November 14, 2000
Article

Why You Should Do Different Email Blasts for Different Industries -- Even If Your Offer is the Same

SUMMARY: Damian Bazadona, a Partner with the Cyber-NY Interactive Agency, just completed an unusually successful email marketing campaign for a large public financial services organization, which was targeting a variety of industries seeking unsecured financing solutions.


Instead of sending out a single blast email message to CFOs at all these industries, Bazadona created a series of different emails with matching landing pages (the Web page the recipient clicks through to from your message.) Each email and landing page specifically targeted a particular vertical industry. So, even though the service offered was the same across the board, prospects felt the message was highly targeted to their needs.
In the past when business marketers relied on direct mail, this was often a cost prohibitive step. Who wants to print different versions of a brochure for every different vertical industry you target? However, email marketing made this cost effective. Bazadona reports that although campaign costs went up a bit, in the end the results more than made up for it!

Here are Bazadona's top three tips for successful B-to-B email marketing:

Tip #1 Make sure your email list as targeted as possible. In the campaign described above, instead of just saying 'unsecured financing' in the subject heading, we used 'unsecured financing for the construction industry' or 'unsecured financing for information technology companies' dependent on that specific email list. The clickthrough rate will see a boost in response.

Tip #2 Short, direct copy often generates a higher response rate. Instead of bombarding a potential with all of your marketing materials, simply provide the copy that is needed to help them understand what you do and what you are offering. You can then provide a text link to a targeted web page that fully explains the specifics of your offering. (BTW: Always avoid using file attachments in email marketing!)

Tip #3 If possible, create a targeted URL/Web page that the user will see if they click on your text link in the email. This landing page should be as targeted as possible and should be consistent with the offering in the email. Simply sending somebody to your Web site's home page, may not be effective enough and will often lose the 'one-to-one' feel.

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