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The Ins & Outs of e-Marketing
Internet marketing tools are becoming more
available to all businesses.
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Business New Haven
2/19/2001
By: Linda G. Mele
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You don't have to be a billion-dollar company to benefit from the latest technology or to market your company's products and services.
Indeed, that is what's so great about the Internet and e-mail: No matter how big or small, you can make a big impression on prospective customers and increase business with established ones - even if your business is just you and a computer on your dining room table.
If you don't tell, we won't either.
On the other hand, no matter how big your company is, using the Internet or e-mail as a marketing tool may not be right for you.
John Conelias of Shoreline Business Forms in Wallingford says his customer base is primarily banks.
“We handle business forms and debit cards for the banking industry,” Conelias says, “so our client base is very specific.
“We've just started using e-mail and are designing a Web site, but we don't anticipate using either one specifically for marketing,” he adds.
Cathy and Len Pellegrino, owners of the two-year-old Abigail's Bed & Breakfast in Branford, however, can't imagine not using the Internet and e-mail.
“We're not a big company,” Cathy Pellegrino says, “but we do use the Internet to advertise our business and e-mail to answer inquiries.
“We have a Web site (www.abigailsbandb.com) that we refer people to when they call asking for a brochure, because it contains a lot more information than our printed piece,” Pellegrino explains.
“Some people still like to have something in their hands to look at so we will send one out if asked, but we're trying to get away from that,” she adds.
Pellegrino says that confirming reservations via e-mail is also a lot easier than mailing a confirmation card.
“Some other B&B owners have used direct-mail campaigns, but have told us they weren't really successful,” she says. “The first year I'd say 85 percent of our business was referrals, but now it's almost all from visitors to our Web site.
“We'll probably try an e-mail campaign to reach those who sign in at our Web site,” Pellegrino says.
According to Pellegrino, whether you have two rooms to let or 2,000 rooms, e-mail is the best way to confirm reservations.
“If you have access to a computer, using a Web site to promote your business or an e-mail campaign to solicit more business is the best way to get your name out there,” Pellegrino says. “It's also the way to reach more potential customers.
“We've had some business customers and we'd like to get more of them,” she adds. “A business trade would make us.”
Small companies can use the Internet just as effectively as bigger companies can with the help of a savvy webmaster or Internet marketer.
For example, the Canada-based Effective Web Marketing (www.effectivewebmarketing.com) promises to show you “how to get your Web site listed without spending a single penny” and “begin receiving free marketing and advertising strategies on a regular basis.”
That's actually a good marketing strategy on Effective Web Marketing's part, because the company thus wins permission to send potential customers e-mail up front, and using e-mail to solicit new business can be tricky. You don't want to be accused of “spamming” - which other e-mail users consider the ultimate sin.
As described by Magic Learning Systems (www.magiclearning.com/nospam.html), “Spamming is sending unsolicited email. You can be kicked off the Internet by your ISP [because] spamming causes servers to go down and can lead to serious bottlenecks for legitimate Internet traffic,” the site states.
So, you have legitimate e-mail addresses of customers and potential customers that want to know more about what you're selling. Now what?
E-mail newsletters filled with breaking news, information, tips, notice of special discounts or other items of interest can be sent to clients and prospective customers on a regular basis.
The best part about that is because the cost of e-mail is only what your Internet Service Provider (ISP) charges for monthly services, there aren't extra fees for things like printing and postage and you don't need to hire people just to stuff envelopes.
“The postage cost alone can kill the advertising budget of a small company like ours,” Pellegrino says.
Even larger companies see the value of a Web presence and effective e-mail marketing campaigns.
Take the New Haven-based Harty Integrated Solutions (formerly Harty Press), for instance. According to President George Platt, “E-mail has become one of the most responsive means available to marketers.”
Platt is also convinced that “branded” e-mail makes a great first impression.
Branded e-mail can provide a unified company brand name in your employees' e-mail address or allow you to send branded e-mail to potential or current customers, according to TSQRD.com E-commerce (www.tsqrd.com/bemail/brand.htm).
Branded e-mail is simply e-mail that features a company's logo or pictures of brochures or other items. “It's much more dynamic than a text message,” Platt notes.
Platt says that branded e-mail allows his company to have a virtual literature rack that customers can access at their convenience, and there's no need to print thousands of pieces of literature.
“It doesn't entirely eliminate printed materials, but it does greatly reduce the expenses for printed and mailing information,” Platt says.
Platt says Harty started using branded e-mail on January 1 and of the 180 branded messages sent to date, 150 actually read the e-mail.
“That's a phenomenal response when compared to the response for direct-mail campaigns,” Platt says.
“If we were to mail out 10,000 brochures it would cost 20 cents each, but sending 10,000 e-mails costs a tiny fraction of that,” Platt notes.
“In addition, with direct mail you can't track how many people read your message,” he adds.
Platt also says that many times when callers leave voice-mail messages, recipients may not return the call or, if they do, they get the original caller's voice mail, and you start playing the very tedious game of telephone tag.
“People usually don't blow you off when you send them an e-mail message,” Platt says.
He says that branded e-mail can be tied into a company's Web site where customers can click on a “literature” button ask for all the brochures they want and you can track the pages that get the most hits.
“The best part is you don't need to have employees waste valuable office time to deploy information because you can deploy e-mails while everyone sleeps,” Platt explains.
It can also be tied into a leads program on the Web site that can track specific interests or at least provide an e-mail address so the company can respond without spamming.
“Getting e-mail addresses is probably the most challenging thing facing companies that want to market products over the Internet or by e-mail,” Platt says.
Of course, e-mail isn't (and likely never will be) the be-all and end-all of marketing. Platt says each of the company's 12 sales representatives personally visit customers at least eight times a year.
“Now they'll make four personal contacts and we'll use e-mail campaigns for the other four,” Platt says.
“E-messaging enables personalized, one-to-one communication that reduces sales cycles, facilitates customer feedback and provides an accurate means to measure success,” according to Harty's branded e-mail.
Some yet larger companies such as Bic Corp. (www.bicworld.com), don't use branded e-mail to promote their products because their target audience is the consumer.
Bic's Web site is customer-friendly and features dynamic graphics designed to catch the consumer's eye. It's also interactive - which appeals to many customers.
The site even features a “Collectors Corner” for people who collect items manufactured by Bic, a bulletin board for online chats. It can be viewed in either English or French.
According to a company representative, the Web site allows the company to reach a global audience. It's not used specifically as a marketing tool but as an information resource regarding Bic's three product lines: lighters, stationery products and shavers.
Bic also has a promotional products division called Bic Graphic USA (www.bicgraphic.com) which allows companies to purchase products with their own logo to use as giveaways or for special promotions.
These types of web sites are designed specifically for those companies that distribute a product or service to other companies rather than consumers.
Books telling you specifically how to use the latest technology to sell whatever it is you have to sell - products, services, opportunities, organizations or causes - are also available in abundance.
And, you can start out small with an online or e-mail campaign. Remember that Harty started by sending out just 180 e-mails.
If you use a search engine, type in “branded e-mail” and search for Web sites, at least one will tell you that there are more than 110,000 Web sites that include either of those words. If you type in “Internet marketing,” the search engine says that number swells to more than 5.8 million Web sites including either one of those words.
Getting more specific with your request will obviously lower the number of Web sites found within the parameters of a search, but anyone can see there are plenty of companies and people out there just waiting to hear from you regarding an e-commerce project whether it's a one-time exploratory campaign or an ongoing one.
Those of you who still need to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century and its technology (and you know who you are) need to realize that this is the future of marketing, Harty's George Platt says.
Companies can no longer ignore what the Internet or e-mail can do for them, says Platt, and those that do ignore it will be left behind, far behind.
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