E-mail Marketing

Most emails get deleted faster than you can say “twitter,” but people still read personal letters. Okay, so maybe they toss out the semi-personalized form letter after reading the first few lines. But it still gets opened and scanned over, and if the letter appears to be meant specifically for them, it gets plenty of attention. This is very different than the reaction given an email even though emails always have a name on them. Why?

I think it has to do with a perception of value. It takes very little effort to send an email. My inbox is full of them every morning. Unless I already have a relationship with the person who sent the email, I don’t give it much thought before hitting the delete button. It doesn’t have enough perceived value to justify my time. The media downplays the value of the message.

Unsolicited emails are like junk faxes. They remind me of the recorded message I sometimes get: “Your call is very important to us; please stay on the line and someone will assist you shortly.” Five minutes later I am saying: “Hey, if my call is important to you, answer the d… phone!” The action, or rather inaction, tells me exactly how important my call is. So it is with emails. You can blast out emails by the thousands, but that won’t give the recipient the idea that his needs are important to you.

If you want your message to get attention, pay more attention to the people you are sending it to. That doesn’t mean you should never send emails. By all means, use every tool in your toolbox. Just don’t expect the screwdriver to be a very good hammer. Your online marketing effort should be teamed with direct mail. How important is that? It is so important, even Google uses direct mail. Give your prospects something they can hold in their hand.

Marketing as Education

It is not really a new concept, but more and more companies today are adopting a marketing approach that incorporates education for customers and potential customers. Today’s newsletters are less about self promotion and more about providing useful information. More and more companies are providing free seminars. These efforts aim at building relationships and establishing value in the community, not just selling products and services. Small businesses are often uniquely positioned to take advantage of this kind of marketing.

One such business that has become a great source of information for clients and potential clients is Westlake Village’s AXICOM. AXICOM, a provider of technology services since 1996, specializes in computer and network support services for businesses in the Los Angeles and Ventura counties. I asked AXICOM CEO, Jake Nonnemaker, about his marketing philosophy.

Q. Jake, how did you decide to provide education as a key part of your marketing program?

A. The decision to offer free technology education came about because we wanted a new way to provide value to our customers. After talking to some of our customers and asking them what else we can do for them, quite a few asked how they can get the most out of their tools like Microsoft Office and mobile phones. So we started to deliver exactly that to our customers. Our seminars and workshops help differentiate us from other computer support professionals. As you can imagine, there isn't much barrier to entry in the IT support arena. A guy can get laid off from his corporate job at 9am and be Joe the Computer Tech LLC by noon. And with the economy the way it is, a lot of people have done just that. So the field is pretty crowded and I've found that educating our clients on technology really sets us apart. Our education seminars can introduce new products to our existing customers but also give prospects an opportunity to check us out and see that we are people they will want to do business with. We also show our customers how to get the most out of their technology and in today's economic environment that is crucial.

Q. What kinds of education programs has AXICOM provided or sponsored?

A. We recently upgraded to a larger office in Westlake Village after 9 years in Agoura Hills. With our new office, we opened the AXICOM Technology Learning Center. We hold free seminars and workshops which are generally about an hour long and cover topics such as social networking, Windows 7, Microsoft Office products, Blackberry and iPhone, mobile computing, PC maintenance, and cloud computing. We also bring in other expert speakers to talk about things like email marketing, paperless office and simplifying your office.

Q. What has been the response?

A. The topics have been very well received so much so that we've been maxing out the capacity of our Learning Center which holds about 12 people. So we've started doing online webinars as well to accomodate more people and also provide reach to people who live outside the immediate area.

Q. What would you recommend for other businesses who might be considering education as part of their marketing efforts?

A. I would recommend staying committed to an education program for at least 6 months if you decide to do one. That's when our customers seemed to have realized that we were serious and it wasn't just a passing marketing scheme. Don't be discouraged after the first couple of seminars because those are the ones that you are going to cut your teeth on. It becomes much easier once you develop a system of doing seminars or webinars.Don't just use seminars as a platform to hawk your products. You really need to make sure people go away with valuable information that they can use. Also, don't make it all about "you." Bring in guest speakers that complement your product or service. You will find that your customer will value you more as a resource and it will solidify your relationship.


For more information about AXICOM, you can reach Jake at (818) 865-9865 or jake@axicom.net.