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Ask Emma 5 tips for how to give back with your email marketing 4 tips for your holiday email campaigns 12 quick content ideas for your next email campaign How can I get more people to take my survey? What kinds of things can I do with Emma Surveys & Forms? 5 tips for using email marketing in a down economy How can I make my email campaigns more personalized? A 5-point checklist for every email campaign How can I use the recent audience activity feature? How can I send emails automatically? 10 trends for stylish email design this year 10 things to avoid in email newsletters How can I spice up my monthly newsletter? 5 tips for sending Blackberry-friendly campaigns My campaign results are in. What now? 4 things you might not know about your account How will my campaigns look in Outlook 2007? Can I add video to my campaign? 5 ideas for boosting your response results 5 tips for kick-starting your email marketing Can I easily find a link to my latest campaign? What's the process for requesting new stationery? How can I tell which group new subscribers are in? Can I create a 'trigger' email that sends whenever someone signs up? What's this I hear about AOL charging for email delivery? 5 tips for better-looking campaigns Can I create a quick landing page? (You bet.) I sent myself a test but haven't gotten it yet. What's next? I'm getting security prompts inside my account. Can you help? Someone who opted out of my list wants back in. What do I do? When do my recipients receive the plaintext? How can I print a campaign after I send it? How can I find my most (and least) active audience members? Can the opt-in confirmation feature work for my existing list members? How can I make my plaintext pretty? How can I entice more people to join my list? (5 quick tips...) How can I spruce up my subject line? (5 good ideas) How do I use the search and segment feature? How do I create a menu of newsletters for my readers to choose from? Can I search by company? When I'm comparing campaigns, what should my numbers be? I'm ready to move beyond the Quarterly Newsletter. What now? How can I add new information (like Company) to existing records? How can I 'mark' my campaign tests so that I know they're tests? Can you give me a few tips for building my audience list? If I schedule a mailing, and someone new signs up, will he get it? I want to add more colors, images and formatting. Is that wrong? I'd like to sell sponsorships for my email newsletter. Any tips? What is Emma's permission policy, again? Can I delete old campaigns without affecting their results? How can I tell which 'email us' link someone is replying to? How do 'opens' get tracked? What should I watch for when emailing an old list? What's a good time to send my campaigns? Is Emma affected by viruses and such? I'm just getting started building my email list. Help! Can I let people choose from a menu of email newsletters? How does the new Can-Spam law affect me?

Dear Giving Back,

We salute the way you're starting 2010. Your resolve to do some good with your campaigns sure beats less-worthy resolutions to wear more chartreuse or wear more mittens or even wear more chartreuse mittens.

 

But anyhoo, as you point out, your email campaigns give you a wonderful resource to connect the email subscribers you work with to the causes you love. Without further ado, here are five tips to get you started:

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1. Give your email audience a way to support the ongoing relief efforts in Haiti.

As you're putting together your email campaigns this month, consider asking your subscribers to join the relief efforts in Haiti. To make it simple, we've designed a suite of donation badges that are yours to download and use in your email campaigns. We've also partnered with Network for Good to create an online donation form you can link your badge to. Click here for the designs and details.

 

2. Showcase the non-profits your employees care about.

Chances are, your staffers are already involved with fantastic non-profits, and they'll happily speak to why they donate, volunteer or advocate for their group. By featuring employees alongside the groups they support, you'll not only introduce your subscribers to great organizations, but you'll also have a rather personal way to introduce your employees. Even that Phil guy who's always trying to make conversation with the office toaster.

 

3. Donate on behalf of survey takers.
For every person who takes your survey, offer to make a small donation on their behalf to your organization's favorite non-profit. Or randomly select a few survey takers and let them use your fund to make a more sizeable donation to a non-profit they know and love.

4. Give a portion of a sales promotion to a good cause.
Hold a promotion on a specific day or during an entire week to drum up support for your business and your favorite charity. Oh, and don't forget to report back to your subscribers with the results of how much support they helped to raise.

 

5. Share volunteer opportunities.

Remind your subscribers about the importance of supporting non-profits by volunteering time and energy, too. List specific volunteer needs for a single organization or link to a site like VolunteerMatch.org to help people find volunteer opportunities that are right for them.

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We hope these suggestions inspire your own unique ways of giving back. Let us know how you put 'em to use. Or where a person can pick up a good pair of chartreuse mittens.

 

Cheers,

Emma