Posted on May 20th, 2010
Internet marketers will tell you about the power of the list, but it can be easy to alienate or frustrate the people that are on your mailing list. They can unsubscribe quite easily and this can have a dramatically negative impact on your business. At the same time, you want the system to be as streamlined and painfree as possible.
That’s why a drip email system is so appealing. Also known as e-mail drip marketing, this is a more advanced version of the typical e-mail newsletter. Instead of sending out the mailings on a “live” basis, the messages are actually composed ahead of time and sent out on a defined schedule. For instance, someone signing up for an online course can receive the weekly lessons automatically.
Many e-mail marketing systems, like AWeber, have “drip” functionality built into them. With some of these, you can have new subscribers enter the system and be sent out the same messages as existing subscribers. With others, you can have the complete set of e-mail messages sent to new subscribers on the prescribed schedule.
After the initial introduction email, the former system can be fantastic for real estate agents. Prospective leads can be sent the new listings every week or every two weeks, ensuring that your name is the first they’ll contact when they’re ready to buy.
The latter system is more appropriate to content that isn’t quite so time-sensitive. As mentioned above, an online course would be best suited to use this type of e-mail drip marketing. Each lesson is sent out periodically and each of these can contain an additional affiliate link of some kind that you can use to promote another product.
Both types of drip email can be very effective for marketing your business and maintaining your brand presence in the marketplace. More and more people may be moving toward social media, like Facebook and Twitter, but there is still a great deal of power to be yielded through e-mail marketing.
By using drip email, your involvement can be minimized and the process can be better automated. This opens up opportunities for upsells, suggestive sells, and even more passive income. Set it up once and watch as the money rolls in.
