Although having already touched on email Marketing briefly in the Making The Most Of Your Online Presence Is Key article, There is more to it than the brief description given. However, I believe this little gem deserves more than a paragraph to describe it as it is so much more than previously covered…

Now with email marketing, there are several ways it can be utilised. I find the easiest way to use my e-mail is to sign up for competitors newsletters, have a read through on a weekly basis, and if you find any useful information, I take it, manipulate it and put it out as your own content? Imagine the possibilities if you have all this extra content available to you for you to market your company using this new found knowledge.

Another way you can maximise your e-mail marketing is to create a sign-up scheme. This is where you can make use of a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system. These allow you to send out any new content automatically on a daily/weekly/monthly basis depending on how often you want your customers/clients and targets to see your content. This again is something that should definitely be included in your marketing strategy.

A CRM system is key to any e-mail marketing you do, as this can be where you build your lists to send out particular types of content, so if its sales content you have and want to send out, then you can create a sales list, if it’s just general information and updates, you can build a generic list, and so on and so forth…

But what CRM Software should I use I hear you ask? Well like anything in the marketing world there are various options but today we’ll only look at the main three that have caught my eye – Mailchimp, Activecampaign, and the more well known Infusionsoft –

Mailchimp: Mailchimp is the cheapest and most basic of the three options available, with MailChimp, it was originally founded in 2001, so it’s also one of the oldest on this list, but by June 2014, it was sending over 10 billion emails per month on behalf of its users, it also has the simplest automation set up procedures of the 3 we will be covering, by allowing you to select a list, create an email and choose how often it goes out to them, all in all, a proper set up of the system will take between 10 and 15 minutes maximum…

Activecampaign: Activecampaign is a favourite of ours here at caseron, as it’s the CRM we currently use here at Caseron, so what drew us to this? The slick design, the easy to use interface, and the broad selection tools for us to utilise to form the perfect automation to aid you in engaging with your customers, clients and prospects, It also gives more detailed reports and result from each individual e-mail campaign sent, and if your really bored and have the time and have enough prospects, you can sit and watch the report appear in real-time, however, I wouldn’t recommend this, as it can be very slow to update…

Infusionsoft: Infusionsoft is a privately owned company that offers an e-mail marketing service to small businesses, including products to streamline the customer lifecycle, customer relationship management and the marketing automations of your company, it can also aid with lead capture, so with all this, this makes Infusionsoft one of the most advanced CRM systems out there, but with all these added features, it is also one of the most expensive, but is definitely value for money.

Of course, these aren’t the only CRM systems available, there is a broad variety for you to choose from, but these are the main 3 standout systems for me that seem to get the most press and most positive feedback, so armed with his information, the choice is yours, which CRM system are you going to use? and how are you going to use it to tackle your e-mail lists?

 

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