My latest Inc.com post, on running successful email marketing campaigns, is available at https://www.inc.com/charles-edge/10-email-marketing-campaign-tips-to-keep-subscribers-attract-new-ones.html. It starts like this:
It seems like every time I turn on the radio, there’s an ad for an email marketing automation tool. Constant Contact, Mailchimp, Emma, iContact and even Salesforce make it pretty easy for small and mid-size businesses to automate beautiful emails. Or for larger organizations, there are offerings like Marketo, Adobe Marketing Cloud and Eloqua.
But while the ads make it sound like these campaigns write themselves, they don’t.
Email marketing is a delicate business. On one hand, you don’t want to be an evil spammer. On the other, email is an efficient way to stay in touch with potential and existing customers.
I’ve been involved in many email campaigns through the years. Here’s what I’ve learned:
1. Choose an email automation tool that fits the size of your marketing team.
Many of the more robust products really need a staff person at the reins. If you can’t afford someone in that position, then turn your attention toward simpler software that requires little overhead.
