Today, the days of sending out flyers in mails and cold calling is not as effective as it used to be. A better way to get leads and increase sales is through email marketing. Every successful business utilizes some form of email marketing to drive sales.

If you do a search online, you can find many email marketing systems. There are free and paid email marketing software to choose from. Before you decide whether to pay for the system, it is important that you check the features first. The features of a free system are not the same as a paid system. Free systems have very limited features which may affect your campaigns in the near future.

Many software programs offer a free trial. You should sign up for the free trial and try the system. This allows you to explore all the included features before you make any decision. In this article, let me share with you a few important features that you should look out for:

1. Personalization. You should be able to personalize your emails with first name. This is very important because a cold email will get not get your subscribers’ attention.

2. Reporting. You should be able to generate reports to track important numbers like open rate, click through rate and delivery status. Reports allow you to know how successful your campaign is.

3. Able to send HTML email. HTML emails allow more customization and can better engage your subscribers. HTML emails with images and links are much better received too. The system should allow you to upload your own HTML template and send HTML emails.

4. Find out how many emails can the software send at one time. If your list is huge, you need to ensure that the system is able to handle the delivery.

5. When you upload your own list, does the system require subscribers to re-confirm their subscription? If they need to re-confirm their subscription again, you must be prepared to lose some subscribers.

6. What kinds of support do the company provides? Do they provide only email or phone support? If you need an onsite demo or support, will the company be able to do it?

7. The system needs to support international characters. International character support is important when your email campaigns are going abroad.

Make sure you do a thorough research before you decide to use a particular system. Choosing the wrong system may cause you a lot of unnecessary problems in the future.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

If you have a list that you email to on a regular basis, you probably already know you have to do more than just sell to them.

You have to give them a compelling reason to read–and not hit the unsubscribe button.

However, you, I–and your reader all know that selling is at the crux of those emails. Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But in the big picture, selling is the name of the game.

You are walking a delicate tightrope between building your reader up to make a purchase and engaging them.

There are all sorts of strategies to draw a reader in. There is not one way that works better than the rest. You can educate them. You can empathize with them. You can entertain them.

This article is about entertaining them. Or more specifically–using story as a way to connect with your email list.

What a lot of business people don’t know is you don’t have to concoct a story that relates to what you’re trying to sell. You don’t have to wrack your brain much at all.

Just go for a story with a human interest angle–and then at the end–find a way to connect it ever so indirectly to your offer.

For example, recently I learned that an anthropologist claimed prehistoric man was able to run 45 mph. I found that fascinating–and figured a lot of other people would too. Especially since the anthropologist was also suggesting modern humans are weaklings in comparison.

I used that story to promote an online marketing system. One had nothing to do with the other–and yet…I made the analogy work!

What was the connector? Having the right “equipment” gives some people an edge over others.

Telling a story that has nothing to do with your product may seem counterintuitive…but you need to remember something: many–if not most of your readers are bored at their desks. They receive unexciting email all day long. Your stories give them something to look forward to.

Try this experiment for an upcoming email blast: Keep your eyes and ears open for an interesting news story. Preferably one that hasn’t gone viral and is a little off beat. Tell that story in 300 words or less-and then find a way to loosely connect it with your offer.

This will become easier over time–especially as you let go of the notion that the only purpose of emailing your list is to close a sale.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Suzanne Ryan is co-partner of http://moneymakingemail.com which provides pre-written email packs for popular affiliate products in such niches as internet marketing, health & fitness, diy home improvement etc

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

• Advertising, Opt-in Leads, Email Marketing service helps small businesses market their products more effectively. We provide everything you need, http://www.madviral.com Phone: 256-778-8350 (9am-5pm CST M-F) MadViral Enterprises, LLC 171 Early Rd. Hartselle, Al. 35640