FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Release date: March 21, 2008
Media contact: Lisa Pelish
(561) 487-9264

How b2b E-Mail Marketers Can Drive E-Mail Marketing Performance

Boca Raton, Florida – Massive Impressions, a media buying and planning agency specializing in online advertising, b2b marketing and data driven campaign optimization, today made available a recent white paper on b2b e-mail marketing. It is entitled 3 Big E-Mail Marketing Mistakes: Don’t Sabotage the Most Cost-Effective B2B Marketing Tool In Your Arsenal!

The paper explores the common e-mail marketing mistakes many b2b marketers make. It's based on the belief that even with today’s heightened challenges e-mail still remains one of the most inexpensive online marketing tactics to reach a large audience. The key is to focus your mailings on a list of people who want to hear your message. To do this, you need to do permission mailing, which means having people either sign up for such mailings on your Web site or provide their e-mail addresses when they buy something from your company

Common E-Mail Marketing Mistake #1

Not Knowing, Understanding or Adhering to Federal Can-Spam Regulations.

Federal law requires all bulk e-mails include a physical address in the message. The regulations around e-mail apply to everyone, b2b and consumer markers alike.
There are resources on the web to help you comply with these regulations – and you’ll need the help, because many of the mandates are vague.

Mistake #2

Sending E-mails, LOTS of E-mails from your Company Server

With a list in hand, you’ve designed your e-mail to comply with the can spam regulations. But what’s your next step? How do you go about sending out that list in a safe way?

Lots of people make the mistake of thinking “I’ve got an e-mail server so I can send whatever I want through it.” Not knowing the risks of sending it through your own server is a big liability. What’s at stake is the very real possibility of your company’s e-mail server being blacklisted as a result of one of your recipients taking offense at receiving your e-mail.

When enough people, or the wrong person, report your efforts then your e-mail server gets blacklisted. Being blacklisted means your email server is marked as a spammer with one or more of the major spam monitoring authorities. Technology makes it easy for an e-mail to get reported as spam. Desktop internet security software such from companies like Norton and Trend Micro embed buttons directly into Outlook that allow e-mails to easily be marked as spam.

If your e-mail marketing efforts result in your e-mails being marked as spam then your legitimate e-mail service could be impacted. Once your server is blacklisted, normal day-to-day e-mails will be automatically marked as spam by your recipients. This will negatively impact the ability for day to day business to get through – undoubtedly slowing down the company.

So how do you send out those 1000 e-mails? Use a third party, web-based service. There are lots of them out there. They offer templates, tracking, reporting and most importantly – automated list management. In most cases if someone opts out of your list, even if you try to re-load that record into the system it will recognize them as an opt-out and exclude them. You can design a custom designed HTML e-mail, send simple text e-mails or use pre-made templates.

Mistake #3

List Quantity Over List Quality

You’ve been collecting names for years. You’ve purchased lists, captured names at trade shows, kept the cards of every prospect you ever met. So you should start shooting out e-mails to them, right? Wrong.

First, you should segment your lists based on the source of the contacts, and create a custom message for each. Then you should send each segment a single e-mail to, explaining why they’re receiving the message and offering them news, content or something else of value as an enticement to “opt-in” to receive ongoing communications from your company about topics and issues of concern to them. This is permission marketing and it pays dividends in the end – the key is providing content, news and offers of value to your audience.

At least 50% of the original list will most likely opt-out of future communications. However, the half you’ll keep will be far more valuable because they’ll have raised their hand and expressed an interest in your company’s services and viewpoint.

Additionally, you’ll avoid annoying people who are inclined to hit the “Mark as Spam” button when they receive e-mails they did not invite – helping your company stay off spam lists.

About Massive Impressions
Massive Impressions is an online advertising agency, specializing in interactive media planning, media buying and campaign analysis. We provide our clients with online marketing, online creative development, digital pr and search engine marketing support.

For more information, call (561) 487-9264 or visit www.massiveimpressions.com.