Dear Bulk Mailer

In this era where social media rules the Internet, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and many other sites are used to disseminate information faster to a wider number of people all around the world. With these developments, people find it easy to forget the ancestor of internet marketing—E-mail campaigns. E-mail marketing campaigns are simple in concept and if used properly, these can be a powerful tool that businesses could use to promote their enterprises.

E-mail can be sent for free but the low cost and convenience of sending e-mails could create several problems a business may encounter. Consumer privacy laws and tight competition can also affect the effectiveness of e-mail marketing campaigns. However, e-mails are still considered to be the most personal advertising medium which has a number of remarkable advantages over all other marketing forms. Take a look at some of these advantages:

• It’s far cheaper than other advertising or marketing medium available today.
• It is environmentally-friendly as compared to the classic direct mail tactic.
• You can customize your e-mail campaigns to cater to the interests of the targeted consumers.
• E-mail remains to be a medium that is widely used than Facebook.

On the other hand, e-mail campaigns also have downsides, which include the following:

• The receivers may already have been bombarded with e-mails from business websites.
• Spammers are also lurking in e-mails.
• Many users might only read important e-mails than advertising materials in their inbox.

Like when selecting among the existing phlebotomy training schools, it would be a great to weigh the pros and cons of email marketing carefully to help you determine if it is an effective marketing medium that you can use to promote your business.

If you want to gain the greatest possible ROI from a trade show then putting some time and thought into your pre-event marketing is essential. There is little point turning up if no one knows who you are and what you are doing here. After all you will be competing for attendee’s attention with anywhere from tens to hundreds of other companies all offering interesting and relevant products and services.

Exhibition stand manufacturer Nimlok suggests that anyone exhibiting at a trade show or workshop should set up a microsite to with information about the show, teasers and promotions to attract people to the show and ultimately your booth. This site can be a section of your main website, similar to a landing page, or entirely separate page depending upon which you feel will have the best impact.

This site will not only raise awareness but will also provide data capture through a sign up page so that you can get additional contact information from potential leads, before the event has even started. To get this information you can offer a variety of things such as a free consulting session, or product demonstration to the first fifty to sign up. Or for a slightly less targeted approach you can include a game. Of course there is little point in setting up a microsite and just hoping people will magically visit it!

Alongside the microsite you will need to run campaigns on several parallel data channels not only should these tell potential customers about your presence at the show but they should also point to your microsite. To target this effectively you should use the event organiser’s preregistration list and your own contact database to create lists of people who will be interested in your booth at the show. Ideally these lists can be categorised by their relationship to you (for example current customers, prospects and suppliers).

The campaigns to get people to sign up can take several different routes:
• The most obvious is email marketing. A highly targeted email aimed at interested people is sure to bring in hits and get you some additional contact details.
• Twitter, as part of your social media presence you probably already have a twitter account. Having said that whilst tweeting about the show and linking to your microsite is useful, self-obsessed tweeting will quickly turn people off.
• Press releases and media alerts: If you are announcing something new at the show, these are a great way to reach a wide range of people and help bring in readers to your microsite.
• Brochures, leaflets and printed media: Chances are the organizers of the event will offer you space to promote your stand on their media. Taking this opportunity is a no brainer.
Hopefully these campaigns will lead to people not only being aware that you are at the show, but actively seeking you out.