Secrets Of Smart E-Mail Marketing

After a meeting this week with a client about creating an email newsletter I was doing some reading and found this Forbes.com article on the topic.

The article gives good tips and arguments for using an email management program as I do such as Constant Contact.

The section on "From" and "Subject" lines is probably the quickest high value piece of the article. I will have to try something new in my March "email newsletter".

The "From" line is important, but the subject line is where you set the trap. The key is attracting attention with imagery and specificity. Example: A subject line that reads "Five Plants Deer Won't Eat" is more compelling than "Monthly Newsletter."

Maybe, something like "Bashing failed Ybor businesses and drinking for the dogs" will be a good catch...

Spam Update 2008

I regularly have clients contact me in regards to controling spam and unfortunatly the answers I find never seems to get any better.

Unfortunately as business users of email with our email addresses posted on our websites it almost always seems to be a losing battle. The biggest challenge is the tighter you try to make the spam filter the more risk you run of missing an important business email that was mistakenly trapped as spam.

Barracuda Networks Releases Annual Spam Report
At Nearly 95 Percent of Email, Spam Now Rated Worst Form of Junk Advertisinghttp://www.barracudanetworks.com/ns/news_and_events/index.php?nid=232

Study: 95 percent of all e-mail sent in 2007 was spam
CNet commentary on the above press release that might be an easier read.
http://blogs.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9831556-16.html

The following Forbes article from last year is a pretty easy read and highlights the profitability that keeps spams going. This one focuses on the specific stock market schemes that I am sure you have seen yourself in the past.

Why The SEC Can't Stop Spam
http://www.forbes.com/2007/03/08/sec-spam-stock-tech-security-cx_ll_0308spam.html