Posted to the I-Sales Discussion Group:

I perform online marketing services for a large business to business communications company, exclusively using the internet as its media vehicle.

They operate "vertical" trade communities for a variety of engineering disciplines. Currently there are eight communities with six more due to come online before the end of the year.

The environmental communities can be found at the "hub site" Environmental and Municipal Online.
http://www.environmentonline.com/

In my initial marketing plan I outlined a program of targeted email marketing and have a great deal of experience on all sides of this issue.

My marketing plan for our first site, Water Online (http://www.wateronline.com) included:

1. Collection of email addresses from actual visits to web sites:

I sent short and to the point letters:

Subject: "Announcing Water Online,. free listing in our supplier directory"

The letter begins " I recently visited your web site and thought you would be interested in knowing............... The remainder of the note is short, too the point, NO SCAM/NO SPAM

Of the thousands of letters I have sent, I can remember only a handful of negative responses to getting unsolicited mail.

2. When dealing with targeted listserves I have tried a few tactics.

Joining the list, sending the correct command to get the email addresses of all the list members and sending a personalized letter to everyone on the list.

In my experience most people are happy to receive a clear communication about something related to the general topic of the list.......and I get many thank you notes for introducing them to a new resource (it helps that once they visit the site they feel the trip was worth making)

Another approach is writing to the list owner, introducing yourself and asking him if the post you intend to make to the list is appropriate. This is most appreciated by list owner.

My best contacts have come from monitoring targeted newsgroups and email discussion groups like this one. Whenever I read a post that touches me, I take the time to respond.......to give a bit of myself, to share something...........people feel it when you do this.........miracles have happened.

The message is .......try to be APPROPRIATE..........and as spontaneous as possible.

I have had my fair share of really NASTY responses, threats and the "how dare you" and "Don't you know the rules", "Kill the messenger", etc..........and with each one my sensitive being shrinks a bit and wonders how can people have so much ANGER.

These really hurt!

I am learning to see this as simply another lesson.....and with it I practice releasing and letting go.

As the guru says......What to do? Just accept.

As an online marketer you need walk a fine line. This is still a new field and the rules are not set in stone.......they beg forYOUR unique personal interpretation. The net is a "sense"ational place. The level of truth you project in your communication influences how you are perceived.

I let my results speak for themselves..........my client continues to have increased trafic and new business centers in their communities. Our database of direct contacts has grown to 25,000 names and we have links and contacts everywhere.

Charles Kessler

Charles Kessler & Associates
On-line Marketing Services
kessler@net-market.com