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Is Email Marketing
Still An Effective Option For Network Marketing? |
by:
Rich Niccolls |
With email filters,
blockers, and simply tons of unsolicited email, is email marketing
still a viable option to build and grow your network marketing
business? The answer to this question, in my opinion is "Yes,
but."
Let's deal with the "Yes" first, then we'll deal with the "But."
I remember about 5 or 6 years ago putting about 400 leads into
my autoresponder and enrolling about 8 - 10 people a month into
my nutritional program. Today, if you had 10 times that many leads,
you may get a couple of prospects, and maybe, maybe, one enrollment.
It is true that times have changed, but that doesn't necessarily
mean that email marketing is dead. Let's look at a couple of examples.
One colleague of mine from California literally cannot keep up
with the large number of prospects inquiring about her program.
She is signing up 10 - 15 people per month into her program which
costs about $1300 to start. Eighty percent of her efforts are
wrapped up in email marketing. She has gone through the learning
curve and is what I would call, a professional email marketer.
How many emails does she send? About 1 million per month.
Another colleague of mine from Georgia is enrolling about 30 people
per month into his business, a $20 a month, non-nutritional program.
He is not highly sophisticated in what he does, but is effective
enough to send out about 250,000 - 300,000 emails per month.
What is the biggest difference between now and then? Numbers.
With the vast expansion of the Internet and email marketing, it
simply requires greater numbers to get results today. It is not
uncommon for some folks to get a couple hundred unsolicited emails
a day that you must compete with. With the billions of emails
circulating on a daily basis, you need massive numbers to get
results. So, how many emails should you send out? Keep reading.
Now let's talk about the "But."
The biggest downside to email marketing is that new recruits are
weak. Email marketing is notorious for having a revolving door
with new recruits. Why? There is no relationship involved except
for exchanging a few emails. Email marketing is very impersonal,
and without the relationship, there is no bond (or glue) to hold
the new recruit in your business. Many leave as quickly as they
come. So how do you overcome this?
With both of my colleagues whom I mentioned above, they are both
fanatical about picking up the phone within a very brief time
that the prospect visits their web site. One of the very first
comments out of their mouth is "I wanted to give you a call and
let you know there is a real person on the other end of the email."
And it works!
Picking up the phone, reaching out and touching them, and beginning
to bond with the new prospect or recruit is vital. If you are
not willing to pick up the phone, then email marketing isn't going
to be worth it for you. One of email marketing's strengths is
sorting through the prospects, then giving you someone to talk
to.
So, how many emails should you be sending out in order to get
enough prospects to talk to so you can build your business? As
many as you can. From my observation, 100,000 leads is minimum.
Anything less will not produce results for you. If it is within
your budget, 300,000 is a better number. For the "email marketing
professional," maybe one million is a better number. Whatever
the number, you must be committed to constant, consistent effort,
followed up by a personal phone call.
One final thought before we wrap this up. If you are going to
involve yourself in email marketing, you must take the time and
learn how to do it right. Understand that some people will complain
about not wanting your emails, you will get undeliverable emails
and blocked emails, and your autoresponder company may change
their policies on you and you have to switch companies. But take
the time to become a professional at what you do.
In summary, is email marketing still effective for building your
MLM business? Yes. You simply must increase the numbers of emails
you are sending out. But, you must also understand that you must
pick up the phone and reach out and touch your prospects and new
recruits or you will lose them. It is still a viable option for
those who want to use this as a means of growing their network
marketing business.
About the author:
Rich Niccolls has been helping networkers with leads for over
five years. For a list of email marketing friendly autoresponders
and mass senders, visit his web site at:
http://www.National-Leads.com/autoresponders.html
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