By Tanya Henderson
Advertising & Membership Relations Director, SNA
SNA’s IMA webinar last week was a great primer for those interested in getting into
email marketing. Mel Taylor, founder of Mel Taylor Media, a Philadelphia-based consultancy,
presented a number of ideas for newspapers to consider when delving into this new
revenue opportunity.
Mel Taylor, founder of Mel Taylor Media
The Pros are many: It’s easy and inexpensive, you get an instant, measurable return,
it allows you to drive people to your web site, it strengthens your brand, it’s
customizable and email reaches virtually everyone. The Cons: Not having the resources,
standards or a plan in place to make the most of your efforts.
Rule 1: You have to have a point person who will develop standards and work with
department heads. This is critical because the database needs some TLC. Some of
the things you have to think about — How it will be managed? How it will be
cleaned/deduped? Was permission granted? How will you manage the number of emails
sent? Are all the messages containing opt out opportunities to comply with SPAM
laws?
The data you’re capturing is also very important. According to Taylor, “less is
best” as people will give you a small amount of information, particularly if it
doesn’t seem to infringe on privacy. The areas to capture: email address, first
name, ZIP code, gender and age. Interestingly, Taylor mentions that people are willing
to give more detail if the value is greater. For instance, if you’re giving away
a car or a home, people may feel that it’s applicable to that particular prize to
provide extended information.
Verification of this information is extremely important. A couple ways to make sure
you’re receiving error-free information — have the person enter the email
address twice — we’ve all had to do that at one time or another. Also, create
a “double opt in” — this is where you opt in for something but have to do
it again when the company sends you an email to verify that you want the service.
You may want to dabble and experiment with email but how do you get started? Taylor
recommends starting with a free service like Mail Chimp that allows up to 500 subscribers
for free and up to 3,000 emails a month without a charge. Other services out there
include Constant Contact and iContact.
Remember to test, test and test again. Particularly because there are so many different
email formats out there...AOL, Yahoo, Outlook, etc. — how that email appears
in each system may be different. You don’t want someone to receive the dreaded box
with an “x” in it.
Taylor suggests that you avoid punctuation, capitalization or anything like “Free”
in the subject line that may attract a SPAM filter.
For more information on Opt-In Email Marketing, contact Mel Taylor at
Mel@MelTaylorMedia.com or call (267) 625-5313.
About IMA
The Interactive Media Alliance
(IMA) is an industry-wide initiative dedicated to providing members with timely
information concerning all aspects of online publishing including content development,
technical updates and advertising opportunities. The Interactive Media Alliance
consists of publishers, editors, IT directors, new media developers and advertising
personnel.
Join the IMA Today!
Membership in the alliance will grant you not only access to a full year of IMA
webinars, but also the recordings of all prior webinars since February 2008. Your
membership also provides your newspaper or your group the opportunity for up to
five different registrations for IMA webinars at the same cost as one member. For
more information on IMA, contact Al Cupo, VP of Operations at
al.cupo@suburban-news.org or call (215) 256-6801.