Email Marketing Services
Chip Dorman Email Marketing offers design, coding, copy writing and deployment of lead generating emails and landing pages. Additional services include email list acquisition, list management and CRM/Database integration.
About Email Marketing
Done properly, email marketing is one of the fastest, highest ROI marketing and advertising methods available to you. Done improperly, it can be a complete time and money suck. Just as with any other marketing and advertising endeavor, it pays to know what you are doing.
One of the first hurdles you need to overcome is deliverability. If your message does not get delivered to your customer's, prospect's or suspect's inbox, your results will suffer. And if you anger the SPAM Gods and end up blacklisted or on a blocklist, your emails will never get off the runway.
You need to build and maintain your email list or database very carefully. If you purchase a cheap bulk list, the chances are you'll end up with a list full of bad addresses, including addresses from SPAM Traps and Honeypots. And that's best case. Worst case, you end up paying hefty fines and legal fees to stay out of jail because you violated the Federal CAN-SPAM Act.
You also need to be careful of what you say and how you say it. SPAM Filters can stop your emails dead in their tracks. Watch your subject lines, frequency and avoid using excessive punctuation.
If your emails do reach your targets, don't think you are home free. People get bombarded with tons of emails every day. If yours is not formatted correctly, it will be ignored. Size, layout, copy, links, code and your offer are critical. You have two tenths of a second to get it right. Blow it here and your campaign is on the rocks.
Which brings us to your landing page, ecommerce store, lead form etc. This is the moment of truth. Your email could have a great open and clickthrough rate, but if your landing page is not right, you end up with nothing but heartache.
By now you are probably asking yourself, "why bother?"
The answer is because, done properly, email marketing can deliver leads and sales like nothing else. You just need to know what you are doing. Invest a little time and do your homework. The resource links on this page are very valuable whether you decide to do it yourself or hire a professional.
About Chip Dorman
I've been using email as a marketing channel to generate leads and sales for a long time.
Even before the Web.
I know what works...and what doesn't.
As to taking on new clients, I've been doing this for so long that I work by referral only. If you have been referred, call me at (949) 786-9262.
If you have not been referred, I recommend The Marketing Girl. She's young, but she is my kid. She's had her own website since she was in first grade and her computer is only 10 feet from mine. And like I said, she is my kid, so dad will look over her shoulder to make sure she doesn't screw up.
About This Site
The design of this site is an homage to Jakob Nielsen, the grandfather of usability. If you are doing any Internet Marketing, or plan to, and are not familiar with his work, you should be.
The links on this site are for anybody who is interested in email marketing. I don't put them up lightly. They are here because I have personally used, read and/or purchased and endorse each of them.
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Email Service Providers
Vertical Response - simply the best, easiest to use, most cost effective web based email service provider.
Email Software/Servers
If you are looking for an inexpensive program to send 1-50,000 emails at a time from a dedicated PC or email server, you can't go wrong with Email Marketing Director from Arial Software. It's only $499 and it has everything you need. Perfect as a back up server or for scrubbing lists.
Looking for one of the big boys? Good luck. I don't have one that I can recommend. These systems are insanely complicated, constantly changing and their performance is going to be tied directly to the skill and cooperation of your IT department.
If you have to go this route, plan on spending upwards of $100,000 just for openers.
Deliverability/Whitelisting/ISP Relationship Management
Don't look for these guys to be your knights in shinning armor. They are expensive, time consuming and do not guarantee anywhere near 100% deliverability. But if you are doing your emails in-house, they are necessary. Try Habeas or Return Path.
Email Case Studies
Marketing Sherpa is the best source for real, unbiased email case studies and research. Most of their information is free for a short time, then it goes into their archives which are accessible only for paid members. It's well worth the $397 for a yearly membership.
In addition to a wealth of other marketing case studies, they also publish email design and landing page studies. These will run you about $499 each, but believe me they are worth every penny. They are full of real numbers from real companies with creative samples, eye tracking and heat maps.
Copy Writing
On the Art of Writing Copy by Herschell Gordon Lewis. Don't even think about writing copy until you have read this book. A classic that comes packed with lots of samples from many different mediums.
Excess Voice - Nick Usborne's site, great for online writing tips.
Website Design/Usability
Ecommerce 2007 Benchmark Guide by Marketing Sherpa. If you want to sell on your site, this is the one.
Useit.com - Jakob Nielsen's Website. The man flat out knows what he's talking about and has the numbers and facts to back it up.
Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug. A light read but well worth the time.
Creative Software
Adobe Creative Suite 3.0 Web Premium - Includes Dreamweaver, Flash Professional, Fireworks, PhotoShop, Illustrator and Acrobat 9 Pro.
CRM Software
Salesforce.com - Take a look at their list of users. Then take a look at their stock price. There is a reason why so many companies are using them and they continue to grow. And the best part? You don't need IT!
Analytics
Google Analytics - Free and incredibly powerful. Enough said.
Omniture Web Analytics - If you really need real time stats, have a ton of data to capture or sites to manage and the budget, these are the guys.
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