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Is Email Marketing Wrong for my Business?

by ExcelExpert
7 replies
I'm having difficulty in getting any traction with any sort of email marketing and I believe it could be that it is just a bad fit for my business.

My target audience is made up of upper managers and directors, but very rarely actual business owners. They don't hang around in business forums, LinkedIn or anywhere business owners share information. So when they start to receive newsletters and offers they just get deleted.

I only have a database of about 1,000, but it is highly targeted at managers and directors. The opening rate is minimal and people seem unsubscribe very quickly when I send out newsletters etc

BTW - My business is building spreadsheet and reporting tools for large corporations ect.

Am I just in one of those sectors that does not suit this approach to marketing?
#business #email #marketing #wrong
  • Profile picture of the author Adam Yunker
    Hey Excel,

    It seems the better way may be to approach smaller companies and find the people that run the small shops whether that would be the founder or a general manager, but try sending that person valuable information over a personalized email (not a newsletter) and send him articles that he/she may like and try to establish a communication with them without promoting anything and do a real "cool" sell where you just say "Hey, I know being a business owner or manager (whatever their position is) is tough and a fairly handsome amount of stress is doing the reporting (just state what your business makes easier) then offer a free product to them for a limited time.

    The longer they use it the more attached they will be to it and start getting used to it so once they are starting to get comfortable with it, that's the time you should end the free trial and for your first couple customers give them a cheaper then usual price just to get some clients behind you and ask for maybe a testimonial if your connection is really good with them.

    I'd start off with small businesses and see if you can get in touch with the owner. If you can't seem to build a relationship with the business owners than find somebody who is good at getting media attention and partner up with him while you focus on the product..

    Just my thoughts on it.

    Hope this helped

    Adam
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    • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
      Originally Posted by Adam Yunker View Post

      Hey Excel,

      It seems the better way may be to approach smaller companies and find the people that run the small shops whether that would be the founder or a general manager, but try sending that person valuable information over a personalized email (not a newsletter) and send him articles that he/she may like and try to establish a communication with them without promoting anything and do a real "cool" sell where you just say "Hey, I know being a business owner or manager (whatever their position is) is tough and a fairly handsome amount of stress is doing the reporting (just state what your business makes easier) then offer a free product to them for a limited time.

      The longer they use it the more attached they will be to it and start getting used to it so once they are starting to get comfortable with it, that's the time you should end the free trial and for your first couple customers give them a cheaper then usual price just to get some clients behind you and ask for maybe a testimonial if your connection is really good with them.

      I'd start off with small businesses and see if you can get in touch with the owner. If you can't seem to build a relationship with the business owners than find somebody who is good at getting media attention and partner up with him while you focus on the product..

      Just my thoughts on it.

      Hope this helped

      Adam
      Agreed, much easier to get the boss to metaphorically put their arm around you and steer you down to the department head or administrative executive handling the day-to-day activities which your tools help with.

      Another issue could be relevancy of your emails. If they're all "feature! feature! feature!" then it isn't surprising they're being deleted.

      Having a specific niche you've focused on first, with testimonials from 3-5 (or more, but this is good for a start) users at the same level as your target audience would be much more powerful.

      Otherwise, all the recipient sees is "Oh great, here's another technobabble software thing." *delete*

      Truth is we don't have enough information to make a legitimate assessment of your marketing campaign.
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      • Profile picture of the author Egyfitness
        How have you acquired this list ? That will be the answer to why they unsubscribe quickly and don't open your mails.
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  • Profile picture of the author ExcelExpert
    Interesting idea Adam - thanks

    I dont think I could sit about personalising emails to everyone but I think I could certainly do something in between fully personalised and a newsletter. I could sub group my lists in to more specific areas of interest and then send them pseudo personalised emails. There would be no point in sending emails on the subject of reporting if all they are interested in is programming, so it would make sense to target it at some level.

    Thanks
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  • Profile picture of the author Asadullah72
    Hi,

    It appears the better way may be to approach littler organizations and discover the general population that run the little shops whether that would be the originator or a general supervisor, yet take a stab at sending that individual significant data over a customized email (not a pamphlet) and send him articles that he/she may like and attempt to build up a correspondence with them without advancing anything and do a genuine "cool" offer where you simply say "Hey, I know being an entrepreneur or director (whatever their position is) is intense and a genuinely good looking measure of anxiety is doing the reporting (simply state what your business makes less demanding) then offer a free item to them temporarily.
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  • Profile picture of the author ExcelExpert
    EgyFitness - The email list has been built up very slowly overtime by collecting email addresses of site visitors. I have never gone down the route of squeeze pages etc so they have all given their email addresses voluntarily.

    The trouble is some have come to my site to get help with formulas where as some have come for help with programming. Although both fall under spreadsheets they are two different markets entirely. So an email that is a turn on for one will be a turn off for the other.

    What I try to do is provide content for all my sub markets in one email. I think that comes off as "jack of all trades"

    I think tailoring emails for each of the sub markets would be a better option. Apart from dividing my emailing list up in to sub groups it wont mean much extra work over what I'm doing now
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by ExcelExpert View Post

      I think tailoring emails for each of the sub markets would be a better option. Apart from dividing my emailing list up in to sub groups it wont mean much extra work over what I'm doing now
      In email marketing vernacular, this is called "segmenting your list", and is a darn good step in the right direction.

      One thing to keep in mind as you formulate your content plan: you have different objectives when dealing with business owners and with managers/directors.

      Typically, the business owner is the decision maker. Help them decide that your service is right for them, and they can sign on the dotted line.

      With managers/directors, you have the additional objective of providing them with enough ammunition to take what may seem like a risky proposition to the real decision maker. You can do that by providing white papers, case studies, and the like.

      You can also warm them up to expect certain emails (like when you release a new white paper or case study) using plain old snail mail and teasing them to expect details in your upcoming email.

      Make sense?
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