News
 5
Golden-Key Success Factors for E-Marketing
It's the garbage in the gutters of the digital road.
Customers aren't generally opposed to relevant
business propositions. What they tend to oppose are
bad service and invasive, off-target marketing.
Permission-based marketing - the opt-in scenario -
is how to keep customers on your side, and start
that vital supplier/customer relationship that keeps
the channels of communication open.
Here are five key success factors for e-marketing
from Tom Farmer of ZAAZ, a Seattle-based web
consultancy, that are absolute gold to anyone who
wants to market their brand, product, service or
company online:
1. Ask nicely.
The consumer's permission to communicate with them
counts for everything. Tom's company, ZAAZ, builds
its position on 'customer advocacy' – the idea that
it represents the consumer's interests at the
client's conference table. A good e-marketing
campaign will be very vocal about clear, honest,
opt-in propositions. Pitch it to lists of people
who've already visited your site, visited your store
or mailed in your response card.
2. Grow your list the hard way.
Here's the bottom line: You want more e-mail
addresses to hit with your message, while consumers
increasingly want their privacy. The web-savvy
consumer is realizing that his personal data is
valuable to you, so on your website you have to
propose a transaction: You have to offer
information, value or privileges in return for a
little initial consumer input. And for each extra
item of data you want from them, you have to offer
more. Again and again. You acquire customer
knowledge one fact at a time.
3. Lead with your brand.
Go for recognition. If you develop an effective
viral vehicle that people willingly circulate on
your behalf, you've got it absolutely right. But if
not – and it's not easy to do – then you need to
play the brand card in your e-mail messages. Use the
brand name in the subject line to jog the
recipient's memory and remind them that they
authorized this communication. On the increasingly
forbidding e-landscape, trust and trusted brands are
becoming the only acceptable coin of the realm.
4. Serve your customer's agenda.
Make offers that should logically appeal to the
target audience. Avoid making offers that differ
from their prior interests, or lean on too little
history. If you're in the box business and your list
is made up of known box buyers, that's easy enough.
But for many of us the targeting isn't that simple -
it can be far broader than that. Don't rely on
'automated agenda sensors'. According to Tom, the
Amazon online shop is convinced that he's a Godzilla
enthusiast just because he bought one Godzilla video
as a gift for his young son. Now he just wishes that
Amazon would back off a little on the Godzilla
recommendations! When in doubt, do likewise.
5. Be driven by customer lifetime value.
It's a mistake to think that tricking consumers into
dealing with you will build a long-lived business. A
misleading offer, or a coercive and confusing
website experience, may score a few visits in the
short term - perhaps even a few dollars earned - but
repeat business is better. The world wide web is
good at maintaining and deepening relationships, if
it is used correctly. Craft your opening messages
and introductory pages as if the whole future of
your business depends on their tone - which, in
fact, it may do.
Source:
www.thewisemarketer.com
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Melissa Data
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