• Decide what audience you're trying to reach and what you have to offer them.
• What kind of relationship do you want with the recipients of your e-mailings?
• Determine what format your e-mailings will take -- ads, newsletter, deals and specials, company announcements and press releases, discussion list?
• Will you offer HTML e-mail, or just text?
• Who will handle the creative aspects of your mailings -- writing, copywriting, editing? Will you need to outsource this or other functions?
• Set goals and make a specific plan: How often do you plan to mail? How long will your messages be? How many addresses do you want on your list in six months? A year? Two years?
• How will you collect e-mail addresses -- from Web forms, registration or subscription forms, trade shows, during telephone contacts or sales calls?
• Use outside lists to build your in-house list. To recruit list members, rent an opt-in list to send out an announcement, or take out an ad in an e-mail newsletter or discussion list.
• Make sure that all your lists are opt-in -- that all recipients have explicitly given you permission to mail to them. Make it easy for list members to unsubscribe.
• What will be your technical requirements, given the volume of e- mail you'll be sending over the long run? Consider bandwidth, e-mail server software, list management software, hardware requirements, management of bad addresses and similar factors.
• Will you host your lists in-house, or go with a list hosting company?

Tags: HTML, email, email marketing, marketing, keywords, targeted email marketing