Hi Krista!
A big time delay here in responding.
I just came across this item.

In regard to your emails coming in:
How would you know if someone is sending you a genuine personal letter of introduction or just sending you a generic unpersonalised emailer??

http://www.templatezone.com

it’s an easy-to-use email template design tool that comes with 400+ templates built into the program. the templates that mailchimp or constantContact offer are pretty boring. i think artsy people (like photographers) would like the templates offered in high impact email.

plus, you can send your email through outlook or gmail (and most email clients out there) OR upload your design to an ESP to mail.

again, i hope this wasn’t shameless!!!

thanks!

Regards,
Matthew

I’d rather get a personal email from someone who is introducing themselves for the first time. I get literally hundreds of emails a day and I have to admit the generic ones don’t get read. There aren’t enough hours.

An added benefit is the emails Adbase sends you which include interviews with art buyers, marketing tips, and other pertinent info. Second to A Photo Editor, it is my greatest source of useful industry info.

I use e-mail services to keep in touch with existing contacts and remind them I exist.

For new prospects though, I always write personal messages to them. Usually I’m writing editors, art directors, other individuals whose work I admire and want to work with, and so the messages are genuine. Granted this takes much more time than simply sending the equivalent of a postcard and sometimes nothing comes out of it, but those that do respond are just as genuine and its led to some great relationships.

I feel that connection would not have been made with simply adding them to a list. Remember, you’re not working for a company – you’re working with human beings in that company and they much prefer personal connections.

I use Adbase and they do have excellent support. Their research department is responsive and in my opinion, the database is not totally comprehensive b/c if a company does not wish to be included, Adbase doesn’t list that company, so there are gaps. But on the other hand, I’m glad they’re being respectful…why market to someone who doesn’t want to be marketed to, right?

And for those of us who don’t have a lot of contacts, Adbase and Agency Access might be the only way to reach potential new clients via email. This is b/c services like MailChimp and Constant Contact will not take you on as a customer if your list came from Adbase or the like.

Anyways, the rep I worked with was eager but not at all pushy, his name’s Jeff McGoey (jmcgoey@adbase.com). You’ll probably get a good deal. You might get some free emails so you can try their Emailer service. FYI, ask for the “Hand Picked List” feature. This helpful tool lets you make a list as you’re browsing which makes things easier.

Happy list making.

This is a question for email service users. How did you build a contact list that complied with the providers’ rules?

I’m asking b/c I tried to use MailChimp with a list from Adbase but the sales rep was very adamant that I cannot use any list not personally created by me. I tried to explain to him that the list consists only of people who gave their permission to be contacted via email, to no avail.

I understand MailChimp’s cautious position but how do you create a list of opt-ins? Do you email and/or call every company you might want to work with individually?

Thanks in advance for any insights and advice.
Sam

Thank you for these links, Eric B. and Rob. Helpful for many.

these are all very good email solutions, but i think what’s missing from the discussion is why you would want to choose from any one of these providers … and the answer to that is: think about how you might want to engage with your audience. Some solutions are great for doing simple newsletters, others are better for doing more sophisticated segmentation, etc.

Full disclosure: I am with an email marketing agency. We do offer a “getting started with email marketing” guide, for free, from our website — which may help with finding the right email marketing service provider. If you are interested, you can find it here: http://www.aperiomarketing.net/getting-started-with-email-marketing.php

Best regards,
Matthew

Just to clarify, the work with Brightwave is not for photography, but for a non-profit organization where I am VP of Marketing. Brightwave supplies labor to build and distribute email, list management to avoid being blocked, consulting, and a number of other services.

An additional resource on email is the Email Experience Council. http://www.emailexperience.org/

The gorup is an organization focused on email marketing. There are many good resources, tips and suggesitons for email marketing.

Brightwave Marketing sounds like an angelic service, if it works as well as you’re claiming. They desperately need a new website though. All I see is words, words, words. Can’t find the banana. Will look deeper at their site when I’m done here.

Do you all pay by the email? I spent a decent amount of cash upfront for server-side software that has been working well ever since. Occasionally I’ll lose an email to an over-active spam blocker but the results are pretty steady and the investment was returned immediately in bookings. That software is called oemPro and available at http://www.octeth.com.

Thanks for giving me a different perspective Shane. Maybe I should reconsider my view on such companies.

Yeah, just give them a call.