Marketing Profs

You know that getting publicity is vital to the health of your business. You probably also know that email is the way most publicity seekers get in touch with reporters to score that precious coverage.

Here's what you may not know: the vast majority of emails sent to journalists never get read.

Bottom line: if your emails don't get read, you have no shot at getting the publicity you so desperately need.

Here's how to beat the odds.

Avoiding the Spam Trap

To a spam filter, your humble email pitch may appear to contain an array of trigger words and suspicious phrases. A server that relayed your message may be on a blacklist, or a “do not open” list of known spammers.

Or perhaps the filter's having a tough day and has decided to start blocking things arbitrarily. You can't prevent every instance of spam blocking, but you can take some steps to help lessen the chances of your email ending up in a black hole.

The most important step is learning how spam filters think, and creating emails that avoid the usual pitfalls. Fortunately, once you can do this, you'll find that many spam triggers are easily avoided.

Here's a terrific tutorial on the subject:

http://www.wordbiz.com/avoidspamfilters.html