If you’re looking to market a product, know that there are tricks of the trade that can help you achieve your goals. Those tricks vary depending on the product, target market and the promotional cycle in which the marketing strategy is unveiled. If you’re targeting an opt-in list, here are a few tips to make the most of your marketing plan.
Be sure not to overwhelm your audience with promotional e-mails.
Ezines and newsletters are great communication tools, but remember that they should be used primarily to inform the reader, secondly promote you. In a nutshell, you can promote your business, service or product, but don’t over do it. If you want your audience to read your material and not simply discard it, it is best to make sure that at least 80 percent of your content is valuable and informative.
Effective ways to add value to your material is to include how-to articles, reviews and case studies. Feel free to promote yourself with the remaining 20 percent. Promotions could include links within your content, banner ads, block ads or promotional messages included at the bottom of the content. Test a variety of methods and track the results to gauge your most effective marketing plan.
Just be sure you are offering your audience content that is beneficial.
Offering your audienice complete informational content, forgoing any hard sell, can be very effective and can be achieved by offering a review of the product you are trying to sell. If a review is written from an unbiased perspective, of it appears to have been written from an unbiased source, the reader will have more insight into the product. You’ll want to highlight the product’s purpose and strengths to produce a well-written review; you also could detail your experience with the product and perhaps list a drawback or two.
Word information about drawbacks carefully, much as you would during a job interview; make drawbacks sound benign or spin those drawbacks in a more favorable way. Make your weaknesses your strengths. Include a brief summary with your product review, post a link to the product, and you have effective marketing material.
Again, don’t over promote yourself or your product.
People who agree to receive promotional material, such as those on opt-in lists, understand that they’ll receive materials, but don’t bombard them with so much information that they’ll ignore you, or worse, get angry. Plan to release marketing material at appropriate times, such as during special events, new product launches or even the holidays.
Make sure your promotional materials maintain the same standards as your business practice and you can’t go wrong. Value and respect your audience, offer value and information, and your business and client list will prosper.
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