Has your TeachStreet Team considered collecting email addresses to promote your events and class listings to your target audience? Opt-in email blasts really great way to maintain a community of contacts who are interested in knowing what you’re doing. You can collect addresses from people in your area who would be interested in attending events in person that your Team runs, or you can collect contacts from a broader area of people interested in what you’re skilled in, specifically. In addition to collecting contacts in person, you can also collect them through your Team’s blog or other social media sites. You can get code from a site like Response-O-Matic.com or an email service like ConstantContact to store and organize email information.

Here are some tips on how to have success with an email list:

• Proofread, proofread, proofread!
  Typos are embarassing, but they happen. Have at least one other person proofread the emails before you send them to avoid silly mistakes.
• Don’t send emails too often!
  You don’t want to clog inboxes! Aim for no more than once a week, but ideally only when you have news or an upcoming event is a good rule of thumb.
• No one likes spam!
  Don’t include email addresses from people who have not willingly given you their information for your list. Emails to people who have chosen to be on your list are more effective than mass emails to people who’ll just delete them, anyway.
• Be sure to include ways for people to get more information or contact you
  The brilliant thing about an email is that it reminds your customers aboutyou, and makes it easy for them to follow up by visiting your site, blog or TeachStreet profile.
• Keep emails short, sweet and to the point
  We’re all busy, so be sure to use key words to get your point across quickly. Readers can click through to links to more information online if needed.
• Only send emails to a list in a manner which makes email addresses not visible
  Respect information privacy. Use BCC if crafting an email from scratch to send to a large number of people.
• Always include a way for people to unsubcribe
  Sometimes people will want to opt-out, and it’s important to give them this option.

Having a list of people who have indicated to your their interest in your Team is invaluable, so be sure to use this resource wisely. For example, send emails about a big event a couple weeks ahead of time so people will save the date, and then follow up with more details as the date draws near to remind people to attend. Don’t forget to include a sign up sheet at your events to let first time attendees know about future projects your Team has upcoming!