Why I added email to my marketing mix

Photo by Asplosh

Earlier this week I spent a couple of hours setting up my WordPress blog to be able to publish and deliver email newsletters. You’ll notice a new email newsletter subscription box up on the right hand side of this page.

In order to find space above the fold for this new feature I had to remove my shiny yellow RSS subscription box and relegate it to the bin. Why? Because I truly believe that having people in my target market sign up to receive an email newsletter is a better deal for both parties than a simple RSS subscription.

With an RSS subscription, everyone who uses RSS gets a chance to subscribe to my blog posts. Which is great if those RSS users are people I want as clients. Studies show that RSS users are more likely to be in tech-related industries and are very likely to be skilled Internet users. Hardly seems like the target market for website maintenance and management services, does it?

So I’ve decided to switch to email. Email is accessible to everyone and very few people are scared of using it. I also believe that people will only sign up for an email newsletter if they’re really interested in what you have to say.

Does this mean that I’m going to start spamming you or sell your address as soon as you sign up for my newsletter? No, that would be stupid. Does it mean that I am going to use my mailing list to try to convince you to hire me? Yes, but politely. And, as with any email opt-in, you’re entitled to unsubscribe whenever you like, and it’s easy to do so.

Here’s my suggestion. If you truly believe that you’re the kind of person who (a) could benefit from quality website management information, or (b) might just be interested in hiring me to look after your website for you, why don’t you sign up? I think you’ll be glad you did.