 

Email Marketing Video Tutorials Show you how to plan, create, and send successful newsletters.

Read Email Marketing Tips and Lessons written by Michelle Keegan, Constant Contact's Email Marketing Diva.

Learn E-Marketing Lingo from the glossary of Email Marketing terms.

by Michelle Keegan, Constant Contact's Email Marketing Diva(TM)
 

Email Marketing Tips, Tricks, & Articles