A Guide to Email Marketing

Email marketing usually falls beneath many of the other marketing channels just because of the new and modern ways businesses conduct their marketing. Email Marketing was one of the original ways of marketing for businesses when emails became a thing. Click rate, engagement and also the amount of emails people receive are all things to consider, as well as stumbling blocks they have to overcome. This guide to email marketing will address the best way in which to get your brand noticed.

Facts about Email Marketing 

For those who think that email marketing may be a dying or even a dead art, well you are very much mistaken. Email Marketing has become a go to for many large organisations, as well as in the ecommerce industry. Some of the facts to consider when looking at email marketing, and also to support why you should use it are as follows:-

• Two thirds of all customers have made a purchase due to email marketing.
• Email is 40x more effective with customer acquisition than Facebook and Twitter combined.
• Email Marketing is completely unregulated other than GDPR and compliance. Meaning you can reach out to your subscribers as and when you feel it is necessary.

There are many other reasons which backup and support email marketing, however the rest of this guide to email marketing will focus on reasons to use it, and also how to go about starting.

Reasons to use Email Marketing 

As with all marketing channels there are a number of reasons to why you would consider it, there may be some that you are not aware of.

• Builds Relationships- You are able to send out personalised content to your customers as and when you feel it is right.
• Brand Awareness- Keeps you at the forefront of customers minds, especially with how often people access their emails.
• Lead Generation- Potentially one of the greatest reasons to use email marketing. Sending out emails provokes your customers to visit your website, or make contact.  These are potential leads as they are responding to your email.
• Product Marketing- if you have new products and services you want to promote then going back to previous customers will entice them to come back.

Creating an Email Marketing Strategy 

Before starting your email marketing campaign you need to have a strategy on how you are going to approach and generate a mailer list. Also without a strategy you also do not have a tangible goal of which you are trying to achieve. The guide to email marketing shows some key elements you will build into your strategy are as follows:-

Define your audience 

Constructing your email and making sure it is successful is going to be dependent on how well you know your audience, and who your audience is. Knowing who you are going to be targeting will allow you to structure and also word the email in the best way.

Establish Goals 

Goals and targets are going to be what drives your campaign forward, as well as keeping you motivated to keep on progressing. The best way to generate your goals is to research email marketing in your industry. Look at the email open rates, and the amount of subscribers each business has. This will allow you to set comparable goals.

Create ways for people to sign up

Do you have a way for people to sign up to your email marketing? If you don’t, then you are going to need one. This is going to be paramount to your reach and what sort of results you are able to obtain.

Many websites will do it in one of two ways. Firstly you can have a subscribe tab at the bottom of your website. This is where people can enter their email address for you to house their data. The alternative way is to give them the option when registering with your website. Either way will be beneficial.

Neil Patel goes through the best ways to get people to sign up to your email newsletter in one of his latest articles. 10 Effective Ways to Get More Email List Subscribers.

Choose a campaign type 

Email marketing will come in many forms, and deciding which is best for your market and also audience is very important. If you choose the wrong type then you may not be able to see the results you are looking for.

When generating an email to market you can consider things such as:-

• Weekly Newsletter- This is sent out each week to speak about the business, upcoming projects and also new products and services.
• Product Announcements- Emails sent out when new products are launched which helps to create a buzz around what is new.
• Blog Posts- If you put out new content emailing your list so they are able to read is also another option. This also helps to be able to build regular traffic towards your website.

 

Make a schedule

You will need to know how often you will want to send out an email to your client base. Be careful with how often you do send the emails however, as you do not want to be overkill. Or look like spam.

Measure your results 

Your results are the fruits of your labour, and need to be tracked. If you are getting great results then continue doing what you are doing. However, if you are not seeing the results you want then you need to consider what changes need to be made.

Usual factors that will be measured for future reference will include open rate, leads generated, direct purchases and also website traffic. All of which will give you a better understanding if your campaign is performing.

To Conclude

Our guide to email marketing touches upon some really key points when looking to start a new campaign. Knowing your audience and also how you are going to conduct your campaign is going to be very important in how successful you are. Monitoring your campaign over time will also allow you to see what changes need to be made.