December 2006 Newsletter

Internet technology makes customer communications easier and much more cost effective that traditional direct marketing. Email marketing eliminates the exorbitant cost of print and postage. It also delivers the flexibility to schedule promotions precisely, so companies can send limited-time offers which fuel an immediate buying frenzy. Email marketing helps businesses accurately assess response rates, so they can adjust messages, graphics or tactics on a dime. Nevertheless, the practice should adhere to the same best practice strategies we’ve always used with direct mail newsletters. This means, communications must be informative, relevant and timely.

Getting Started: The Planning Stages

Before you even begin composing your newsletter, define your direction and strategy. What do your customers want, and what are you willing to offer them on a routine basis? What’s your average customer’s maturity and age level?

Next, define your newsletter’s components. While email communications are exceptional ways to promote new products, specials and discounts, they should also contain relevant information for your reader to ensure readers remain interested and receptive. After all, email newsletter unsubscription is even easier than that it is for direct mail. It requires just a click of a button....

Internet Marketing is a powerful, successful and low-cost communications vehicle. But the line between legitimate email marketing and spam remains loosely defined. With consumer and business outcry pressuring federal government in the early 2000’s, as they faced unmanageable quantities of unsolicited or offensive email, phishing and virus attacks, legislation eventually followed suit.

If you were involved with Internet Marketing prior to 2003, you were most likely effected by the CAN-SPAM Act. If you’re just beginning, the Act outlines important, yet easy, guidelines with which all email marketers must comply with and understand.

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, short for Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography And Marketing Act, was signed into law on December 16, 2003. This Act established the nation’s first commercial email standards. CAN-SPAM officially defines spam as "any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service (including content on an Internet website operated for a commercial purpose)." This does not include "transactional or relationship messages...."

more

more

details