One of the easiest yet most under-utilized marketing tools is direct email. An email allows you to both educate and remind potential clients and referral sources who you are and what you do. The good news is that, if done correctly, you already have some connection with these individuals, so telling them who you are is something you have already accomplished. And if your goal is landing a favorable audience, how better than fishing in a stocked pond?
How many email address contacts do you have? Take a moment to check. Really. Do it now.
If you have an iPhone, go to your “Contacts” and scroll all the way to the bottom – the Zs or # there at the end. I have 5,317. I bet you have more than you think. If your contacts aren’t synched between your phone and your laptop or desktop, you can figure out the same thing through Office 365. If you are in a firm with multiple lawyers, multiply whatever number you come up with for your contacts by the number of lawyers. That is the beginning of an email mailing list for your firm. Oh sure, there may be some on the list you don’t want to email. Even if you delete those, you’re still left with a sizeable list.
In whatever format you maintain your contacts list, there is a way to export it into a spreadsheet or into a CSV (comma-separated values) file that can easily convert into a spreadsheet.
Then that list can be uploaded into an email campaign management tool like ConstantContact or MailChimp[i]. You can use that program’s templates and graphics to design an engaging email campaign whether it is styled as a newsletter, blog, or something else.
Many of your contacts would love to use you or refer someone to you because they already know you.
They simply need to be reminded what it is that you do or want to do, and how you can help them, their friends, their family, or one of their colleagues. Make it easy for them – tell them! Share a link to your website, which will kill two birds with one stone – provide them with more information and increase your website visits. Share a link to your social media so that they can follow you there.
Your email doesn’t need to be a sales pitch or a demand for work. But it should be informative and engaging. Tell them something that they’d like to know.
Even if it is a reminder of something they already grasp, you have reconnected with them and reminded them who you are. We are so inundated with data, information, and pitches these days that we quickly forget the friends we know well and would love to support.
Sure, we all get a lot of emails, many of which we never asked for. But we still connect with them when we delete them. So even if they are not read, they still serve a purpose. Try it. You’ll be amazed at how easy and effective email campaigns can be. Not confident in your ability to compose your first try? Let us help.
[i] Another reason you should use such a tool is that it will include and manage recipients’ rights to opt-out of receiving future mass emails from you, pursuant to the CAN-SPAM Act. https://www.fcc.gov/general/can-spam.