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Copyright 2002 Bobette Kyle. All rights reserved.
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Direct Mail Advertising; Email Is Not Like Postal Mail.
by Bobette Kyle
One of most popular and potentially effective advertising methods is direct email. If you deliver a well- written message and execute delivery properly you will be rewarded with new leads, sales, and traffic to your Web site. If message is poorly written or you commit a netiquette faux pas, however, your efforts could end in disaster.
If you are new to Internet marketing, you might equate direct email to direct postal mail. The concepts are very similar; in both you broadcast a standard message to a large number of individuals in hopes of receiving positive responses. To uninitiated, it is logical to assume you can approach two in same way. It seems like only difference is means of communication. If you are thinking this way, STOP! STOP! STOP!
Many people perceive unsolicited commercial message (UCE) - spam - differently than junk mail from postal service. The sender pays for direct mail sent through postal service. Not so for UCE. Spam on Internet ties up recipient's resources by using storage space, slowing down systems, and sometimes crashing equipment. For this reason and others, many abhor spam. Some assertively condemn spammers. If you spam you will undoubtedly be reported to your ISP and email provider. Depending on circumstances, your accounts could be closed and your Web site may be shut down. Need I say it? This is NOT result you are looking for from your email marketing program.
Some email advertisers feel that as long as there are unsubscribe instructions in email or they only send one message it is okay to send unsolicited email. A few use never-passed legislative proposals in their defense. In marketing, perception is far closer to reality than loophole rationalizations. Some recipients are offended whether unsubscribe phrase is there or not and they are offended even when they receive only one message from you.
