Building an email list continues to be one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies for businesses of all sizes.
An Introduction to Email Marketing
For example, SEO (search engine optimization) methods and PPC (pay per click) programs are typically more expensive than email marketing. Reaching current and potential customers by email is a testable and scalable marketing practice – you can see quantifiable results and increase or decrease your company’s email efforts with a click of your mouse.
Data Mining and Email Marketing
Many businesses place email marketing programs on the back burner because of uncertainties about where to obtain credible email addresses. The most practical and effective solution to this problem is to collect required information with data mining.
Businesses can use two different types of data mining – online data mining and offline data mining. The online version involves using data mining techniques to sift through extensive web resources. Examples include blogs, social media, websites and mailing lists. The offline approach of data mining is a high-tech version of what most companies did in “the old days” – collecting information from recorded data sources such as property tax records. However, the “old-fashioned” way of doing this – manual searches – was always viewed as inefficient because it was! There is indeed a better way to do it (actually two ways): using online and offline data mining software with the assistance of data mining experts like DataEntryOutsourced.
Data Cleansing and Email Validation
In the rush to capitalize on email marketing, many business owners and executives always fear two dreaded words – “Bad Data.” With email marketing, bad data can rear its ugly head in several ways:
- Dead Email Addresses – For example, due to changing jobs and businesses closing.
- Duplicate Addresses – This often happens when merging databases.
- Erroneous Email Addresses – Usually due to clerical errors when inputting an address.
- Other “Small” Errors – Even small errors result in “bad data.” For example, a spacing error or an improper email format.
Unless these problems are avoided, your company will be sending email to a “bad list” – resulting in bounced and returned emails.
The solution? Data cleansing – manually and by software. While some bad data (such as returned emails) must be cleansed manually, data cleansing by software is the most effective method.
How to Build a Target Email List
Unless you want to create a new department to handle data mining, the smartest move for most businesses is to develop a long-term partnership with a data mining company. This will enable your company to outsource a specialized task to data mining experts – you will get faster and higher-quality results without hiring a single new employee.
Your data mining partner will need your help when building an email marketing list. You must be prepared to provide as much detail as possible about your target audience – for example, industry, profession and Fortune 500 (or 5000 or smaller).
One of the most successful and ethical ways to build an email list is to produce high quality content such as blog articles and white papers and then create “opt-in forms” that comply with CAN-SPAM Act provisions. This will also help you to track results from different types of marketing offers.
Which Data Mining Company?
DataEntryOutsourced is one of the most cost-effective data mining companies in the world. Why not start your search by talking to an industry leader in data mining?
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