E-mail Marketing Tips, Part 2 of 4

(Shel Horowitz's Frugal Marketing Tip, February, 2002)

For this month and the next two, we'll look at three of my four favorite e-mail marketing tools, in order from least to most attractive--yes, I'm saving the best stuff for last. The fourth--and best, I've already covered; see the September 1997 and September 1999 Frugal Marketing Tips at

http://www.frugalmarketing.com/marketingtips.html

This month: e-zine advertising.

Last month, we discussed that most opt-in e-mail lists simply aren't targeted enough. Fortunately, there are very powerful, highly targeted communities all over the Net, using e-mail to communicate. I'm talking about e-zines.

What's an e-zine? You're reading one. It's a newsletter or magazine delivered by e-mail.

Some of these are true bargains, offering affordable costs, decent circulation of several thousand, and a loyal, highly targeted readership.

E-zines offer two ways to gain exposure: providing content and buying ads.

Building on December's tip about marketing by creating original content, supplying articles or other materials to e-zines is great. It doesn't cost you anything, gains you not only exposure but validation by the e-zine editor that your contribution is important to the 'zine's readers. It's extremely valuable and sometimes very effective. If, over a period of time, you contribute a few really excellent articles to the same audience, they will notice you--and if they need what you have to offer, they'll visit your site and buy your goods.

Less effective and more expensive is purchasing a sponsor ad. This can still be a good value, though. Many advertisers have reported that sponsoring the right e-zines brought their very highest results.

Thank you reading this back issue of Shel Horowitz's Monthly Frugal Marketing Tips, published every month since May, 1997; please click here to view the complete archives, grouped by subject. Shel is an internationally known copywriter and marketing consultant, author of Grassroots Marketing Getting Noticed in a Noisy World, Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First and several other books, and creator of the Frugal Marketing web site. Please click here to contact Shel.


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