The power of email marketing can’t be overstated. Not only does it reach a massive audience with relatively little effort, but it also allows you to stay in touch with your audience. Even after the initial interaction is over, you can continue to send them regular emails – which they may find somewhat habit-forming.
However, if you’re looking to take your email marketing efforts to the next level and really grow your business, you need to consider multiple tactics, strategies, and metrics. To ensure you hit the ground running, we’ve compiled a list of everything you need to know about using email marketing to grow your business. So, without further ado, here we go.
Create a Budget
With any new marketing initiative, you’ll want to set a budget and a time frame for yourself. This is especially important with email marketing, as you don’t want to overload your inboxes with tons of emails – especially when you’re just getting started. To ensure you don’t overspend and waste all your money, you need to consider how much you’re willing to spend on each individual campaign. This will help you determine how many email campaigns you can feasibly run and where you should focus your efforts. Plus, it’ll keep you honest.
Once you’ve determined how much you can spend on each individual campaign, you can set a monthly budget and review how you performed financially. By setting realistic monthly goals, you’ll be able to track your progress and determine if you’re maintaining or surpassing your set budget. If you’re finding yourself consistently spending more than you’re bringing in, it may be time to consider scaling back your marketing efforts or seeking out a more lucrative field. However, until then, send as many emails as you can, within your budget, to as many people as you can, using the platform you’ve chosen – until you hit your target audience and can start scaling back.
Choose The Right Platform
The first and most crucial step to effective email marketing is choosing the right platform. Not all email platforms are created equal, and some are much more suited for marketing efforts than others. For example, Marketo has a dedicated marketing email platform that’s been specifically designed to power marketing efforts, such as email marketing.
Other platforms, such as Microsoft Outlook, have built-in email marketing capabilities, but they’re also notorious for being difficult to set up and use effectively. These platforms tend to be good for everyday use – such as sending out receipts, meeting announcements, or general notifications – but if you really want to harness the power of email marketing, you’ll want to avoid them.
The best option is to create a separate email account solely for your marketing efforts. It’s also important to note that you don’t necessarily have to use your primary email address for this account. You can adopt a split-email approach, where you maintain your personal email address and use your marketing email address for all your marketing activities.
Choose A Call-to-Action (CTA)
Depending on your needs, you may want to consider investing in a call-to-action (CTA). A CTA is a command or instruction that encourages the reader to take some form of action. The most common and probably the most effective type of CTA is the Get or the Click.
The get command encourages the reader to follow a link or download a file, while the click command encourages them to take some form of action, such as visiting a website or making a purchase.
You can use a variety of platforms (such as MailChimp, HubSpot, and ConstantContact) to create and send out your email campaigns. However, if you’re looking to create a successful email marketing campaign, you’ll want to ensure that your CTA is as effective as possible. To that end, make sure when you create a new email campaign that you include a clear and concise call-to-action in the subject line – as well as throughout the email itself.
Content Is Key
One of the most important things you can do for your marketing efforts, whether via email or any other type of digital marketing, is to create high-quality content. In order to do this, you’ll want to look at a variety of platforms (such as Twitter, Medium, and other blogs) to see what’s being said and done about your niche. You can also look at forums, such as Quora and Reddit, to see what people are asking about your niche and to find experts who can answer those questions. The more you know, the better – especially when it comes to developing content for your marketing efforts.
Depending on your niche, you may want to consider creating videos, infographics, or even a comprehensive guide – whatever will be most effective for your target audience. Of course, you don’t have to create content for every single one of your emails, but it’s often a smart move to do so. Not only does it make your emails more interesting, but it means your audience will likely have to go back and forth between emails to follow the entire series. The more they have to go back and forth, the better – especially if you want them to actually read the email.
Attach Everything Necessary
When it comes to email marketing, every inch of the email counts. You don’t want to overload your reader with tons of text, so try to keep your emails to a manageable size, especially in the early stages of your campaign. As you get more experienced, you may want to consider expanding the size of your emails.
Once you’ve gotten the hang of using email effectively, you can start attaching files, such as sales letters, project proposals, or other important documents. Not only does this make your emails more interesting – adding a bit more spice to an otherwise dull e-mail – but it also gives your audience members the opportunity to interact with you directly, rather than just receiving information.
To avoid any confusion, make sure you include a subject line that clearly states what the email is about. You can also use a tool like MailChimp to provide an overview of your open rates and delivery volumes for each of your emails. With this data, you can determine the success of your various campaigns and choose the one that’s most promising, given your needs and goals.
Regular Communication
One of the best things about email marketing is how easy it is to stay in touch with your audience. Even after the initial interaction is over, you can continue to send them regular emails – which they may find somewhat habit-forming. This is one of the reasons email marketing is so popular and so effective – you can always get in touch with your audience and stay top of mind.
If your goal is broad marketing, you may want to consider sending out monthly or biannual emails, at least, to keep your audience engaged. Alternatively, you can send them short, informative emails when you have big news to share. In terms of frequency, some people prefer to receive monthly emails, while others prefer to receive only occasional updates. Whatever works best for you, just make sure you have a steady stream of engaging content to keep your audience interested. As you get more experienced, you may want to experiment with different email frequencies and determine what works best for your niche, as well as your business.
Building and maintaining a successful email marketing campaign takes a bit of work, but it’s all worth it. Not only will you be able to showcase your work and grow your business, but you’ll also be able to use email marketing to build and maintain a relationship with your audience – which you can then turn into a potential sale or contract or just more effective marketing.