When most people think of email marketing these days, they are more likely to think about the latest “Penis Enlargement” advertisement or other piece of SPAM cluttering your email box. Email marketing is taking its lumps now.
This has created a situation where any advertisements delivered via email are suspect. Even legitimate double opt-in solo emails have a problem. This is why we are slowly seeing the death of legitimate solo email marketing.
Solo emails that only say, “buy my stuff” are almost indistinguishable from SPAM advertisements. It is also the case that many ISPs treat these solo advertisements as SPAM. But how many people know there is another way to get the advertising message through email?
Email newsletters, also called e-zines or email publications may be the most effective advertising vehicle out there. Here, content is delivered and within this content advertisements are placed. This is like an ad inside the television show Friends… and a solo email advertisement would resemble infomercials.
This has the added advantage of rising through the ad clutter. Usually there are no more than two ads per newsletter. Because the best of this lot are all Opt-in and Confirmed and the content is what people subscribe to, there is NO confusing this with SPAM. Also, there is a rub off benefit of being inside content. It is called the “Halo Effect”.
But the real benefit of this type of media is that it is a much better communication vehicle. The content sets up the environment for interaction. Interactivity creates involvement. Involvement is what brands covet. Positioning is dependent on involvement. This is what good advertising is all about.
Advertising in newsletters allows for targeting toward psychographics or interests. Of course the old way of demographic targeting is also available, but now you know something significant about the people reading in addition to their gender and age. People reading Bass Matters is obviously interested in fishing.
If a newsletter or e-zine is delivering good quality content, a relationship is created. This relationship is what every advertiser needs to capitalize on. Over the years we have discovered that it is best for advertisers to create a relationship with readers. If one tries to only sell inside a newsletter, this will not be as successful as trying to use the ad space to have the reader give the advertiser information.
Once this happens, it is necessary to get permission to connect with them down the road. Hopefully the connection will be more significant than sending a solo email asking the reader to “buy my stuff.” Advertising inside email newsletters eliminates SPAM complaints, offers content, gets through ISP filters, and is the fastest growing part of the industry.
Anisa Ali
Co-founder PennMedia.com & GopherCentral.com
[email protected]
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