Schewanick Computer Services

Many types of Internet advertising don't work as well
as they once did. People have gotten used to banners
and don't click on them. Some ezines have failed to
keep their readers' interest and ads sometimes get
less response. Search engines are overflowing with
submissions. Getting your site listed high is almost
impossible.

More and more businesses and organizations are now
turning to email marketing to keep profits rolling
in. While an increasing number of people say they
rarely surf the Net, the vast majority of North
Americans check their email every day.

Email marketing is the most effective and efficient
way to influence purchases and keep customers
informed and happy. It is also extremely
inexpensive. Where you might have mailed out one
printed customer update every month, you can now
email one every week for a fraction of the cost.

Increasingly, companies need to embrace email
marketing in a big way in order to stay competitive.
Those who formerly used a service to send out their
newsletters, sales info, and consumer updates are now
doing all the emailing themselves.

New technology that is powerful yet easy to use
allows anyone to handle email jobs that previously
required expensive professional help. Many companies
are bringing their email campaigns in house in order
to have more control, grow their email efforts, and
decrease costs.

Here are four features you will want to use in your
email marketing efforts:

1. Include HTML in your email messages. Most email
programs are now equipped to read HTML. Your logo,
banner, bullets, and color elements can make your
message jump off the screen. You can even include
forms that allow customers to order instantly from
your message. You take advantage of impulse
purchases that can lead to big increases in sales. One
note on HTML, it is best to create message that is in
both HTML and text format, allow the clients software
to display the appropriate version. Also if possible,
pre-qualify your customers desire for HTML.

2. Use a campaign manager feature to schedule when
your email messages will be sent out. You can
prepare an entire months' worth of messages and tell
the manager which weeks, days, or hours to release
them to your list.

3. Take advantage of a POP import feature. It
automatically takes the email addresses from messages
you receive and puts them on your mailing list.
This insures no one who requests information from you
is left out of your next update. This also helps you
grow your list as fast as possible. You can even use
a feature that automatically unsubscribes those who
ask to be removed from your list. Many companies
say this saves them hours of work each week.

4. Make sure the software you use to send your
messages includes a walk-through wizard. You get
step-by-step instructions on how to do any task you
wish to achieve. Instead of waiting for the tech guy
to show up, you can speed through the job on your
own.



About the Author
Karen Fegarty is with MailWorkZ. MailWorkZ has been instrumental in
developing new email technology. See what's new in Broadc@stHTML
at http://www.mailworkz.com. Whether it is a product announcement,
a newsletter, or a personalized information message, Broadc@stHTML,
MailWorkZ's award winning email marketing tool, is key to
reaching your customers in a highly efficient, personalized manner.
Reach Karen at karen@mailworkz.com