How Many Do You Get?

What a week last week was. For a change, I took off this last weekend and did some stuff around the house. Now on to this week’s tip.

I get this once a week, if not more. I’m talking to someone about marketing their business as opposed to advertising. If you want to know the difference, contact me. I’m told that they do emailing and can I get them a list of email addresses.

Yes, I say, I can get you a list, but the companies I deal with will not give you a copy of the list. However they will send out the email for you and you will need a link back to a landing page so you can collect information and email addresses from those who reply. The list companies do this so that you will comply with Can-spam Act, the federal law regarding spam.

It’s somewhat costly. Again, if you want prices, contact me.

There are ways to harvest email addresses, which I will not go into nor will I tell you if you contact me. But a lot of the people I talk to want to do email blasts, because it’s free or very cheap to do.

I ask: The people you’re going to email, how well do they know you? Have you emailed them before? Will they recognize your name and open the mail? Most cannot answer yes to these questions. In fact they are basically emailing to a cold list.

Now come the big questions: How many emails do you get each day? How many do you look at (read the subject line to see who sent it)? And how many do you really open and read? Probably only a very few of the ones you do get.

Final question! How many people do you think would open and read your email that you sent to them cold?

Most people get it at this point. A few tell me, well, it doesn’t cost me anything! There is your time, isn’t that worth something? Zero response is no response!

There are better ways to use email! If you want to know, contact me!

Next Thursday, October 20th, I will have a booth at the Northeast Tarrant 2011 Business Showcase. The Showcase will run from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM at the newly renovated Wiley G. Thomas (Birdville ISD) Coliseum at 6108 Broadway, Haltom City. This event is free and open to the public. I hope to see you there.

Remember – Great Things Happen, But You Have To Take Action