Most businesses with an online presence use email to some extent every day. However, many are yet to realise the potential they have already available to them in the form of email marketing. Cheap and effective, email marketing is a brilliant way to keep your brand in the forefront of your client’s minds.

As well as sending out a regular newsletter, consider these tips for just some of the ways you can use email marketing to benefit and grow your business:

• New product launch: send an email a week or so before a new product is due, and then the day before, including a special offer or coupon.
• Put the information you have to good use, and send out birthday greetings to clients and customers
• Offer your list readers a small free gift or discount occasionally. This is an excellent way of rewarding customer loyalty and making sure they’ll stay subscribed to hear your other messages.
• Use your mailing list program to run a small mini course or answer common customer enquiries with autoresponders.
• Pay attention to your link click-throughs and rewards those who follow through with a discount or offer, such as free shipping.
• Pre-qualify your messages by using custom fields that apply to your business (for example: first name, state or color preference) to send out highly relevant emails, personalised, rather than sending the same generic message to everyone.

Make your email marketing messages brief, easy to read, personalised, and with a little bonus every now and then, and you’ll keep your customers reading.