SPAM and Internet marketing in the 21st Century.

I started a new project a few days ago with a local chiropractor who wanted to know more about Internet Marketing. After he peppered me with a dozen questions, I stopped him and asked my usual opening question. " What exactly do you want to accomplish?

He wasn't quite sure what I meant. This is not all that unique in my profession. I see this look (the deer in the headlights image) when I try to get business owners to decide on a goal before deciding on a strategy.

"I want to get solid leads of local business owners so that I can develop a relationship with for future business." I said to him. Being much smarter than I am, he got the hint. "

I want to generate a master list of qualified leads with whom I can build solid relationships over the next year." my client said. I was impressed.

He was now able to shape his questions based on his goals. It turns out that email marketing was something he was interested in but felt that spamming was going to get him in trouble. He hated spam but didn't see how email marketing worked around the issue.

"You need to treat email like cold calling on the phone." I said. The people who are great at cold calling do two very important things first. They only call people who fit the defined demographic of their target market. Then they do not call to make a sale. They call to see if there is an opportunity to share information now, or later.
They use the first phone call to qualify the prospect. If there is a good match, the prospect is rewarded with a free offer, or information. If there is no match, the prospect is evaluated for future contact or dropped if he/she is disqualifies.

Email should be treated the same way.

So what constitutes Spam? This is the current information on SPAM the unsolicited email practice, not the canned meat-like product. O.K., let me get this off my chest. SPAM stands for Shoulder Pork and hAM, SPAM.

Now back to my client's serious considerations. Spamming (the Internet variety) goes all the way back to the days of the USENET newsgroups; around 1978 or so. The practice bases its effectiveness on the principle of averages.

If you can get one person out of a thousand to do what you want him or her to do, then you can get 100 to do the same out of 100,000 people. This idea and the ease of distribution of the web led to the proliferation of unwanted and repetitive email.

Pretty soon we were so fed up with the Viagra messages and home loan pitches that the US congress got involved. They wanted all of us to comply with the new USA federal law that went into effect on January 1, 2002 - 2007 referred to as the "Can Spam" law. By the way the law has not stopped the spammers from doing what they do best. It has however stopped a lot of folks who could ethically market online, to reconsider their options.

If you follow a few simple guidelines it's pretty easy to comply with the new law. Bulk email isn't illegal. As a matter of fact, most anti-spam organizations have complained that it actually legalizes unsolicited bulk email and hasn't stopped the spam problem at all.

The "Can Spam" law provides a new set of guidelines to prevent practices such as using fraudulent or deceptive subject lines, forged return email addresses or hijacked mail server relays.

By law, an email marketer has to to provide a valid unsubscribe option for “remove requests” (requests to have an email address removed from a mailing list).

For those like my client who are ethical and sensitive to the issue, there is a right way and a wrong way to conduct a bulk email campaign. If you have a computer, an Internet connection and a willingness to learn, you can achieve the same results for your business or organization that the big Fortune 500 online companies are getting from bulk email marketing. You just have to do it according to the rules.

One of the most important factors in email etiquette is courtesy. You really should not try to sell strangers products or services with unsolicited email; it's rude. Use the first round of emails to introduce yourself and find out if the strangers you approached are friendly and open enough to let you know if they have a problem that you can fix.

Do this by offering them a reason to "opt-in". Opt-in is the phrase marketers use for what they call "permission marketing". Opt-In E-Mail Lists

Opt-in e-mail lists include only those people who have specifically asked to receive information. You can create your own opt-in list by adding a section to your Web site asking interested visitors to leave their e-mail address. This is done with an "ethical bribe". You let the visitor know that you're willing to give them something for the effort of filling out a few lines on your website.

You can drive traffic to your website using Google Adwords (Online ad promotion service by Google)and then offer those who click to your site an opportunity to get your newsletter or special deal for giving you their name and email info.

There's nothing to be ashamed of. You can ask for what you want, it's up to them to get in or get out. Always be courteous online. This process can be done by direct mail as well. You can mail out an offer to people who then go online to sign up for the free gift or report.

People who opt in are sent a confirmation e-mail that they have to reply to. This ensures that the people who are on your list really asked to be there, and weren't put there by someone else." This option is vital in order to stay compliant with the law. A service such as aweber (www.aweber.com) or constant contact (www.constantcontact.com) can be a great service for this kind of marketing because they stay one step ahead of the legal changes regarding email.

Another option is to use a bulk opt-in email service such as Return Path (www.returnpath.net), will send your ad to a list of people who have opted-in to your category of advertisement. They fit your target market.

My chiropractor client wants to make friends over the Internet with local business people. He can send an introductory email letting them know that there is problem with workplace injuries and repetitive stress injuries that's been affecting local business profits.

He is willing to include the business owner on his e-newsletter if he has experienced problems in the workplace. He'll also include a free evaluation as part of the free subscription to the e-newsletter.

A short solicitation with a free giveaway and "no selling" goes a long way to making a stranger into a friend. The idea is to offer targeted lists something that they all could see as a benefit. Reference the major hopes and challenges that are specific to that target market. Give something free to them for the act of filling out a form.

Here are a few rules to follow to make sure you are in compliance with the law:

Always honor remove requests from your recipients.

Never use forged or fraudulent return email addresses.

Never use fraudulent or deceptive subject lines.

Do not redirect email through hijacked mail server relays.

Include a postal mail address in your emails.

Identify emails of an adult nature with the appropriate subject line.

That's pretty much it. So now you just need to get a list.
Here's the link to the CAN-SPAM details. http://www.marketing-2000.net/canspam.htm

I'll cover the issue of creating lists and more in another article.