Article Presented by:
Constantin Chersin
When you run your own business there are many things to do and just not enough time to complete them all. It is critical to not only organize your time but to take advantage of technology and automate your business. Autoresponders will allow you to do this. They are relatively cheap, will save your time and allow you to organize the many daily chores of your business.
Now before you go out and just get a free autoresponder, stop and take into consideration a few points. Free autoresponders have very limited features and they put their ads into your messages. This will make a bad impression on you and you will lose the trust of your readers. Trust and credibility is critical when selling anything.
Autoresponders have many uses here are a few:
1. Newsletter management 2. Thank you notes-follow up note to customers 3. Mailers 4. FAQ answers 5. Announcements 6. Ads 7. E-courses
Your newsletter is a powerful promotion tool and needs to be well maintained and managed. Without an autoresponder you will take many hours to complete the simple tasks of newsletter management. An autoresponder will manage your lists, by taking care of bounces, those who unsubscribe, and visitors who subscribe to your newsletter. A simple web form will allow subscribers to be added to your list. Your autoresponder will let you to send out your newsletter with just one click of your mouse. Many autoresponders have a tracking feature allowing you to tell how many subscribers open your newsletter and how many have used your links. This lets you see the effectiveness of your newsletter and ads.
It is respectful and simply good business etiquette to send a thank you note to your customers and clients. Your autoresponder can be set up to send one immediately they buy, and include a link for downloading or shipping instructions. It can also be set up for a scheduled follow up letter which will ask if they need any help and offer a bounce back offer.
Mailers are a powerful way to promote your business and can turn indecisive prospects into buyers. They are a series of messages about your product/services. Messages are sent out at timed intervals. A good time frame is about 7-10 days on a daily basis. Do not overdo this sales technique or you will lose potential customers. Here are some common ways they can be used.
Mailers sent to your customers can be very rewarding. Offers of discounts, or coupons on related items are called bounce back or backend selling. Once your customer has bought and enjoyed one product from you they will be highly likely to buy from you again. Use your bounce back offer in your follow up email.
Be careful never to abuse this powerful way of marketing. Only market to your opt-in-list, people who have specifically asked for more information about your product or have actually bought from you. Never send out messages to anyone on a random basis this is unsolicited mail and will get you into a lot of trouble and can even result in your losing your business.
Your FAQ list can be set up on an autoresponder. Instead of spending hours per day to answer customers questions you can make a list of frequently asked questions and answers. In your follow up letter to your customer you can reference and provide them a link in the letter which when clicked will bounce back an email with your FAQ.
Announcements are good to send out to your subscribers and customers. They inform them of any new services you are offering, or a special discount or certificate. You can also tell them about anything special that will be published in the newsletter.
Advertisements like solo ads will always be sent out by your autoresponder. These can be scheduled ahead of time and your autoresponder will automatically send these out to your list.
E-courses are a great promotional tool. You can give your reader valuable information and at the same time can put a tiny 3 line ad with your signature. They are usually 5-7 days long on a daily basis. This means that you will have the chance to build a relationship and a possible sale with a prospective customer and show your tiny ad 5-7 times.
There are so many ways to use this powerful marketing tool. Used wisely and well it can build your business and expand your markets. Above all it will put much of your daily chores on autopilot and leave you time to run your business more smoothly and with less stress.
About the Author:
Constantin Chersin is an entrepreneur specializing in software and web development. For more information about his services and how he can help you promote your business, please visit http://www.itprovision.net/ Constantin is also the publisher of the free marketing newsletter "IT Pro Vision."
