Email is most definitely not dead, but with a business owner’s hectic schedule who has the time to masterfully personalize emails and launch perfectly choreographed email marketing campaigns? The answer is he wouldn’t need to. You can do it for him and start a commercial email marketing company.
Putting up an email marketing company is a wise business venture. It is in-demand. It requires small business funding, and you can do it from the comfort of your own home, starting as a one-man operation. The question is how do you do it? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. We are going to share with you the steps on how to do so in this article.
Starting Your Own Commercial Email Marketing Company
1. Create a business plan. As with any business, you need to start with a plan. This should include your business goals, target demographic, list of equipment needed and costs, your list of offered plans (and your service flow-chart) and an initial marketing strategy to help you promote your services.
Fortunately, an email marketing company doesn’t require much investment. You only really need the following to start:
- A stable internet connection
- A computer or a reliable laptop
- Email marketing software
- The skill to design and write efficient emails
If you’re reading this from your computer, then chances are you already have the first two. The fourth point can be learned and developed. There are various courses that you can take online, and you can learn more from experience. The most important investment is to choose the best email marketing software that you can afford.
Here’s a pro tip: We recommend listing down the potential clients that you want to pitch to. You can select the size of the company based on the size of your operations. If you’re a one-man team, then we suggest working with solopreneurs at first.
2. Get email marketing software. After getting your business plan on paper, it’s time to start hunting for the email marketing software that you’re going to use. There are a lot of them to choose from, but we suggest signing up for one that provides analytic and design tools.
3. Get familiar with the CAN-SPAM Act. We’re almost ready to set-up your business. After all, you already have the necessary tools to get started. But before we do so, please take the time to study the CAN-SPAM Act. According to the Federal Trade Commission, it’s a “law that sets the rules for commercial email”, and failure to abide by these rules can result in a penalty of more than $40,000. Don’t worry. The rules aren’t that hard to follow. The best way to always keep them in mind is to print these rules on paper and keep them handy at your workstation.
4. Create a professional website. You can start without a website, but remember, not having one can put your legitimacy in question. Having one will also give you the space to show off your portfolio (something that we’re going to talk more about in a bit). There are a lot of free website builders online, but if you have the funds, opt to get your own domain and have it professionally designed.
5. Build your portfolio. With a website ready, it’s now time to build your portfolio. We suggest creating sample emails fit for your target clients. It should give them a good idea of what you can offer, so make sure to put your best works out there.
6. Start reaching out to your clients. You’re ready. All you need now is your first client. This is the best time to do some last tweaks on your offered packages and service flow-chart. This chart should give you (and your client) a track that you can follow after starting.
For instance, most email marketing companies provide a landing page first, or an opt-in form in order to build an email list. You can also offer a ready-made email list. Next, you and the client should work on what to offer his customers in exchange for their email addresses. This can be a free eBook, worksheet… or anything, as long as it has value. Next, you can schedule the email campaign as you implement your analytic tools in order to give your client proof of how your services helped his business.
Final Thoughts
So you see, starting a commercial email marketing company isn’t really that hard. It will take a lot of skill and hustling to make it succeed, though.
As a parting gift, here’s one last tip: determine what sets your email marketing company apart from others. If your clients can create their own email marketing campaigns…why should they choose you? The answer will be the key to your new business’ success. Good luck!
