Sending mass email
Email marketing is not sending mass email. Even though, sadly, for a lot of entrepreneurs email marketing is synonymous of sending mass email, invading "naively" the privacy of people. A "cheap" way to shoot with bollards to see if anyone falls.
Most surprising is to see that the same people who accept offers to send 50.000 mails for $100 (usd) are the people who say they hate unwanted mail. This is a coherence problem. One cannot be against receiving spam mail and on the other hand accepting a company to send it on your behalf.
Why destroy your brand's reputation?
The problem is not that it is illegal and that the privacy protection laws are more severe every day. That is the obvious. The problem is the damage that is done to the brand. Suppose that 1% of the people who get your mail respond and effectively end up being customers. You could think it is worth it, besides it being so cheap. Any additional sales, add up.
The point is another one. Is it worth creating a bad image on the other 99% of people? All that effort you have put into creating a reputation for your business and your brand, effort to be recognized in the market as a serious and responsible company, to which its customers are most important, etcetera, etcetera, you are destroying all that by putting your name on massive mail.
A customer will buy when they are ready to buy, not when you are ready to sell
Not all the people to whom you come with your commercial proposal, are in the precise moment to buy. Maybe they are not even aware that they require your product or services. You could even consider that it is something they do not desire for now, don´t need or it is not a priority. However, this can change in the near future, reason for which you must remain in the radar for when the right time comes.
Accompany the exploration process
Even if potential customers are in a preliminary exploration stage, with interest and disposition a decision to buy could take weeks or even months. Depending on the type of product or service. The higher the disbursement or the higher the risk perceived, the more information and time they will need to take a decision.
A customer will buy when they are ready to buy, not when you are ready to sell
That is why you need a way to remain in that potential customers radar long enough for them to know what you have to offer, earn their trust and to have an advantage over your competitors. Simply because it has been the company which has offered permanently the necessary information to eliminate all the objections they could have had.
Nevertheless this "cultivation" of the relationship previous to a possible buy is not habitual in the commercial strategies of companies. Here is the big opportunity for your business. Most companies focus on selling their product or service at the first contact they have with a potential customer, not knowing how long this may take. It is like asking for marriage on the first date.
The result is answers like "we will check it out and let you know". In other words they are saying, "we are not ready to buy, we are considering options and we need more information". However, the usual reaction is to forget that prospect or lose all contact from there on.
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Why must you remain in the radar
From the moment a potential customer knows of your existence because they got to your web page, visited your point of sale, a friend recommended them or approached you for information at a commercial fair, the process of educating begins.
Of course this does not imply that if a client is ready to buy, you shouldn't close the deal. Here we are referring to the majority of people who are beginning to consider buying but are not ready to take the next step. You have a few alternatives to stay in touch with these prospects. You can make frequent publicity investments, actively take part in events, make commercial follow up visits or send communication periodically about your business. However, not all businesses have the resources to maintain this type of visibility and offer the information the customer requires for the necessary time.
This is where a tool like email marketing becomes an ally.
Sending valuable information regularly allows you to stay in the radar so when the right time comes you are the first option.
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Why do email marketing
1.000 people in your database who voluntarily wish to know about you are more valuable than 25.000 followers on Twitter. Note that I said, "voluntarily", which means that they subscribed voluntarily to your information.
Sending massive e mail to people who have not requested it, is not only considered spam or unwanted mail, but they are not the kind of people that you want to cultivate.
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