E-Mail-based Marketing

Popi Kleinman, Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN)
May 2001

If you don't have too many resources or time to spend on marketing your Web products and services, you should take as much advantage of e-mail as possible. E-mail is a tool that you already have, and is one of the most popular communication media. E-mail messages go directly to individual people to remind them that your Web site exists and to notify them about any changes. If you take time to plan your e-mail marketing strategy, e-mail could be one of the most effective tools for promoting your site and, once established, becomes almost automatic.

Some ways of using e-mail as a marketing tool:

• Signatures: Start adding your Web site's URL on the signature of your e-mail messages. It is very easy: you set it up once, and you send it uncountable times without having to think about it. If you manage more than one site, you might add a short line describing the URL (a type of slogan).
• Discussion lists: You can use discussion lists that you subscribe to to notify other users that you have a new service or product online. Be sure that the list's users might be really interested in the product or service that you are announcing, and that the essence of the discussion group allows you to send these kinds of announcements. If not, the result may be the opposite of what you wanted, because people don't like to receive what they don't ask for, and usually get mad with the meddlesome sender.
• Announcement services: There are many free services that collect information on some issues to then re-distribute it in a bulletin or newsletter format. Try to identify those in your organization's field(s), make a list of them and send them your announcements.
• Web site updates list: Give your users the option to subscribe to an announcements distribution list. Those who sign up on your list are explicitly interested in receive updates of your Web site, so feel free to notify them about any changes you make. This option will also give you an idea of who your audience is. If your site is complex or has too many different sections, you might offer topic-specific announcement lists.
• E-mail this article: Another way of promoting your Web services is allowing your users to share them with other people they know. For example, if you produce books or articles online, putting an "e-mail this article" will help you to effectively attract new people to your site, because someone that they know is recommending it.
• Fax by e-mail: Marketing your Web products and services can also be enhanced by newly emerging technologies that allow you to send faxes via e-mail or the Web to those audiences who have no access to the Internet. You can also reach people with only e-mail access. You can:
  • send documents to e-mail addresses or fax machines in one click;
  • dispatch fax messages directly by e-mail to any fax device;
  • forward e-mails (orders, inquiries, etc.) on a fax device;
  • send a simple text message to one fax destination, or multiple documents, such as a letter and a spreadsheet, to multiple fax recipients;
  • enlist the services of companies which instantly forward your faxes to your personal fax telephone number to your existing e-mail address as attachments—no matter where you are, your faxes will be stored and waiting for you to read every time you check your e-mail;
  • send faxes to multiple recipients using the Web

Formatting your announcements

Different than newsletters, which are generally distributed at fixed time periods, announcements are distributed whenever you need to announce something new or notify any change. Announcements must be short, clear and easy to read, and may be different depending on the type of product you want to announce.

For example, if you want to promote a publication (a book, an article, etc.), you might include in your announcement message information such as the title, the URL, the author/s and a summary, and you might send one announcement for each publication. But, if you want to announce news on your Web site (like new language versions, new features, new content, etc.), you might cover your news in one announcement in short "blurbs," with links that take the reader directly to the part of the Web site announced. Or if you are promoting a new important service, like a database or a discussion board, you might include descriptions of the new service, how it works, why it is important, and so on.

Whatever type of announcement you are sending, there are some tips you should keep in mind:

• Never send an announcement as an attachment, because many people who don't have much time and receive a lot of e-mails will probably never open it.
• Use the same title for the same type of e-mail, so that your users can easily recognize what you're sending without opening the message.
• Always use plain text to avoid jumbled messages as some e-mail programs cannot read formatted text (or read them differently).
• Use upper and lower case letters to clearly distinguish titles and subtitles.
• Use single and double space to clearly differentiate paragraphs, sections, etc.
• Use keyboard characters to design lines or boxes, but don't do them too long as most of the e-mail clients will wrap them.
• Always write http:// at the beginning of every URL so the user can visit the page you are announcing by clicking on the link.

Examples

Following are two examples of announcements FARN sends out on a regular basis:

1) Announcing a new on-line publication: Subject field: "New online publication" Body message:

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
NUEVAS PUBLICACIONES DE FARN EN INTERNET
http://www.farn.org.ar/docs/
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"CONSTITUCION Y AMBIENTE EN EL MARCO DEL DESARROLLO SUSTENTABLE"
http://www.farn.org.ar/docs/a12/index.html Por Daniel A. Sabsay. Publicado en "Ambiente, Derecho y Sustentabilidad", pp. 67-82. Buenos Aires: La Ley, 2000.

La extensión geográfica que han experimentado en las últimas dos décadas los sistemas democráticos, ha dejado sin asidero a los más agudos análisis políticos de los años 60 y 70 que adelantándose en el tiempo no podían ver sino con pesimismo la evolución del Estado de Derecho en el mundo.

Este fenómeno cuyas causas han sido y son continuamente analizadas, requiere para asegurar su efectiva consolidación de la incorporación de nuevas instituciones. De ese modo será posible mantener la vigencia de la libertad en el marco de una mayor igualdad y respetando la calidad de vida.

2) Announcing news on the Web site Subject field: "Novedades en el sitio Web de FARN" Body message:

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
NOVEDADES EN EL SITIO WEB DE FARN
http://www.farn.org.ar
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

4o. COLOQUIO FARN Encuentre informacion en-linea sobre el 4to. Coloquio FARN, un espacio de reflexion y analisis de propuestas de políticas públicas de desarrollo sustentable. http://www.farn.org.ar/prog/coloquios/coloquio4.html

VERSION EN INGLES

Ya se encuentra disponible la versión en inglés del sitio Web completo. http://www.farn.org.ar/en_index.html

SITIO SOBRE COMERCIO Y MEDIO AMBIENTE El sitio Web de la iniciativa "Diálogo Político hacia una Agenda Regional sobre Comercio y Medio Ambiente en América del Sur" ahora es abierto para todos los usuarios. http://www.farn.org.ar/prog/can-mercosur