Email is without a doubt the number one application on the Internet but how many small businesses are using it to talk to their  customers?

Almost every online business has an email contact point but not every one has a method of collecting email addresses from their visitors.

This is bad enough in the online world but it gets even worse in the offline world. I have been an email user now for over 10 years but have yet to receive an email from any of the local  businesses in my area. Even though some are multinationals and I have bought products from them.

I recently bought a DVD from a major supermarket chain but they didn’t collect my email address. Even though they themselves have a growing Internet business.

Email Marketing Is Not For Small Offline Businesses!

This is a common mistake most small business owners make because they don’t really understand what it is, and tend to think it is:

1. Difficult
2. Expensive

Neither of these can be further from the truth. If you can send email and write letters using tools like Word then you can create your own email announcement/promotion.

As for the cost, it is much cheaper than standard mail promotions as there is no printing/postage costs involved.

Requirements

To do email promotions you require a tool for storing and capturing email addresses and for sending emails.

For small lists it is possible to do all this manually using your current email client like Outlook/Outlook Express. For larger lists it is better to use an  autoresponder.

Related Posts by Main Category- Email