How to Start an E-mail Marketing Business in Nigeria
E-mail marketing business is becoming increasingly interesting and lucrative over the years. It has been very lucrative in the US. As at 2011, it was estimated by researchers that e-mail marketing campaigns by companies cost about US$1.51 billion and it was projected to grow to about $2.468 billion.
By this projection and the fact on ground today, you will agree that a lot is spent by companies on e-mail marketing making a very good business.
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The essence of e-mail marketing is about sending out promotional messages to clients/prospective clients through e-mails. The messages are of varied formats. They include advertisements, updates, brand awareness campaigns or requests.
The good thing about e-mail marketing business is that it helps to build a relationship between a seller and his clients or to preserve an existing relationship and further build trust and loyalty between a seller and his clients.
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E-mail marketing service companies have come to be relevant over the years as many companies have discovered their effectiveness and how they can help to increase sales compared to other methods of advertisement.
Most companies would rather outsource their e-mail marketing services to professionals who have the necessary skills and expertise to achieve an effective e-mail marketing campaign. It should also allow the company focus on other aspects of the business.
What are the types of e-mail marketing services?
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Direct emails
This is the first type of e-mail marketing service and they are sent to promote a particular product or sales offer. They sellers gather the e-mail addresses of people they would want to send such messages to by purchasing prospective leads from companies who offer lead generation services. In some situations, an e-mail marketing company may offer both services.
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Transactional e-mails
Transactional e-mails on the other hand are sent to complete or confirm a transaction initiated by a client with the sending company. A good example is when a prospective client visits your sales website and goes through the process of filling a registration form asking for further details about a particular product, transactional e-mails would then be sent to such a client to further engage the customer and trigger his interest in the products.
E-mail marketing service companies have become relevant over the years as many companies have discovered their effectiveness and how they can help to increase sales compared to other methods of advertisement.
Most companies would rather outsource their e-mail marketing services to professionals who possess the necessary skills and expertise to achieve an effective e-mail marketing campaign. It would also allow the company focus on other aspects of the business.
You can begin your e-mail marketing business by starting your own e-mail marketing company. Below are tips to see you through.
Tips on starting an e-mail marketing business
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Put up your business plan
When you want to start an e-mail marketing business, the first step is to draft a business plan. Here, you identify your target customers and how you will reach them. You will have to do the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis with the business plan.
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Decide on the services you want to offer
You have to decide on the category of e-mail marketing services you want to offer. The e-mail marketing business involves various aspects. Some people specialize in developing good e-mail marketing content that would help to sell products while others specialize in lead generation and building e-mail list for their clients.
It is therefore important for you to decide on the service you will offer or if you will offer both.
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Observe your competitors
There is always competition in the business. You should carry out a thorough research on the business and people that have been in it before you.
Researching and thorough observation of your competitors enables you prepare for the task ahead and prevent unnecessary mistakes. It prepares you on how to overcome the obstacles you will face.
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Buy E-mail Marketing Software
To adequately run your e-mail marketing business, you will need to buy very good e-mail marketing software.
The software are used to send bulk e-mails, build e-mail lists for your various clients, develop e-mail marketing content and to track the e-mails sent to see how many were opened and how many were converted to actual sales.
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Determine your prices
When you start your e-mail marketing business, you will have to determine the price for your service. When you factor in your expenditure, your time and your efforts, then you can come up with a good price that can justify that.
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Devise a sales and marketing strategy
E-mail marketing business requires that you devise effective and strategic marketing. You will have to carefully decide on how you want
This is a kind of business that needs effective and strategic marketing. You would need to carefully decide on how you want to promote your services and build a customer base.
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Create a business website
You will definitely not succeed in e-mail marketing business without a website. So get one ready. It is even better to have a professionally designed website. The website provides you a landing page where customers and prospective clients can check you out. Also get a good internet service provider and host server that would be able to handle a large volume of data that you would most likely be dealing with.
