"Email Marketing": For You or Not?

Let's take a quick side tour out of the deli kitchen and into the computer room. I do spend quality time here on my computer; for those of us who always did like creative writing and other creative pursuits, internet stuff can be pretty fascinating.

I've gone from having scribbled recipes on index cards to having all kinds of notes filed away in various folders on my computer (plus a few digital back-ups). Getting so organized made it easier for me to share recipes online too. (It's become quite the fad, to an almost overwhelming degree...)

When I first published my cookbook, back in late 2006, my business-savvy friend suggested that I send out newsletters. I really wasn't used to jumping on the publicity bus, tooting my own horn, promoting myself as an author.  When our 5th grade class got into groups to vote on stories written by various anonymous classmates, I had authored one of the top three stories. But I had decided (at the tender age of ten) that it was more important to conduct a study on social behavior: If I talked my own story down in favor of another author's story, would I be able to sway my fellow classmates to vote for her story instead?

Perhaps my gift lies more in the realm of affecting public opinion than in any actual creative talent. The other girl's story won; my story came in second, no thanks to my self-sabotaging. OK, I was a weird kid. But those of us out there who don't feel entirely comfortable promoting ourselves might understand.

So when this friend of mine suggested that I send out email newsletters, it felt a little like when mom said, "Eat your brussels sprouts." I wasn't eager to do it, but I knew it probably would be good for me. So I did my online research, comparing various companies, and found that iContact appeared to be the most user-friendly, offering the most extras for the most value. A friend or two might use some of the other email marketing companies; there's Vertical Response, and Constant Contact is a popular one too.

In any case, iContact has proven to do me well. I send out a monthly recipe newsletter (subscribe here), and I can also send out updates to various unique groups. Some stuff goes just to New Deli customers, some is of interest to almost all of my subscribers. I had wondered why I had received a bit of traffic on my website, straight from the iContact website; some sleuthing revealed that they'd used my quote on one of their pages (bottom right). It's a little like seeing a picture of yourself in the newspaper. Look, mommie- there I am! Super cool :)

Well, time to get some new email addresses on record at iContact. I'll be sending out a thank-you newsletter to the new subscribers I met at the Chamber Mixer we had last night in Hercules. It was great fun.