Did you know that Gmail introduced a new feature that allows businesses to send out email marketing campaigns from within the same app? This feature, called Workspace Email Marketing, was previously only available to Gmail customers with a custom domain.
With this blog post, we’ll teach you how to use workspaces to streamline your email marketing efforts and how to harness the power of Gmail to grow your business.
Setting Up Your Workspace
To try out Google Workspace Email Marketing, you’ll need to set up a new Gmail account with a custom domain. The good news is this feature is incredibly easy to set up.
Before you begin, make sure you have a Google account already and that you’re logged into it. If you don’t have a Google account yet, you can create one easily.
While you’re at it, you can also log into your Gmail account and click on the gear icon in the upper right corner to access settings.
Now, it’s time to enter your custom domain name where you want to send the emails from. Make sure that you’ve chosen a name that isn’t already taken by another site (like example.com). Also, make sure that your domain name ends with a .com so you can send mails from there without any issues.
Creating Your Email Marketing Campaign
After you’ve set up your workspace with a custom domain, it’s time to launch into creating your email marketing campaign. Simply click on the gear icon once more and select the Mailings tab. From here, you can create and send a test email to see how it looks.
The best part about this feature is that you don’t need to create a traditional email template. Instead, you can use WordPress to build out your email marketing campaign and choose from a variety of free themes to do so.
At the very least, you can use the following to get started:
- Gmail
- A WordPress installation
- A professional-looking email address
- A Google Analytics account
- And an autoresponder service (like MailChimp, Thrive, or ConvertKit)
If you already have these tools in your arsenal, then it’s time to move on to the fun part—creating and sending your mailings.
Customizing Your Email Content
Once you’ve launched your email marketing campaign, it’s time to start customizing the content. You can use a variety of tools from Google to make your emails more appealing.
For example, you can use the tools in the following areas to find, organize, and engage your audience:
1. Product Search
You can use Google’s Search Console to find keywords and phrases that people are using to find your products online. Then, you can use these keywords and phrases in your content to attract the right audience.
This way, when someone searches for that keyword or phrase, their results will display your product or services.
2. Images
As mentioned above, you can use Gmail to send mail with images attached. With this feature, you can also find and attach images quickly through the app. Simply search for the keyword or phrase that you used in the previous step and click on any images that appear in the results.
An example of an image search result.
3. Locations
Google Maps is yet another tool that you can use to find locations. Not only that, but you can create custom searches based on specific places or categories. For example, if you sell sportswear and you want to target people in New York City, you could create a location-specific search for New York City.
4. Social Media Engagement
Did you know that you can add Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn buttons to your website? When someone visits your site and clicks on these buttons, they will be directed to that platform’s page where they can learn more about your product or service, or connect with you.
If someone clicks on the LinkedIn button for example, they will be directed to LinkedIn’s page where they can learn more about your product or service, or connect with you.
Adding these buttons allows you to communicate with your audience across platforms.
5. Newsletter Signup
Did you know that you can create a newsletter signup form in no time? Simply click on the gear icon within your Gmail Settings and select the Newsletter tab. From here, you can choose whether you want to have an email notification when someone signs up for your newsletter or not. Also, you can choose between a monthly or weekly newsletter.
To make sure that your potential customers know that you have a newsletter, you can put a simple subscribe button on your website. When someone clicks on this button, they will be directed to your signup form in the Gmail app.
Where do I send my email marketing?
After you’ve finished customizing your content and attached some images, it’s time to choose where you want to send your emails. You have two options here:
1. Attach a file called.template (this is an HTML file) to the end of your email and have Gmail use that as a template for sending your email.
2. Set up a template with a specific subject line (like “New sales from X company”) and let Gmail use that as a template for your messages.
Whichever method you choose, the next step is the same: simply click on the gear icon within Gmail to select the template you just finished creating. Then, click on the mail icon (the one that looks like a letter) in the upper right corner of the screen to proceed.
Once you’ve clicked on the mail icon, you’ll see a preview of the email that is about to be sent. At this point, you can also add more recipients if you want by clicking on the Add more recipients button in the top right corner.
When you’re satisfied with the email, click on the Send button—after which, you’ll see a confirmation screen that the email was sent successfully.
If you followed these steps and configured Gmail correctly, then it’s time to test your new feature. Simply send out a few emails from your brand new account and then log into your Gmail account to check the stats for your email marketing campaign.
An example of a signed up user in your CRM system after sending an email campaign.
What next?
As you can see, creating an email marketing campaign inside the Gmail app is incredibly easy. Because of this, it’s worth utilizing this channel to reach your audience. However, this is just the beginning. Now that you have a campaign set up, you can use various tools from Google to grow your business.