E-Mail Marketing

E-mail marketing can outperform many of the traditional marketing tactics.
Most arts organizations don't exploit the interactive potential and don't involve the patron.

E-mail comes in 2 flavors: spam (not requested & unwanted) and opt-in (requested & wanted).
Opt-in e-mail works because arts feeds a passion and can develop loyalty to a specific organization.
Most successful when offers are connected to the recipients' needs and interests.

Make the collection of e-mail names the #1 objective of your website. Most important goal: "Sign up" link for your e-mail newsletter.
Always collect demographic and preference information along with the e-mail address. Consumers are willing to give personal data in return for the promise of special offers and information not available to others.
Segment lists and make all of your offers targeted. The more closely the offer matches their needs, the better the response rate will be.
Include a "call to action" with e-mail marketing. Ask e-mail recipients to click on a link to do something ("click here to purchase tickets online").
Offer HTML and text formats. HTML is the most common form that means e-mail includes text formatting and pictures. Invest in the correct software.
Favor quality vs quantity. Send a targeted message that responds to their needs and offers them something that they otherwise could not get.
Prepare destination web page. "Click here to buy tickets" should send them to your web page where they can order tickets.
Integrate e-mail list development into offline marketing efforts. Develop a consistent and rich database of information about your patrons.
Measure, Measure, Measure. Track the results of your e-mail marketing efforts.
Test your way to success. E-mail marketing provides the ability to change and modify your offerings.