Hit Me With Your Best Email Shot...

In search of the perfect marketing shot

Years ago, when a business wanted to reach it's customers, it would first pick up the local newspaper (if it was on a tight budget) and scan the available advertising formats the particular paper would have to offer. Someone in marketing would then call the paper, place the ad and pay a small fee for that ad to appear over several weeks or so - thus raking in the profits of a successful advertising campaign due to the customers now queuing around the block..

If, on the other hand you had a few more pennies in the bank, you would make a deal with a TV advertising firm who would produce an ad for television for a few thousand quid, or do a similar sort of thing with a local radio station for a couple of hundred. Such advertising ploys do well with regard to percentage of return custom from these campaigns, yet today things are very different; now you don't have to have money to advertise your business. You don't even have to pick up the phone...

That perfect email shot: The suited virtual company rep

Think of him as the perfect employee, and create an image as to what you would like that employee to look like, behave and market your company. If your virtual marketing manager is going to be flashy and loud, because that's the sort of advertising your product or service requires (if you were running a nightclub or a fancy dress shop, perhaps) then think the way that person would think and market your campaign that way. If your company deserves someone a little more sensible, informative but quite conservative, then again, think the way that employee would think and market your business to suit. It all sounds a tad confusing but if you think about your own business and how you would see others working for you then it should make sense (even if you are alone in the 'you' trade) after all, particularly if you are a sole trader, you have to be many people anyway from company director to the tea lady, so this exercise shouldn't be too difficult. Simply think how you would want customers to see your business. Don't forget, people know nothing about your business so educate them.

There are four rules you must apply to your basic email shot to create the right impression. They can be set out in four paragraphs formatting the way your email shot should look like, they are:

• Introduction: Explain your business and talk a little bit about yourself; You must be careful not to ramble on in this first paragraph. Remember that potential customers are only going to read the first two or three lines before either reading further or hitting the delete button. It is like telesales; you need to make that first impression brilliant or they will hang up. Email shots are no different, so keep it brief but keep them wanting to know more. Don't give it all away in this first paragraph.
• Why chose you?: Your customers are going to want to know why should they come to you when they probably already have a supplier they are happy with? Here you can add special offers and tell them why your business stands out from the crowd.
• Rates and services: If it is a product you are selling, tell them why you should buy from you, explain your prices, give them a guide price but don't list and itemise - you want them to get in contact with you and they won't if they have all the information they need from an email shot.
• Contact: Round up you business shot with how your customers can get in contact with you. Give them emails, and at least one telephone number, and website address.

Don't forget also that when other businesses put an ad in the newspaper, they tend to run it over a period of time. Customers like to see continuity. It is here when ads stick in their mind. You can remember ads from the television simply because they are on all the time, yet a 'one week ad' won't be memorable at all. Make it continuous but not so much that they will filter you into their junk/spam box. Run the ad, then leave it about 10 days and then run it again. Don't be disheartened if your ad returns nothing on the first go, on the second and third run, people will start to respond.

A word for the Junkies

The secret to running an email shot but not one that will annoy rather than attract is be respectful. There is a fine line between running an email shot and sending out spam. Don't send any shot to personal email addresses unless you know you are okay to do so. If you approaching old contacts from previous employments then be tactful and ask them if they don't mind being on your mailing list. If you are sending out to companies then that's not so bad, but be careful, address your 'sales letter' in a manner that is non-threatening and obtrusive. You are trying to win customers, not frighten them away.

As the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink...

onemum 2009