New Business Announcement Protocol

What is the proper protocol to announce a new business to several dozen companies or your whole list of contacts? Would using BCc: be too impersonal? Is there a proper way to send a mass distribution so that it goes to each individual in the “To” listing without sharing the names of others who received the message?

These are the type of questions I get asked every day by new business owners.  I understand their excitement about wanting to get the word out but in doing so (the wrong way), many compromise their first opportunity for a positive impression by jumping the gun.

There is no one solution to cover all those bases. If you want personalized notices, you send individual e-mails–just as you would with off-line communications.   Send a mass e-mail and it’s just that — impersonal — no impression there.  I think that sometimes folks want technology to be a one-size-fits-all based on what they are willing to do, spend or learn and it just doesn’t work that way.

Did these folks give you their e-mail addresses specifically so that you could send them such notices?   Are they really interested in your new business?  Or are they just generic contacts?  This makes a big difference!  If you send to folks who have no interest in what your new business has to offer, or you haven’t been in touch with for a while — you’re no different than any other spammer.

I would be more concerned about spamming than being too impersonal.   Since this is a new business commercial announcement, I recommend using a service such as VerticalResponse.com that allows you, by putting in a snippet of code such as [NAME] to add the First Name of the recipient in your notice wherever you like.

More importantly, VR also has an unsubscribe feature at the bottom of every e-mail so those you send to can easily get off your list if they don’t want to receive future e-mails from you. The service has a pay as you go model (less than a penny per e-mail) and would be very inexpensive for only several dozen e-mails while allowing you to give the perception of the epitome of professionalism and tech savvy.  Now that’s the way to announce a business!  Plus you then have a great building block for your mailing list already in place and can put a subscribe field/button on your site to grow your list!  Perfect!

If you are really on a budget, you still don’t want to take the lazy way out and mass mail such an important announcement.  Personalization with technology is key when it comes to attaining and maintaining customers.  So rather than take a mass mail approach, create a template or stationary file in your e-mail program that you simply customize with each person’s  address and name without having to retype the entire e-mail.

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