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Jordan Ayan created the checklist for the recent ClickZ Email Marketing Conference. I am breaking down his six points into individual posts so I can use examples from Main Street to help you see the relevance for you.

Depending upon when you are reading this, the other stories may or may not already be posted. To find out, type ClickZ in the search box.

The question Jordan posed and you need to be able to answer is, “Are your messages accurately reflecting your brand? The design and appearance of your email message create a lasting impression on your audience.”

We all get a lot of email from strangers. We instinctively delete most of it. That which we do look at we judge, probably subconsciously, by the way it looks. Are these the sort of people I want to do business with? Can I identify with them? Are they likely to understand people like me?

If we don’t feel comfortable with them, immediately, but our interest in their product is triggered by the message - we will simply delete the email and go to Google to find the product being sold by people we instinctively trust. Are your email campaigns adding new customers to your account or to that of your competitor?

Most of us market, sell, and deliver our products and services within a loosely defined geographical area. If you own a rock quarry, how far can you haul gravel and still make a profit? So, if we carefully construct our email list from the known prospects and suspects in our area and send them an email that causes them to buy from our competitor, we’ve lost them for good. If you do that for a while you’ll drive away all the people you are not already doing business with.

When you email people you already know or people who have already heard of you, what’s the branding objective?

I met a Dodge dealer a while ago. His dealership had been around fifty years. His dad had sold Dodge trucks and DeSoto cars to about everybody in a 20 mile radius at one time or another. The dealership was well known around there. They were even pre-selling Dodge Ram pickups for next year.

So, when they decided to do an email campaign beyond the traditional 20 mile marketing radius, what should it look like - who should it brand?

The dealer wisely figured that since there were almost as many Dodge commercials on the air as there are football games - they need to brand THEIR DEALERSHIP  and how it’s unique. How they understand pickup buyers and how they are willing to bring one out to their prospect’s farm or business.

The purpose of the email was to create a connection between the potential buyers and them, for now and in the future.

These are not sophisticated people, they do not measure the ‘open-rate’ of their messages - but they did find that telephone calls to the 800 number (people in the other towns) went up by 30%, 20%, and 19% the three weeks after the campaign. If you know anything about selling - 25% more inbound leads will generate a bunch of new sales.

The dealership sponsors a regional slow-pitch softball team. They had just received the uniform shirts for the next season. The Dodge RAM logo was prominently displayed across the back, while the dealership name was on the front in small letters.

After the success of the email campaign they put the dealership name and URL on the back with the Dodge logo in the middle. They put the dealership’s owner and his direct number on the front.

When you are emailing people you don’t know, with the intention of establishing a new business relationship - remember, your message must reflect YOUR brand. When the design and appearance creates that indelible impression, you want it to be the right impression.

All the best,

Wayne Messick

BTW: ClickZ.com has an impressive array of newsletters to support your online efforts. And they’re free.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 1st, 2006 at 2:38 pm and is filed under Internet Strategies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.