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Google Email Marketing

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Posted 19th January 2015 at 02:11 PM by imarkedy

Google email marketing is among the most underutilized tools available to entrepreneurs and small businesses. There was a time, many years ago, when using free e-mail software to conduct business was frowned upon and considered a faux pas. Thanks to advances in free e-mail software, Google being chief among them in our opinion, this faux pas no longer exists. However, the free e-mail service used to conduct your marketing campaigns and how it will be received by audiences largely depends on the provider.

It is one of those business nuances which really can't be explained but affects overall marketing efforts all the same. For instance - it has been our experience that offering a Hotmail address on business cards is frowned upon much more than one from Gmail. Even with Gmail, your address must be short, clear and concise without underscores or other distracting characters which add no value yet increase the chance of sender error(s).

Before proceeding, let’s make it clear that we are not comparing Gmail to more advanced software such as Constant Contact. As with any free software, Gmail has its limitations. However, for day-to-day business needs, and having sampled other services, none even comes close to providing the flexibility and ease-of-use available with Gmail.

In fact, Gmail is much more than a simple e-mail tool and is an entire suite of tools. Since most know how to send and receive e-mail, there is no need to speak on this facet of the program. As Gmail continues to enhance functionality, it is our hope that premium services are offered. We digress.

To begin with, we highly recommend creating an e-mail signature. Creating an e-mail signature allows consistent messaging to contacts as well as casual electronic acquaintances.

When creating an e-mail signature, most understand the wisdom of including a name, e-mail and possibly telephone number. But there are much more effective uses for signatures. More than anything, signatures allow advanced marketing of your products and services well beyond a name, e-mail and telephone number. Consider adding clickable website links or other landing page best practices to your signature.

This increases engagement as well as brand visibility. We have yet to see a tool which allows newsletter templates to be inserted. However, over the years these templates have become more of a distraction than assisting in brand building efforts. Nothing is more annoying than opening an e-mail and instead of the writer getting straight to the point; some image heavy template appears which takes an eternity to load.

Next, we recommend only inserting hyperlinks to landing pages which provide your business the most value. Although fashionable to include social media links, why send important e-mail contacts to your social media profiles when the end in mind should be business website visits? Decide what page on your website provides the most value to both contacts as well as your business and insert that link only!

Recently, we ran across another awesome marketing tool with Gmail. If you've uploaded and shared videos on Youtube, these video links can now not only be placed in e-mail but will produce an automatic video embed. Why is this important?

To ask this question fails to understand the importance of multimedia video marketing. How cool (not to mention effective) would it be for new contacts to view a business promo video when opening a message?

The only issue with including videos is the long Youtube link which must be placed in the e-mail for the embedded image to appear. No matter where it is placed, it is long and distracting and a very tempting click-point which may take viewers away from Gmail to Youtube. Why is that a problem? As we said before, you want contacts, as much is as possible anyway, to visit your business website and not another Internet property.

We'd also like to call your attention to the robust HTML editor now available with Gmail. It allows hyperlinks, font customization and other editing features which enhance the overall value of e-mail communications.

Warning to Affiliate marketers - although many are experienced at marketing and sending e-mails, be careful over doing it using this HTML editor. There is no need to explain - we are sure Affiliates understand.

We'd like you to go to the Gmail software program and have a look around. Even more experienced Gmail users - we even suggest you take some time to examine new features. Gmail is still a far cry from a true business to customer (b2c) marketing solution but it has its place in your overall marketing mix.


B.D. Dale
Internet Marketing Coach
Posted in Uncategorized
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