One of the few diamonds I DO know. But now you'll have to do a tutorial on how you made your nifty little video!

Sounds like we're in the middle of a marketing case study - how to keep one's name in front of potential customers!

In regards to case studies, as a learner I take in and apply new ideas more quickly when I can see how they relate to real-life situations, which is why I find case studies so helpful. I was known as a student to skim through text books looking for the case studies that illustrate the theory, and read them first, then go back to the theory once I had a context for it. Maybe its just my learning style, but I suspect I'm not alone in finding that helpful.

The video clip was great, but I did find myself thinking where would I actually use that in my own business, since I don't do much much mass mailouts. Maybe I need to start doing so, but not sure how my customers would respond - would they get irritated and just ignore that kind of email?

A wise man once said "If I was a hammer then I would treat everything in the world as a nail".

MS Word is an amazing tool BUT suggesting that it is an appropriate tool for conducting Mass Mail outs is a bit like the hammer and nail analogy above. Just because it can do this, doesn't mean that you should!

Email Marketing aka Mass Emails is subject to fairly stringent legislation - specifically the Unsolicited Electronic Messages act here in New Zealand (http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2007/0007/latest/DLM405134.html), and each country pretty much has its own version.

This is relevant because you can't just decided to start Emailing people. You actually need to gain their consent to recieve 'marketing messages' from your business. You also need to allow them to Unsubscribe when they no longer wish to recieve these types of messages. MS Word, last time I looked, is not able to do this!

It is true sending Mass emails is a way of stimulating your customers interest in your business, however equally as important is understanding whether your customers consumed the communication, how they interacted with it i.e Open, Click links, forward to friends, purchase products, etc. Otherwise you are literally flying blind.

There is not shortage of SaaS Email Marketing tools available today that provide all the List management, Analytic and Campaign management tools one could want (flagrant promotion of mine - zappiti.co.nz). The cost of use is negligle when you consider the level of sophistication and features offered.

If your readers want to ensure that their Mass mail out activities don't wind up landing them in hot water I recommend using an appropriate tool - MS Word is definitely not it!