Keep Your Contacts On Excel But Want To Start Email Marketing?

Just a quick blog post with some info about how important email marketing is to any modern business. It’s free, direct response, and you can include a link where people can take action online thus allowing you to test offers, subject lines, price points etc.

Really, if you are not keeping in touch with your contacts at least once a week, or more, you are leaving so much money on the table!

One of the challenges I come across all the time is that most people keep their contacts in something like ACT, Access or just an Excel spreadsheet. And when you tried to import those contacts to most mailing list hosts online, like Total Business Cart, aWeber or any of the others, they insisted on sending your contacts an automated email asking them to confirm their interest.

And most wouldn’t! So you were unable to contact most of your hard-won contacts!

Well, I recently embarked on a project with two business people who had some great contacts but they were not held online. Heart sink moment.

But no, one of my contacts figured out that she could import her contacts to Mailchimp and mail them from there! Wow!

Now, remember these two are NOT techie in any way.

Here’s a link to watch the video my colleague sent me.
http://mailchimpacademy.blip.tv/

You could also read this quick blog post
http://www.mailchimp.com/blog/auto-update-lists-when-importing/
which covers the fact that you can auto-update every time you import your up to date list, and Mailchimp “remembers” if someone has opted out. So you don’t annoy your contacts.

So if you have a ACT, Access or Excel database with contacts and you want to get started on email marketing, this is a GREAT way to start.

Start by sending great info, relevent tips, links to interesting articles (you can get ideas delivered to your inbox by using Google Alerts wth a few of your industry’s key phrases).

This has a couple of effects – it establishes you as a percieved expert in your field and it get the law of reciprocity working in your favour! Your contacts will be more inclined to do something for you (look at your offer, complete your survey, buy your “lead product”) because you have been doing something for them.

Then, when you send an offer of some kind, your subscribers will take notice as you have been giving great value, to date.

Cheers
Nicola

P.S. And don’t forget to incude a call to action in your P.S. You never know…..here’s an example of one of mine – I have different signatures for different email address accounts.

Nicola Cairncross | Speaker, Author & Internet Marketing Mentor

Passionate About Enabling Entrepreneurs To Create, Build And
Grow A Successful, Sustainable, Business Online From What
They Already Do, Know About Or Love

Try out our “The Business Success Factory” Mentoring Programme
at Lunar Level Membership for just £1 / $1.60 for the 1st month
http://nicolacairncro.wpengine.com/internetmarketingmentor/

Great At What You Do, But Need More Customers Or Clients?
Visit http://nicolacairncro.wpengine.com/blog/

Loans To Micro-Preneurs Globally That Change Lives
http://www.kiva.org/team/themoneygym