Winning with Email Marketing
So what is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is the use of email to maintain and build relationships with both current and potential clients. In order to conduct email marketing, you need permission to email the person and you need to add value and provide them with content that they want to receive. The ultimate goal is to have people looking out for your email in their inbox.
Many businesses don’t use email effectively some send far too many emails often with irrelevant content and others take your email and you never hear from them again. Getting the balance between sending emails that engage your audience and annoying them so much that they unsubscribe requires you to ask yourself each time you are about to send an email “Does this email add or take away from this relationship”
As a small business, email marketing is a great way for you to cost effectively grow and nurture your business. Email marketing has a return on investment of 44% so why not investigate the possibilities for your business.
My essentials for email marketing
Make it easy for people to subscribe. Have a sign up form on your website, Facebook page and in your blog posts. Use short forms to gather people’s information, in most situations a name and email address are all that you require.
Let subscribers know what they are signing up for. Is it hints and tips about your particular industry, a regular company newsletter or notification of special offers?
Send a welcome email. This lets people know that they have subscribed to your list and that you appreciate the trust they have shown in you by giving you their email address.
Make sure that your email marketing activities fit with your brand. Customise your email to include your logo, branding colours, and add links to your social media platforms and website in the footer of the email.
Like all online material, it is important make your content scan-able. Use images, subheadings, bold text and white space to break up your content.
Segment your list (break it into groups) and only send content that your subscribers will be interested in. Segmented lists have much higher response rates.
Communicate regularly. If you made a commitment to a monthly newsletter on the sign up form then you need to stick to this otherwise send regular emails to your list.
Make sure you edit your email campaign carefully. And ensure that it looks good both on a desktop and a mobile.
Make sure you have permission to email people.
Track what is working. What campaign appeals to different groups within your list? What day of week or time of day is the most effective time to send a campaign?
Use a friendly tone in your email. Wherever possible send emails addressed to the person by name.
One of the most important things with email marketing is to only send email if you have something to say. This is one area that many companies overlook. By sending useful and valuable content you are building a relationship with that potential customer or enhancing an existing client relationship. Sending too many emails or irrelevant content is one of the fastest ways to turn people off your brand.