You don't have the kind of money to buy print media or TV ads to expand your client base. On top of that, you don't have the expensive, fancy tools big companies use to keep their clients coming back. Email marketing helps you retain your clients by helping you promote your brand and make your customers feel appreciated. Email marketing solutions only require a few minutes of your time, and what you get are professionally designed email advertising campaigns sent directly to your customers.



So here's how you start: The first thing you have to do is collect a list of emails. There are a number of ways to do this, but one effective method is to get your customers to sign up by offering them a discount, like '5% off every order this month if you sign up for our email database.' Anyone who is satisfied with your service will want to receive the same merchandise at a lower cost, especially if it means that they will receive a 'preferred customer promotion' for doing so.

Congratulations! You now have your first contacts. The next step is to sign up for an email marketing account. Signing up is easy, because most email marketing solutions are so simple that anyone can take advantage them. Now, cycle through the professionally-designed templates and create your first campaign. Building your campaign is also an easy process. Email marketing provides you with user-friendly templates so that all you have to do is input your text (or you can copy and paste it, if you want), and add your images. Here are a few tricks to think about when using your email marketing to create a campaign: Do not use excessive bolding, italics, and capital lettering in the main section or the subject line of your email. Also, try not to put too many pictures of your products without also adding content to support the images. Symbols like dollar signs in your subject line or exclamation points should be avoided as well. All these techniques commonly used to attract attention also end up attracting spam filters. If you overuse them, your email will not go into your subscribers' inbox, but rather into their spam or junk mail box.

When you are ready, just click a button to schedule your email marketing campaign and it will automatically go out to the people on your list at the date and time you selected.

Now that your email marketing campaign is finished and has arrived in your buyers' inbox, you will be able to track which of your customers are interested in your promotions. One of the great things about email marketing is that it can track 'clicks', and 'opens.' This gives you a percentage breakdown and analysis of which of your customers are opening and clicking on the promotions you have included in your email. Also, by adding a 'forward to friend' button, you will be able enhance your mailing list, and have a greater chance to gain more customers.

As a clothing-designer, using email marketing will have a large impact on how many return customers you have, which will positively affect sales. Email marketing can provide you with added business and potentially grow your client base over time. This is a cost effective way to keep on par with larger brand competitors and maximize your brand's potential. You might be small, but now you can plan for bigger things.