Email Marketing could be the answer.
 
Email marketing is an immediate and relatively inexpensive way to communicate with your customers. In the last few years the use of this marketing channel has increased significantly due to the benefits and large savings that can be made compared to other marketing activities like press advertising and direct mail.
 
Businesses are realising the importance of email marketing.  According to a poll published by the Online Marketing Blog, 17 per cent of respondents claimed email is one of three marketing channels they are looking to emphasise during the course of 2009.

Unsworth Sugden’s web division, USdigital, offer a cost effective email marketing package.  We can manage the whole of your company’s email campaign; from the design and build of a professional looking html email, through to its fulfillment, and online reporting.

Many companies email their customer database with monthly or quarterly e-newsletters. Why not? It’s a good way of reaching your audience quickly and cheaply, and it keeps your brand in your customers’ minds.

In addition, at this time of year we see companies looking at other alternatives to traditional Christmas cards, with more and more investigating the the e-card route.

When sending an e-newsletter or e-card through to your customers’ inbox, the subject line of the email is of the utmost importance, for these 2 reasons -

1. Spam filters
These days spam filters are very sophisticated, and even if your email isn’t peddling a well known prescription drug, doesn’t mean your customers’ server will agree that your email is any different. To overcome this, be careful in the wording you choose. Avoid words like ‘free’ ‘credit’  and ‘call now’ and also overuse of punctionation such as exclamation marks and question marks. In short, be sensible with it, word it as though you are writing a personal email to someone.

2. Open Rate
It’s all too easy to press delete on an email before you’ve even opened it. Sifting through emails has now become  like sifting through your post at home; complete with Domino’s menus, credit card offers and charity plastic bags to put your old clothes in.
You need to make sure your recipient opens your email, and the only way of securing this is with the subject line. Include your brand in the subject, if your customers know it. If you’ve acquired your email marketing list through your customer database, they should be aware of you.
Include some pull, a taster perhaps of what is enclosed.
Wrong - “December newsletter”
Right - “Acme Ltd News - Savings across all our rocketpacks during December”

Of course, when you’ve got through to your customer, and you have their attention, you need to make sure you’re delivering a knockout email to them!

Web design is crucial; no one wants a 2nd rate, pedestrian looking website. However, there is little point in having an all singing, all dancing website if no one is accessing it.

Without a method of directing traffic to your site, it will achieve nothing. No matter how informative the website is, or how great the design looks, your website will be unlikely to generate new business or sales enquiries.

Website Traffic can be generated in 6 main ways:

1. Search Engine Optimisation
2. Online advertising
3. Press Advertising and PR stories
4. Pay per Click Advertising
5. Email Marketing
6. Internet Users directly accessing your website

Search Engine Optimisation is considered by many as the most important method in getting traffic to your website. To maintain an effective SEO strategy, it must be performed on an ongoing basis.

While press advertising is seeing a decline, online advertising is proving more popular. Web banners and skyscrapers are important digital marketing tools in getting the internet user to jump onto your website.
If you are looking to get your website onto the first page of Google and generate instant traffic to your site then Pay Per Click Advertising is often a good answer - however this can prove expensive in the long run!

Email marketing is good at getting repeat visitors to your website. Emailing your database and directing people onto your website from their inbox, often through special promotions is an excellent way of generating site traffic.

Remember people won’t just stumble across your website. You must actively market it.

Web design is important. But so is website traffic!!!