I was privileged enough to talk to a wonderful couple I met in Pennsylvania who owned 4 Hallmark stores on the East Coast this past week. They said business was a bit down, understandably, but they were working their way through it.

What I’m about to tell you is shocking, but it’s harsh reality. They told us that they didn’t have a web site and they were just thinking about email marketing because they heard from a marketing company it can really work.

So I started thinking, of course there are a ton of small businesses and non profits that might not have websites or might not use email marketing. I mean if you add up the top three email marketing companies (VR being one of them) our collective customers make up less than 2% of the entire 25+ million small businesses in the US. Crazy huh? Most of the small businesses are either doing nothing or probably using their email client like Outlook to send email marketing campaigns.

Here are a few reasons why businesses may not be doing email marketing today and what you can do if you know anyone who isn’t using it to grow their business.

• They think it’s too technical – Tell them! Show them videos or tutorials, tell them to sign up for an email marketing newsletter.
• They don’t have time – Just 30 minutes of their time every two weeks could get them at least 20% more in sales or donations. See Diary of a Mad Email Marketing Woman.
• They are happy using Outlook – Their email might not be getting into the inbox and they can’t tell what’s working and what isn’t.
• They think it’s expensive – Just $10/month or less could get them a huge bump in revenue.

Tell a Friend and Help Strengthen Our Economy

If you’re reading this blog you probably know the importance of a web presence and how email marketing helps your business grow. Why not help a friend who owns a small business or a non profit today? Tell them to get a web site and start collecting email addresses, even if it’s only a brochure site with 5 pages. People go to the web today to search for their needs nationally and at the local level. Oh, and tell them to start using email marketing, it doesn’t matter what email service provider they use.

If anything is going to strengthen our economy and get us out of these tough times it’s small businesses growing. After all, we have collectively generated 60 to 80 percent of net new jobs annually over the last decade and we employ over half of the private sector employees! Not too shabby.

Tell a friend today!

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