Co-Sponsored Email Marketing: What You Need to Know
Email marketing is an integral part of business marketing. In a recent blog post here on GigCoin we noted some impressive figures about how in the US email marketing is slated to grow to $2,468 billion in 2016 (Forrester Research).
Generally, marketers are in agreement about the value of email marketing but where you’ll hear significant differences of opinion will be regarding the topic of rented lists, or otherwise referred to as co-sponsored email marketing opportunities.
In this post we’ll discuss important considerations for renters (businesses wanting to rent or be co-sponsored) and host marketers (businesses who are interesting in making their list available to another company).
Considerations for Renters:
Amanda Gagnon writes, “The point of renting a list is to introduce your brand to someone else’s subscribers. She cautions that to do it effectively you should make sure you’re introduced properly.”
She offers four steps:
- Find another email marketer whose brand fits well with yours. (If you were their subscriber, would your email delight you?)
- Contact the marketer with your proposal. Will you pay them to feature you? Will you trade space in each others’ emails? (Note: this works best if you have similarly-sized audiences.) You may have to ask around to find a partnership that works.
- Make sure your host marketer introduces you to their list correctly. It’s best if they announce you in a previous message, unless their subscribers understand at sign up that they’ll occasionally hear from other marketers.
- Turn over your message. It’s best if you agree that it will be sent with your host marketer’s usual design, so readers identify it correctly. To cover your bases, make sure there’s some sort of introduction from the host that explains just why their readers will love you.
HubSpot further explains the co-sponsored email marketing opportunity this way:
“If a company has a list that you know would be beneficial to your marketing efforts, request they send an email on your behalf. It could be an introduction to your company with a call-to-action to subscribe to your eNewsletter or download content. Most online content sites and trade associations have email sponsorship opportunities so you can purchase space in their email marketing programs. This is a safe and valuable method to leveraging third-party email lists.”
Scott Hardigree states that opt-in email lists that are derived from a single source such as a publication, association, or non-competitive product/service. They are brands that the recipient knows and often values or respects.
Considerations for Host Marketers:
- Don’t just rent to anyone
–Matt Vernhout cautions that businesses not just rent to anyone. He says messages should be valuable to your subscribers as well.
- Don’t turn over your e-mail addresses to the sender, have the email come from you with an introduction to the company.
Jeanne Jennings points out that “legitimate list rental companies don’t turn over the e-mail addresses to the sender–ever…test a small portion of the list before you commit to renting the entire list.”
- Know your recipients and let them know up-front when they have signed up for your email list that you may periodically offer a co-sponsored opportunity but that their feedback is important to them. Just like you’re careful about how many emails you send out to your list be sure to not overdo co-sponsoring. Your email list is too important to sacrifice.
Have you been an email list renter or host marketer? What advice can you share? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
photo credit: Biscarotte via photopin cc
