the age of social media, we often hear that email is dead or at least an outdated technology for connecting with your readers.
True, email mailing response is down, but unless you have a huge following online already, you need to have a mailing list and stay in touch with readers and prospective readers.
Even more.. people working in publishing, vendors, media and a large number of readers (your end customers) will still want have a way to connect with you and stay in touch that they are comfortable with. For the time being, that certainly includes email.
I recommend building a database of those that opt in to hear form you, answering email enquiries as fast as you can, and giving readers in any medium easy ways to close the loop and stay in touch. Communicate on your blog (and others through comments), social media, and email.
To grow your mailing list with people that would like to hear from you, join my FREE Email List Buliding Network
Here’s some help managing the email overload we all face today.
- Read Keith Ferrazzi’s blog post on email. These 7 Mistakes to Avoid from a best selling author and master networker, inspired this post
- Be careful about auotmatic replies on your email. When I read a “I’m swamped and only read my mail…” message, I question whether the person has the bandwidth to take on new business or grow. A “vacation reply” politely tells others about a temporary hold on responses
- Nothing wrong with setting a policy that you’ll check once a day, have reader emails screened or assigned to others. Just be authentic, and remember that each writer took the time to reach out and will appreciate a human response.
- Use a ZeroInBox strategy. I’ve increased my own capacity to handle mail volume each time I put strategies like this in place.
Think of email as if you were are store with customers coming in the front door. A busy store will hire help, change pricing, set hours or publish guidelines on signs, but never think of closing the doors when customers are flooding in.
Like the store with vistors, buyers and VIP customers, put policies into place to handle everything.
Most of all, don’t wait till you are on top of the best seller list. Building capacity to handle the crowd will be a key asset in getting you there.
