You can get a much better result by growing your online database of prospects and then building a relationship with them over time and eventually ‘getting the sale’ and repeat business.

Building a relationship with prospective customers is not a ’set and forget’ one stage process. It needs to be well thought out and planned if want it to work for you.

Building a relationship is not about trying to trick people, or force them to buy something. It’s all about educating potential customers so they understand your product or service and make the right purchase decision, as well as keeping in regular contact so when it comes time they think of your business first.

While there are many different ways to build relationships on and off-line; specifically email marketing allows you to do so in an affordable and extremely effective manner.

It doesn’t cost much at all to send an email and you’re able to put your message right in front of your prospects eyes at a time that’s convenient to them.

Here are 5 rules for running an effective email marketing ‘relationship building’ campaign;
1.    Make sure you understand what your database actually wants.
2.    Add value to their day or don’t bother sending it.
3.    Encourage user interaction.
4.    Follow up on any interaction and enquiries that result from your newsletters.

How often should you send your newsletters? It really depends on the quality of what you’re sending and what your database expects from you.

If you run a ‘daily deal’ website and prospects sign up for a newsletter assuming they will be updated on daily deals, then send them daily deals.

If you’re a local service provider, you’re more likely to get a better long term response sending out once every fortnight or once a month.

If you run an online store, the people that subscribed to your newsletter usually want regular updates so you may be able to get away with a weekly email.

You get a good indication of how well your email is being received by the email open rate (the higher the better), unsubscribe rate (the lower the better) and click through to links (the higher the better).

Experiment, add value and build long lasting relationships that grow your business!