Building an email list is like building a business. Taking shortcuts to hurry the process along, such as turning to third-party mailing list rental or purchase, can backfire in a big way. Use your best selling tactics to promote your email list-building campaign, just like any marketing campaign you use to sell your products or services.

The potential ROI on email newsletters and other e-marketing campaigns is immense, often higher than any other marketing or advertising option. Which leads some to ask, why not just buy or rent a promising-looking list from a broker and start mailing to it? Because these addresses lack relevance, interest and trust, the three key ingredients that support every successful email marketing program. The reason why email marketing can produce such a high Return on Investment is because you typically have these three ingredients with legitimate email recipients. Otherwise:

* Relevance: You’re sending email to people who didn’t ask for it, which equals spam to most recipients, no matter how regulations may define unsolicited email. * Interest: You also have absolutely no idea if they will be interested in your company, products or services. * Trust: Unsolicited email can make recipients suspicious, which can cloud any future contacts More >