Trojan Horse
If you're not familiar with this expression, it is marketing speak for something that you give away for free and as we all know FREE is the most powerful word in marketing. Free gains attention and can influence customers' actions.
Once you've identified what you can give away for free, you have a hook which you can hang your marketing on.
You can use your free item on your website, in your direct marketing, your email marketing, social media, flyers etc.
Email Marketing
The great thing about email marketing is that you can reach potentially thousands of people at the touch of a button. The not so great thing about it is that your recipients can delete it, unread, at the touch of a different button.
So make sure that you are emailing to a warm list - your customers and prospects and people who have indicated that they are keen to receive your communications.
You also have to make sure that your subject line is interesting and intriguing enough to encourage people to open the email.
So how often should you email your list? The answer is as often as you can give them something of value. If that is once per week, that's great. However once per year is too often if you're sending out boring rubbish.
Social Media
Social media is currently very much flavour of the month. If you listen to certain areas of the media you will feel if you're not tweeting every couple of minutes, your business will collapse.
The fact is it won't but the other fact is that Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter etc provide platforms which allow you to communicate with almost limitless numbers of people.
Put like that you can see the potential benefit.