This is an awesome story about the power of targeted, relevant, and useful email marketing. I love stories like this because they underscore how powerful email marketing is, even in the 'age of SPAM', when you actually THINK about what your company is sending, and strategize on how you bring value to your customers.

The Scotts corporation (any of you who have lawns know who these guys are) has a robust, targeted email marketing regiment that targets consumers of its products with a lawn-care reminder service, in which subscribers get e-mails when it is time for them to put down lawn applications. Reminders are sent based on where recipients live and their grass type, ensuring, for example, that customers with St. Augustine grass receive different care recommendations than those with Kentucky bluegrass.

These e-mails go four to six times a year depending on grass type. Scotts divided the country into 18 lawn-care regions defined by conditions and the types of grass that grow in each region. Think of the type of content that Scotts needed to develop - it's a bit, yes, but not anything they didn't already have down somewhere in house! I think of the typical manufacturing company - they have data on what products work where, test information, application and maintenance information, ideas for how to best use the products, and so on and so forth. How hard would it be for the average company, on a shoestring budget (Scotts started the reminder e-mails on a shoestring budget in 2000, and they grew to about 300,000 subscribers by the end of 2002) to start some relevant and emails to a base of consumers and watch the list grow!

What's better, is Scotts is driving traffic to their local retailers every time they send a reminder out! "The scotts.com Web site is not at all an e-commerce site, and so our objective with the site and our e-mail programs is really to build lasting and individual relationships with consumers..." Further proof that manufacturers can have brilliant and relevant relationships directly with their consumers that help everyone in the value chain!

Joel Reimer is the Manager of Interactive Marketing at Scotts and the genius behind the campaign.

[via DMNews - Scotts' E-Mails Grow Strong Customer Roots]