Email Marketing: Integrating Offline, Online and Web Marketing Activities

August 11, 2008 · Filed Under Email Marketing, Small Business 

This is perhaps a most interesting topic for traditional business owners. I see this as web technology meets small business and how we can use Email Marketing as the integrating platform and technology to bring all your marketing efforts into one single channel.

When we meet small business owners, we often ask them what marketing activities they already have committed their budgets to.

Many of them cite the following activities as part of their marketing mix.

  • Hire sales people
  • Send a flyer
  • Share a corporate brochure
  • Create a product catalog or a product newsletter
  • Printed newsletter (most of the time in black & white photocopy)
  • Send a greeting card or email at major festive holidays
  • SMS marketing - costs a lot, got some responses, but limited texting capability
  • Advertising in monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly magazine (in related industry)
  • Advertising in other printed magazines, commemoratives, trade journals.
  • Maintaining a database on Excel spreadsheet or within Outlook address book

Here’s how to get all your marketing activities in order:


List Building

  • Sign up for email marketing service (can be from PathDirect)
  • Create various contact lists for your prospects, new customers, current customers and VIPs
  • Create sign up forms for the various contact lists (this can be used by staff or customer facing)
  • Integrate a newsletter sign up form for website
  • In store, create a sign up form for customers and prospects to get your newsletter (this requires an extra data entry step for your frontline or back office staff to complete)
  • Get all your sales people a web based sign up form to track their new and converted leads
  • You are basically creating ONE huge database with many small lists of your new, current and future customers and capturing all their details as well (can include sales details and who they are served by)
  • Be prepared to create minisites for special events (include landing page, sign up form and thank you page
  • Start thinking about using email marketing to integrate all your marketing activities.

Integrate All Marketing Activities with Email

  • Website: Add an online newsletter sign up form
  • Website: Stop putting your email address out there to be captured for spambots. Create a contact form linked to your email marketing. Those contacting you can also opt to receive your newsletter.
  • In Store: Ask every walk in prospect to sign up for your newsletter
  • In Store Promotion: Create a lucky draw (with or without minimum purchase) and give away your premium best selling item (eg a $25 product or one free trial worth $45) away. This should get you more leads to market to. All participants of the lucky draw will automatically agree to be on your newsletter.
  • Post Sale Sign Up: Get your customers to fill up a customer profile form. Input this into your special webform later on. Better still, if you have an internet connection, let your customers sign up themselves online.
  • Advertising in Print: Sell your company and offer a freebie (like free trial product or an educational report) to all who are interested. Sign up at a special minisite on your web: www.promo.yourdomain.com OR www.yourdomain.com/promo
  • Billboard Advertising: Capture attention and capture more leads. Be bold and get people to visit your website to download a coupon or to get a free report, like “How to Dress For Prom for Under $80″ or “21 Ways to Be Fat Free in 21 Days (and start losing inches immediately)”
  • Special Email Referral Activity: Invite your prospects and customers to get more people to your offers. “Refer the Names and Emails of 5 of your closest friends, and enjoy a ticket to our special private event or workshop.” or “Share this newsletter to win an iPhone this Christmas!”
  • Invite Brochure or Flyer recipients to special private sales: “Sign up for our newsletters and be the first to know when we have a special promo or major discounts in our regular private sales. Email subscribers get the  best deals before members of the public.”

Following Up with New Leads:

  • Once you’ve got new leads being added into your database regularly, be sure to follow up with them consistently for the best results.
  • Send a welcome email to any new subscriber on your lists. If it’s a new prospect, let them know what they can expect to receive in your regular newsletters. If it’s a customer, thank him or her, and let them know how much you appreciate their support. List down some resources they can get help with their new product or service and how they can get in touch.
  • While email is a great resource, don’t ignore the fact that people like real human contact once in a while. Call your customer, send a postcard or a greeting card. Arrange a lunch or buffet on a special customer appreciation day. Organise prospect-only workshops that will help you convert more people to your service at one go. Treat your top 20% of customers like real VIPs. Give them the numbers of their account manager or sales manager in case they have queries or need some support.
  • Send an email once in a while from the Owner or CEO of the business. Customers love it when they think that they are important enough to be contacted directly by the business owner or the top guy in the firm. While you do that, it makes sense to ask for more feedback, more business or more referrals too.
  • Don’t forget to send valuable information and updates in a regular email newsletter. Explain that while email is your main resource of the newsletter, they can opt to pick up a printed copy in the store. Why? Printed newsletters are expensive to produce, and email newsletters have less printing and delivery issues. This cost savings is passed on to customers when they enjoy special low prices and customer only promotions. Printing an email newsletter is even more simple. Your store personnel can print out one or two copies when a special customer needs it.
  • Don’t forget about your customer and prospect database online. Keep on pruning and refining your lists. Start tracking who opened which email, and who clicked a particular link. Track and see where your customers preferences lie. If you notice more folks are clicking your “What’s New” links, perhaps it’s time to dedicate a sidebar or a special section in your newsletter to New Products available. If you notice people are clicking the “Read More” of your main feature articles, arrange to have more articles of valuable information ready to share with your readers.
  • Regularly export your lists and maybe select a particular group (such as New Customers who made their first purchase 3 months ago) and have your store assistants call them to invite them back into the store and ask how they are doing with your product or service. This makes their buying experience memorable. If you get negative feedback, act on it right away, and when a solution is ready, have a manager call your customer back to let them know it’s been resolved.  Send a little token of appreciation too.
  • Start mixing your lists together and invite everyone to your annual customer appreciation day or a special thanksgiving buffet lunch. This is a great way for prospective customers to mingle with your diehard fans of regular customers, and have a lot of goodwill rub off. Invite your customers to bring their family and friends to expand the networking opportunity. Remember to let your guests take home something that’s unique to your brand and of course, invite those who are not on the newsletter list to give their contact details to qualify in your Lucky Draw at the end of your party. Afterall, who wouldn’t want to win $100 worth of vouchers or a product hamper?
  • I think if you did a mini brainstorming session once a month with your team, you could think up of hundreds more ways to get more people on your email lists and how you will be the smartest company in the block to have all your customer information at your fingertips.

Where does our PathDirect solutions fit in? Well, everywhere I guess.

  • You can create an email marketing account and have us manage it or manage everything yourself.
  • You can create contact lists of all kinds to segment your contact database and add lots of special fields that could apply to your business.
  • You can import thousands of customer contact details at one go.
  • You can send thousands of your contacts personalised messages that go, “Dear Sally,…”
  • You can create and send regular newsletters via email.
  • You can track who opened your emails and who clicked your links. See how often they read your emails too (since someone who clicks the same link 3 times is far more interested than that one click wonder.)
  • You can export your customer lists to create mailing labels and personalised mail.
  • You can create a customer data entry minisite with all your forms available to complete the data entry of new prospects, newsletter sign ups, lucky draw entries, new customers, and even vendors and business partners.
  • You can work with us to create email marketing strategies that will grow your base and increase your sales results.
  • You can have fun marketing to your prospects, customers and your very special VIP members too.
  • And more…

That’s the wonder of our email marketing platform, services, and technology. More than meets the eye.

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