Email Marketing Campaign Solutions: Substitute for Postal Mail?
E-mail was once thought of as a substitute for postal mail and telemarketing. Email marketers believed it would be one of the most effective forms of advertising because marketing messages could be easily directed at meeting specific needs of specific people. Email marketers were also attracted to the fact that the cost of sending an e-mail marketing message ranges from nothing to nearly nothing. Because of these two factors, companies started sending out large numbers of e-mail marketing messages. This lead to what is known as the “spoiling of the commons.” Also known as the “tragedy of the commons,” this term refers to the excessive and damaging use of what effectively amounts to a free resource. Marketing communications expert, Terence Shimp, once said the following when explaining this term:
Email Marketing Campaign Solutions: Spoiling of the Commons
“Common grazing land for cattle represents the classic case of spoiling the commons. Imagine a situation where a large field is available for all farmers in a community to feed their cattle. All is well as long as not too many animals graze the field and the grass can naturally replace itself at a rate faster than it is consumed. But if there are too many cattle grazing the field, the grass can’t recover rapidly enough and in the long term the field may become bare – certainly unable to support the number of cattle grazing it. In short, the commons have been spoiled.”
Email Marketing Campaign Solutions: Annoyance with Email Marketing Messages
Similarly with e-mail advertising (or marketing), too many people have sent email marketing messages and too many of those email marketing messages are spam email marketing messages. This has led to a greater and greater annoyance with email marketing messages that are spam, and with messages that are perceived as such. The key to unspoiling the e-mail advertising (or marketing) commons is by first and foremost receiving recipient’s permission to send them e-mail marketing messages and e-mail advertisements. A second important means of reversing negative feelings towards e-mail marketing messages is to send e-mail marketing messages that will interest people. Few people like to be advertised to, so the key to a successful e-mail marketing campaign is to design it to be as non-invasive as possible. People don’t want to read a three page e-mail marketing message about how they should buy a product. It may work for some people for awhile, but not for many people and not for long.
Email Marketing Campaign Solutions: Provide Valuable Information
For example, if you are company trying to sell dog health products, instead of trying to sell one of the XYZ dog health products by writing an e-mail marketing message that attempts to convince the consumer to make a purchase directly after reading the e-mail marketing message, it would be far better to provide valuable information to the consumer about dog health. This would provide something to the consumer that the consumer wants to know and would encourage a positive brand image of the XYZ brand. No direct mention has to be made about making a purchase. The e-mail marketing message would have the XYZ logo and limited information about the brand, such as the positioning statement.
Email Marketing Campaign Solutions: Sample Email Marketing Ideas
My next post on email marketing has some sample email marketing campaign ideas that could be used with the XYZ dog health company mentioned above.