Anybody ever do e-mail marketing (Not spam)?

Totalsurv, post: 403087, member: 8202 wrote: Has anybody ever done e-mail marketing and how effective did you find it? Did any clients get annoyed at it?

I haven't and never will. In all probability 99% will end up in the spam or junk folder. But then again I have never tried it. We don‰Ûªt even have a web page (we do have a portal for clients though). My clients have been with me for 25+ years so advertising is not necessary. 😎

FL/GA PLS., post: 403094, member: 379 wrote: I haven't and never will. In all probability 99% will end up in the spam or junk folder.

That was pretty much my thinking going into the course but the presenter was very convincing as to the merits. It should not end up in the spam folder as your email would be most likely on their contacts anyway.

If you think it may increase revenue enough for a profit and to offset the initial expense, then heck, try it. You have to take risks in order to attain the "agony of defeat‰Û or better yet the, ‰ÛÏthrill of victory‰Û. It is a difficult decesion either way, good luck! 😎

I get emails of that sort regularly from certain vendors (Trimble, Leica, Autodesk, MicroSurvey and Carlson, notably). It's not too annoying and it keeps them in mind, I suppose.

My local mechanic does a monthly email newsletter.
Contains family news about the owners and some of the long time employees.
Announcement of some service special of the month.
Some car tip of the month.
Some local news or civic event announcements
A recipe
Plus who won the free oil change of the month.
It is kind of innocuous because it is brief but I
don't know if it is effective.

Robert Hill, post: 403131, member: 378 wrote: My local mechanic does a monthly email newsletter.
Contains family news about the owners and some of the long time employees.
Announcement of some service special of the month.
Some car tip of the month.
Some local news or civic event announcements
A recipe
Plus who won the free oil change of the month.
It is kind of innocuous because it is brief but I
don't know if it is effective.

Sounds like the mechanic may have taken the same course. Interesting stories etc. are apparently good for getting interest in the email. If he is doing it a while it must be working.

At the end of the day I think the idea is to keep yourself on the customer/client radar.

I cannot imagine a more annoying way to get my key clients mad at me than to bombard them with unwanted e-mails. What a horrid idea. There is a reason I block spam senders from ever reaching me again.

It's 2016. Repeat clients are gained differently than they were 20-30 years ago. This is another way to keep on the fromt of your clients mind. Most people probably won't read it each month but they will be reminded of your company each time they recieve the email which is a good thing

Maybe I'm the outlier, and I do have a distinct commercial survey niche, but my key clients don't need an e-mail from me to remind them I'm still around. When they have a survey project I'm the only one they call, and they never quibble over price. My best client doesn't even ask how much - they just want it done.

I'll say it again because this has not changed in decades: Do quality work, on time, for a decent fee, and your clients will remember you.

Bruce Small, post: 403215, member: 1201 wrote: Do quality work, on time, for a decent fee, and your clients will remember you.

You just published the Master Key for a successful organization. The ability to attain the first three is the major obstacle, but once those are securely in place it‰Ûªs a fun ride from then on. The results are financially rewarding. 🙂

you: commercial survey niche
me: production housing survey niche

Bruce Small, post: 403176, member: 1201 wrote: I cannot imagine a more annoying way to get my key clients mad at me than to bombard them with unwanted e-mails.

That was my initial thought as well but the presenter showed evidence to the contrary.

I would add that I think monthly is a little too much. I would try quarterly, keep it simple yet informative, highlight different services you offer, an employee spotlight section. Put yourself in the clients shoes. This is a little easier for me as I spent the last 8 years as the client to surveying firms, engineering firms and staffing agencies. These companies ranged from less than 10 employee on staff to large international firms. Some used email marketing, some didn't. As others have said your service and quality of work will keep the repeat business. If you don't have a niche this is a way for you current clients to learn more about your company and they could potentially spread the word to others about the other services you offer.

I once sent an email with a flyer I made to all the title companies and insurance companies in the area to alert them that we were now specializing in elevation certificates and listed the areas we would service.

I sent it once and then again a year later. Not sure how much it did but we got a few inquiries. We do so many already it's hard to tell if we had gained any from it or not

Having checked the websites of most Survey and Civil Engineering companies in my area at one point or another in the course of job searches it is clear that most are either not interested in or capable of creating the most basic marketing material even one time. To churn it out on a regular basis would be quite the departure, I suspect that to do so would require dedicating time and resources and probably contracting out parts of the task.

When done well I think a good statement of qualifications and project summary can be pretty impressive, perhaps a bi-annual update would be a more realistic goal.

The same thing happens here. Same photos (literally), same statements, same final draft survey.

An email marketing campaign can be a boon to business, if you do it right. Despite the low numbers of folks who will actually open and read them, they come with a much higher conversion rate than say, Facebook or Twitter. I send out a newsletter from here occasionally and it has actually resulted in a few new advertisers. Here are some tips from yours truly (note that I am not an email marketing god, but I know enough to get by):

• Use a third-party service to create and send your newsletters. I use MailChimp -- you can have up to 2,000 subscribers and send 12,000 emails per month free of charge. Plus you are using their resources and you don't have to worry about getting your own email address blacklisted or banned. MailChimp handles all the dirty work, you just create the newsletter and tell it when to send.
• Don't write your newsletters as a sales pitch -- write useful articles and maybe provide some helpful links that might help your clients. The idea here is to position yourself as an industry expert, not a sales professional. Try to make it interesting and useful, but also include links back to your website. In fact, the full articles should be posted on your website -- the newsletter would contain an interesting title and an excerpt of the article, with a link back to your website. This will give your clients a reason to visit your website, read the article, and maybe they'll hang around to see what services you provide. Maybe they have a project on the back burner and this serves as a reminder.
• It's a pretty well-known fact in this online age that it takes at least 5 instances of contact before a client might show interest in your products and services. Don't expect instant gratification from your first newsletter. Watch the statistics in the MailChimp reports and see what people are clicking on. Use that information to improve your next newsletter. Keep at it and show that you are an expert by writing informative and useful articles.
• You don't have to write a book for each article. There's really no need to make them magazine length. Be clear, concise, and provide good, useful information.
• Send your newsletters bi-weekly or monthly, or maybe even quarterly. You don't want to bombard them and scare them away -- you just want to remind them who you are and help them out. After they read a few helpful articles, they'll begin to trust you. Not everyone needs a surveyor, but if they do, they'll pick one they trust. There's no need to try to sell them on anything as long as you are providing relevant information and positioning yourself as knowledgeable.
• Encourage your readers to share your newsletter with their friends. They might not need your services, but maybe they know someone that does. This further solidifies the reasoning behind making your articles useful to non-surveyors.
• Share your newsletter on social media. MailChimp makes this fairly easy and part of the process. You can also encourage others to share it on their social media pages.

You may have noticed a common theme regarding how you position yourself. This is key to your newsletter success and actually reaching clients or potential clients that might want to hire you. Drop the sales crap and embrace the helpful expert attitude. 🙂

Wendell, post: 408092, member: 1 wrote: An email marketing campaign can be a boon to business, if you do it right. Despite the low numbers of folks who will actually open and read them, they come with a much higher conversion rate than say, Facebook or Twitter. I send out a newsletter from here occasionally and it has actually resulted in a few new advertisers. Here are some tips from yours truly (note that I am not an email marketing god, but I know enough to get by):

• Use a third-party service to create and send your newsletters. I use MailChimp -- you can have up to 2,000 subscribers and send 12,000 emails per month free of charge. Plus you are using their resources and you don't have to worry about getting your own email address blacklisted or banned. MailChimp handles all the dirty work, you just create the newsletter and tell it when to send.
• Don't write your newsletters as a sales pitch -- write useful articles and maybe provide some helpful links that might help your clients. The idea here is to position yourself as an industry expert, not a sales professional. Try to make it interesting and useful, but also include links back to your website. In fact, the full articles should be posted on your website -- the newsletter would contain an interesting title and an excerpt of the article, with a link back to your website. This will give your clients a reason to visit your website, read the article, and maybe they'll hang around to see what services you provide. Maybe they have a project on the back burner and this serves as a reminder.
• It's a pretty well-known fact in this online age that it takes at least 5 instances of contact before a client might show interest in your products and services. Don't expect instant gratification from your first newsletter. Watch the statistics in the MailChimp reports and see what people are clicking on. Use that information to improve your next newsletter. Keep at it and show that you are an expert by writing informative and useful articles.
• You don't have to write a book for each article. There's really no need to make them magazine length. Be clear, concise, and provide good, useful information.
• Send your newsletters bi-weekly or monthly, or maybe even quarterly. You don't want to bombard them and scare them away -- you just want to remind them who you are and help them out. After they read a few helpful articles, they'll begin to trust you. Not everyone needs a surveyor, but if they do, they'll pick one they trust. There's no need to try to sell them on anything as long as you are providing relevant information and positioning yourself as knowledgeable.
• Encourage your readers to share your newsletter with their friends. They might not need your services, but maybe they know someone that does. This further solidifies the reasoning behind making your articles useful to non-surveyors.
• Share your newsletter on social media. MailChimp makes this fairly easy and part of the process. You can also encourage others to share it on their social media pages.

You may have noticed a common theme regarding how you position yourself. This is key to your newsletter success and actually reaching clients or potential clients that might want to hire you. Drop the sales crap and embrace the helpful expert attitude. 🙂

thanks for sharing the info about mail chimp. I just looked at their website and it looks easy. I might give it a go

Totalsurv, post: 403087, member: 8202 wrote: I attended a one day e-mail marketing course last year just to see if it could be any use in generating work. The presenter on the course was adamant that e-mail marketing is the most efficient and effective form of marketing out there, better than Facebook, Twitter and Google etc.. This is not a case of spam where you e-mail people you don't know (which is subject to heavy fines here) but e-mailing a regular newsletter to your existing clients and contacts you have dealt with previously and who are in your address book.

Dear Mr. Totalsurv:

You come highly recommended by other trustworthy people as someone with whom we can deal in complete confidence in a most delicate matter, so please allow me to introduce myself. I am the Director of Surveys of the largest land surveying firm in Quansotho, admittedly one of the smaller nations and one that has unjustly been neglected by the cartographic committes of numerous geographic societies. In the normal course of business, I have discovered a gap between two properties in the most valuable district of our capital city of Jagerrundehalle, a strip of land that has been reliably valued at $23,250,651 QSD (approximately 13 million Euros).

Unfortunately, due to various lapses in our Land Titles Act, there is no means for any resident person to claim the land and perfect a good and defeasible title. However, in that the last person under whom title may have been registered (prior to the destruction of all records) shares your surname and nationality. I feel certain that if you were to apply to the Land Titles Office with the proper local representation, a replacement title might be issued and the land sold off for the fair market value of $23,250,651 QSX (approximately 13 million Euros).

I seek nothing for myself other than the 1% commission that is customary in such dealings and stand ready to expedite the funds transfer if you will kindly oblige with the usual details as to the account to which the wire transfer will be made and the usual information by which you, as account holder, can be identified. Once the funds are deposited in your account, I know that you will oblige by forwarding the commission I mention above.

Until next month, I remain,
Your obedient servant,

Albert Guiness, CQLS
Director of Surveys and Internation Wire Transfers

Kent McMillan, post: 408117, member: 3 wrote: Dear Mr. Totalsurv:

You come highly recommended by other trustworthy people as someone with whom we can deal in complete confidence in a most delicate matter, so please allow me to introduce myself. I am the Director of Surveys of the largest land surveying firm in Quansotho, admittedly one of the smaller nations and one that has unjustly been neglected by the cartographic committes of numerous geographic societies. In the normal course of business, I have discovered a gap between two properties in the most valuable district of our capital city of Jagerrundehalle, a strip of land that has been reliably valued at $23,250,651 QSD (approximately 13 million Euros).

Unfortunately, due to various lapses in our Land Titles Act, there is no means for any resident person to claim the land and perfect a good and defeasible title. However, in that the last person under whom title may have been registered (prior to the destruction of all records) shares your surname and nationality. I feel certain that if you were to apply to the Land Titles Office with the proper local representation, a replacement title might be issued and the land sold off for the fair market value of $23,250,651 QSX (approximately 13 million Euros).

I seek nothing for myself other than the 1% commission that is customary in such dealings and stand ready to expedite the funds transfer if you will kindly oblige with the usual details as to the account to which the wire transfer will be made and the usual information by which you, as account holder, can be identified. Once the funds are deposited in your account, I know that you will oblige by forwarding the commission I mention above.

Until next month, I remain,
Your obedient servant,

Albert Guiness, CQLS
Director of Surveys and Internation Wire Transfers

Best way to reply to those sort of emails-

http://www.ted.com/talks/james_veitch_this_is_what_happens_when_you_reply_to_spam_email