We are trying to contact as many school employees to let them know about Plus Plus Tutoring. What is the best way to approach this e-mail marketing campaign? Would spam filters be problematic?
Yes, if you are spamming a bunch of schools email address that could get you in legal trouble... Do you already have a list?
Unfortunately for you, the can spam laws (uce) say that unless you have an existing relationship with someone or they have opted in to recieve your emails it is spam. Even though it doesn't sound like you would really be sending massive amounts of email and are just trying to promote your service with a one time mailing there aren't any distinictions in the law. You could run some ppc campaigns to build a list using aweber or constant contact. You could also use offline advertising. Maybe an ad in the school newsletter or a trade magazine would generate leads for you.
Spam means unsolicited email so, as other people have already told you, you need the relation between you and the recipient before you start bombarding people out in the dark. I just wish more people would get that right and start learning some proper or at least decent marketing before sending spam like that. My 2 cents...
You can build an opt-in list and give people free gifts. The gift can teach people more about tutoring programs or provide examples of how your program can help the students. Get an autoresponder such as AWeber to help you with your opt-in list.
I did a test once. Writing articles and offering the full example at the end as a download link. Of course the guy had to be signed in before downloading it. That made me about 600 - 1000 new members/day on a pretty decent site with some strong traffic. Of course, the articles were about programming but you can find a spot on every niche to build your list. Just don't give up.
Is anyone our there creating in advance 52 emails that will be delivered on autoresponder each week for 52 weeks. So 1 year of emails all loaded and ready to go to anyone that opt's in?