Leveraging email marketing is a vital tool for business.
Did you know that email marketing is roughly 45 years old?!
The first marketing email was sent in 1978. Making it the oldest form of digital marketing.
You’d think it’d be outdated by now, right? The first email was sent by Gary Thuerk, a marketing executive at Digital Equipment Corporation, to 400 potential clients. Thurek claims the email earned $13 million in sales.
Who was on email in the 1970’s? I was no even born when the first email marketing campaign was sent!
But it’s still one of the most cost-effective ways to contact customers.
And it’s first person data you own making it a direct line to your customers. No middle man.
It’s where relationships are built and where your audience decides whether to buy from you.
If you’re not already using it I’m sure you know you ought to be and it’s on your list of things to do.
Move it to the top of that list of yours and highlight it in bright pink, with stars or arrows and get on it.
There are 4.26 billion email users worldwide. We use email for everything from school, to work, to personal use and use it to setup online access to just about anything we access online.
Almost everyone knows how to use email.
Right now we all know the social media narrative and the fight for attention. Also we know the risk we’re taking building audiences on social media – given platform management and rule changes, algorithms, and limitations on how you can reach your audience.
Adding email to your diverse marketing plan will help you connect off social in a place you get to control a little better.
So when Twitter is purchased and rules are changed, or the government decides to ban or restrict TikTok and the engagement and exposure you’ve built takes a dive, or the hacker took over your account you don’t loose access to your audience overnight.
Starting from scratch and rebuilding an audience is an arduous task none of us want to have to face.
So get your email list building plan in play to diversify your marketing efforts.
We know that our entire audience no longer sees all of our social posts.
Algorithms determine what content appears and decides the level of your businesses’ visibility.
Having an email list – of engaged users, allows readers to make the choice of what they want to see.
And when you offer great content that helps your audience fulfill aneed or address a painpoint, you foster trust that ensure they open your emails.
It’s a direct line of communication to the people you set out to serve!
The Strength of Email Marketing:
Email marketing is an indispensable strategy in my business and for my client strategies, particularly the B2B industries.
Here are a few reasons why:
- Control and Ownership: Businesses have full control over their email lists and can access their audience whenever needed, regardless of external factors. Want to switch email marketing platforms? It’s as simple as downloading your lists and transferring them. This control fosters long-term relationships, enhances brand loyalty, and enables ongoing communication.
- Personalization and Targeting: Email marketing allows you to personalize your messages based on recipients’ interests, demographics, or actions they take in your emails. This creates a personalize tailored experience for your readers and leads sales and customer satisfaction.
- Measurable Results: Email marketing platforms provide detailed analytics, offering insights into open rates, click-through rates, and conversions. Data that helps you refine what works, cut what doesn’t and improve your content for your audience.
- Direct Communication Channel: Unlike social media, where messages can easily get lost in the noise, emails provide a dedicated space for you to share valuable information, nurture, provide updates, and build brand authority.
Social media is undeniably a significant piece of the digital marketing strategy, relying solely on these platforms is risky.
Email marketing complements social media allowing us to build lists of people who want more from us to nurture them and provide them more useful information.
This means if you want to future-proof your business and maintain a solid connection with your customers, don’t neglect the power of email marketing.
If you’re ready, here is where to start.
Email List Building:
Focus on providing value to your customers on your social media posts, bios, in videos and in conversations.
The better job you do at this part the higher-quality list you’ll have.
Use optin forms, offer free resources, exclusive offers and incentives in exchange for their email address.
Segmenting your email lists based on what people give you their email for – each free offer or incentive should have it’s own sign up so you can track what the users signed up to receive so you can create content based on that information. And this helps you test what people want, if you have an offer that nobody signs up for, but another that everyone seems to love, shift your focus to what works.
Email Automation and Personalization:
Be sure to use email marketing systems with automation tools that can deliver promised offers or incentives immediately.
Automations and personalization can also help create workflows and drip campaigns. This helps deliver timely and relevant content to subscribers based on their actions or specific triggers.
Personalization goes hand in hand with automation, allowing marketers to customize emails with recipients’ names, preferences, and past interactions.
Personalized emails tend to generate better results when paired with good quality content or offers.
Tip here – create a customer journey with email automations. Take them through a sequence or series of emails that provide users with information they need at different points in their journey that eventually leads to buying from you.
Deliverability and Email Design:
Ensuring that emails reach the recipients’ inbox is essential.
Using a reputable email system (my favorites are Constant Contact (for starters) and ActiveCampaign(for lots of automation options)).
Using reputable providers help ensure your email deliver.
Tailoring smart and relevant subject lines that aren’t spam-y and regularly monitoring your email deliverability rates can help get people to open emails.
Your subject line is your first impression – actually second after your reputation when they see your business name in the “from” field.
Email design is important too. Make sure it’s designed to look good on both desktop and mobile. This ensures a seamless user experience and maximizes engagement.
A/B Testing and Analytics:
Continuous improvement is key.
Most email marketing systems have A/B testing options that are pretty seamless to use.
Experiment with different subject lines, content variations, CTAs, or send times to identify what works best with your audience.
Check the open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, if you use a system with a heat map see how far down you get clicks in your email, and watch your unsubscribe rates. Use this information to make data drive decisions, rather than gut-feelings.
Compliance and Privacy Regulations:
Data protection and privacy regulations, such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the CAN-SPAM Act are important to follow. Most email marketing platforms have features set up to ensure you follow these rules. Make sure you have a way to protect any data you download from these programs. And make sure you are familiar with the requirements of privacy laws to ensure you handle data securely.
Email Content Strategy:
Content is always vital. Content make the world go round – well the marketing world.
People don’t want to open boring emails or sign up for boring incentives. Match your audience’s needs, emotions and journey and inject your email strategy (and social strategy for that matter) into that. Focus on providing value through relevant and informative content, storytelling, personalized recommendations, exclusive offers, or useful resources. Balancing promotional content with educational or entertaining content can help keep interest and prevent high unsubscribe rates.
You can can develop a comprehensive understanding of this strategy, implement best practices, and achieve better results for your clients with email.
Now it’s up to you to get started and move email marketing to the top of your list!
Whenever you’re ready here are 2 ways I can help you:
- Download the Asana Starter Kit this is the system I use for my clients and my own business.
- 1:1 Strategy Session to get you unstuck. Whether you need help with the tech, strategy, systems or programs setup – setup a time to work through it with me.
