Email is one of the handiest marketing tools for voice actors. It’s a cost effective way to introduce yourself to new clients, update existing clients on your new demos and even deliver audio files. But at what point do ’email blasts’ become annoying to the receiver and could actually do more harm than good.
Randye Kaye recently sent an email to her clients informing them that she would cut back on emails. “Yes, I recently stopped sending newsletters to clients, although that doesn’t mean that I don’t stay in touch with them!” She told Voice Over Herald.
What was behind this? Did someone complain, or did she just instinctively determine that clients are already bombarded by hundreds of emails daily? She explains below:
“1- Overkill. This no longer a novel way to stay in touch. On my end, I get SO many newsletters that I just filter most of them to a “sales pitch” mailbox and delete them without even looking at them.
2 – Useful Content. I do voice-over work for so many different kinds of clients that it was daunting to find newsletter content that would be of use to them all. So the newsletters ended up being about “client of the month” – which was fun but again only somewhat useful – and then the bragging portion began.” I voiced this. I voiced that….” Again, interesting to some, annoying to others.
3 – Impersonal vs. Personal – Mass mailings aren’t my favorite thing to receive or to send. I’m trying now to reach out on a more personal basis – or at least for a useful reason. For instance, always send an e-mail if I am closing the studio for a couple of days, and when I return. I always send thank-you’s after a job, and sometimes when I receive the check. My regular clients are the easy ones. It’s the prospective clients that need a few reminders that you’re around. Working on that – but not with newsletters. I don’t want to be the junk-mail-sender.
Social media is different. It’s not so intrusive. People can go to Facebook, Twitter, etc. as they feel like it. Even so – I try only to post things that are
(a) helpful
(b) funny
(c) that spark a conversation.”
There’s also the legal side of sending out mass emails. You risk getting blacklisted for sending unsolicited email. Just because you once worked with a client doesn’t meant they automatically give you permission to add them to your newsletter list.
While your email updating your clients on your latest news, isn’t technically “spam”, it is bulk mail, and in order combat spam there are many restriction put in place on the internet that moderate your ability to send bulk emails. When an internet service provider or another company’s server receives several bulk email from your server within a short period of time, they are trained to automatically recognize your server as sending spam, and can “blacklist” your network.
MailChimp is a service that helps manage contact lists and mass emails. They put together a list of common mistakes that could get you into trouble, including not having permissions and assuming that people want to hear from you.
One of the most important features that your emails should contain is the ability for the recipients to be able to ‘unsubscribe’ in a small number of clicks.
There’s a slew of information about the legalities of email marketing at L-soft’s website.
Has email marketing worked for you and brought in any work? Have you ever had complaints about too many emails? Let us know below in the comments section.
