Think about this concept from the customer's point of view. They are already barraged with marketing from a variety of sources and they get tired of feeling as if the business owner is only interested in the money they have in their wallet or the credit their willing to accept to purchase your products or services.



How strange must it seem to the consumer to have a business owner who openly expresses an interest in finding ways to freely extend a benefit? This concept reminds me a bit of the movie Miracle on 34th Street. Remember when Santa sent customers to other stores if Cole's was too expensive. The result was that many consumers discovered a heightened devotion to the fictional department store.

When you use email marketing to educate and inform customers about your product or service you make significant strides toward the ideal goal of giving to get.

Every business owner understands that you need to spend money to make money. In a parallel way you need to expend yourself on behalf of your potential customers in order to earn their trust and potential loyalty – both are highly valued and carefully given.

Many businesses are finding that their email marketing efforts yield less than modest results when they buy or rent a list. There's a reason why this approach doesn't work well if your approach is intended to be ‘give to get'.

In a give to get mentality you are concerned about the individual and in forging connections between your business and the consumer's interest in your products or services. When you deliver an email marketing campaign to someone not acquainted with your site there is very little opportunity for them to consider your email as personal interest, it can only be viewed as either a mild intrusion or potential spam. It's an easy decision to redirect this type of email to the delete folder.

A health food company developed a program that encourages people to give up unhealthy snacks for one of their healthy snacks. Television advertisements show this business in a booth that is reminiscent of a lemonade stand. Individuals bring snacks to trade. The end pitch allows anyone to go to their website for a free snack. The emotional connection between a common roadside stand and genuine people make the advertisement appealing and memorable.

The website extension of the offer features health information and articles on moving toward a healthy lifestyle. Visitors can make the choice to receive heath bulletins (email marketing) to continue to foster better health.

What was end result of this highly successful campaign? Giving to get meant a lot of free snacks in a bold attempt at boost traffic building and list building with an email marketing follow-up that capitalizes on this companies concern for the health of their customers.

This is just one example of what ‘give to get' email marketing looks like. How could this type of email marketing improve the potential trust your site visitors have in your business?