Internet and Technological Communication

Internet and Technological Communication – Email Marketing

Due: Friday, October 8th, 2010

By: The SexBoBombs Michelle Hrapchak – Question 1 Lisa Van Gorder – Questions 5,6,7 Meghan Pirie – Questions 3,4 Jacqueline Tamo – Question 2

Group Researchers: All Group Assembler: Michelle Hrapchak Group Typist: Meghan Pirie Group Editor: Lisa Van Gorder Internet and Technological Communication – Email Marketing

1. The internet is used as one of the most popular communication tools ever. Whether it is used for marketing, researching, or social networking, it has become one of the most addictive - yet useful - tools ever. Email marketing in particular is one of the most efficient and effective communication tools around. Email marketing can be defined as, "the promotion of products or services via email." (http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/email_marketing/) It is used as both a personal and professional tool. For example, many privately owned companies rely on email marketing to quickly spread the word of mouth about their services. Also, even extremely large corporations or organizations use email marketing to communicate their message to a wide variety of people. Email is considered one of the most powerful communication tools and this is not necessarily always in a positive way. Often times email accounts are overloaded with "spam" and are known to become extremely annoying. Its purpose is not to fill inboxes with useless junk, but rather to communicate a message to other people quickly and effectively. It is more commonly used as a business tool to promote a businesses goods or services and help develop a relationship with potential customers. By getting your name and business out there, it allows the opportunity for business growth and success.

2. Some of the companies that provide email marketing services are:

 Cover Girl (coupons, promotions, new items)  Viagra  Lavalife/ other online dating sites: any company that asks for your email upon signing up or filling out a survey and asks you to check the box if you want to receive promotions.  The Lacoste website: asks for your email to sing up for further promotions  Ticket Master: asks you to check a box to receive promotions and coupons when buying tickets.  Enfamil (baby company): asks if they can send you promotional emails when signing up for their "Enfamil Family Beginning" service  DirectBuy  University of Phoenix

3. One advantage of using Email Marketing for business purposes would be for target marketing. Target marketing is an advantage because you can promote whatever product or service you are marketing to only the people who are interested. Based on this you can create a targeted audience and sell more of your product or service. A second advantage of using Email Marketing for business purposes is for quicker responses. With email being so fast it is easier to get responses from customers. 4. One disadvantage of using Email Marketing for business purposes would be making sure the customer received the email. It can be tough to deliver the emails because of spam filters and firewalls built to block out these emails. Another disadvantage of using Email Marketing for business purposes is excessive emails. Since people are getting so many emails each day they may delete the Marketing Email by mistake and not realize it.

5. Email Marketing may be used in a healthcare facility to connect with current and potential clients, reminding them of their dedication, services and expertise. One advantage of using Email Marketing in a healthcare facility would be the measurable results. Being able to accurately measure click-through rate, page conversion rate and inner website browsing, would allow for better targeted marketing. Knowing your audience and their wants and needs will help with improved promotion of new products or services. Another advantage would be the interactive component. By adding eye-catching graphics, informative videos and even tone setting music will help gain interest in what is being promoted. When fighting for new clients, this can be a powerful way to stand out from other facilities, gaining that new potential client. However, Email Marketing in a healthcare facility can also have disadvantages. One disadvantage would be the email response decay. Clients who join email lists are quick to respond to promotions and advertisements at the initial time of setup. As time passes, they are often less receptive. Another disadvantage of using email marketing in a healthcare facility would be resource intensive. Often in healthcare facilities there are a limited number of employees and they usually adhere to a tight schedule, however to effectively use email marketing additional people as well as technological resources would be required to achieve desired goals.

6. The best type of employee training that may be necessary if this tool were to be utilized by a healthcare facility would be to take part in a short training class, either online or in a classroom setting. Helpful courses will cover topics such as software capabilities, email list use and protection, legal issues, spam, design techniques, filtering systems, media and graphics, desired demographics and more. All are essential subjects of knowledge for safe and successful email marketing. It would also be valuable if there was more than one employee trained to help manage sizable work loads. Works Cited

A, A. (2006, 05 15). Top 10 Advantages Of Email Marketing. Retrieved 10 05, 2010, from Self Seo: http://www.selfseo.com/story-14500.php

Chaffey, D. (2008, 12 01). Advantages and disadvantages of email marketing. Retrieved 10 05, 2010, from Advantages and disadvantages of email marketing: http://www.davechaffey.com/guides/email-marketing-strategy- guide/advantages-disadvantages

Advantages and Disadvantages of Email Marketing. (Copyright © 2010 ). Retrieved 10 05, 2010, from Busniess Marketing Plan.net: http://www.businessmarketingplan.net/email-marketing/advantages-and- disadvantages-of-email-marketing.html

Email Marketing. Retrieved 10 05, 2010, from Marketing Terms: http://www.marketingterms.com/dictionary/email_marketing/