We have always wanted to market directly to people so we typed up our company newsletters and mailed them out. Then it wasn’t uncommon to find them being broadcasted to the fax machine. The advent of email made us newsletter crazy and we clogged up email accounts with all kinds of files that people couldn’t open until we got savvy with the pdf. Through all of that we maintained all those lists of people, addresses and fax numbers!
Now we have so many automated Newsletter options it is hard to decide which one to use.
Two Email Marketing solutions that I use are MailChimp and MadMimi. First I will confess as to why these two are worthy of my time:
- FUN
- EASY
- CHEAP
Sounds like a date. But I digress. Fun is important to me as I spend a great deal of time online working with these tools. I want to be greeted with fun and real, human language. Both of these do that, in spades.
Mail Chimp
In the fun department, MailChimp is themed around the Chimp, you are always greeted with new and interesting graphics which is very inspiring and gets you in the mood to make your own email campaign less boring.
They will design your email “automagically” by grabbing your logo and company colors. There are guides for everything, seriously, even “Common Email Marketing Rookie Mistakes“. As for Cheap, well you can’t beat free. Mailchimp is the only service I have found that will give you a free account for up to 2,000 subscribers.
Mad Mimi
“Simple and Beautiful Email Marketing” is the tagline and I love their start up story. I have been using Mad Mimi for quite some time to power the Oceanside Diva Club Newsletter. Since this is a volunteer job, the fact that it truly is simple is worth paying for.
Go ahead, give it a try. Maybe this year you can do your ‘Christmas Letter’ as an E-Newsletter to practice before your launch your business newsletter campaign. Remember, well crafted email marketing that isn’t spammy will get your customer’s attention and help you build relationships. Respect your readers and give them timely, relevant and interesting reads.
