Pay Per Click and your online marketing campaign

Article from December, 3rd, 2003.

E-mail marketing is great. It's cheap, simple and offers tons of other benefits. However, it's not a perfect solution for each and every business. Case in point - the wedding and "bridal services" industry. First, it's very tough to define what your target audience is (in terms of demographic, of course) and how to get to it. Even if you manage to buy or rent a list from some wedding related websites (bridal dresses, wedding photographers, etc), there is no guarantee that by the time you mail your message the people aren't already married (or even divorced).

So you need another way to market. Pay per click model is ideal. First, there is no need to search for the target audience. You bid for the keywords, thus get only qualified leads. Second, it is a performance-based marketing system. You pay only for the traffic that arrives to your website. What you do next is your business. Third, it is very flexible. Chance are you already know about PPC system and do not need any further explanations. The question is how can you use it for your e-mail marketing campaign.

Simple! If you set aside renting and buying e-mail lists, there are two ways to get subscribers to your newsletter. The first way is when the subscribers recommend your newsletter to their friends. The second way is when visitors to your website decide that they want to receive information from you regularly and enter their e-mails.

That's not too many people you can reach. However, people do search for the e-zines and newsletters on the Internet, using search engines. So you are probably missing out on thousands of perspective subscribers. What's the best way to go about it? PPC, of course. Right now if you enter "newsletter", "subscribe" or "subscription" in Google, you will see PPC ads. You will probably waste money if you buy these exact words. But if you narrow it down to "Hunting in California newsletter", "Subscribe to junk bonds e-zine" and "free best blogs digest subscription" you are likely to get people who will not only visit your website, but will subscribe too. What is the other good way to you PPC in conjunction with a newsletter? Let's say you are selling fishing gear. Your PPC ad competitors will advertise fishing rods, flies, wobblers, etc. How do you position yourself to beat them? Why not advertise "free e-book about the best fishing places in North East" or "the savvy fisherman guide to online stores". The trick is not only to get the prospective buyers to your website, but to make them enter an e-mail in exchange for the free content you will provide (e-book, for example).

This way even if the visitors will not buy anything from your site, you will be able to contact him or her in the future. Want to share your ideas - write to us.

Relevant links:

    • Clean up your mailing list
    • Mass mail markegins software
    • Using SMS in your e-marketing campaigns

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