Email marketing has officially changed the way we communicate. Now more than ever, people are relying on email to stay in touch with friends, family, and customers. According to the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s), “email marketing is now an essential element of any business plan. In 2013, companies spent approximately $16.83 billion on email marketing and related activities. And that was just to email customers. Companies also spend a lot of money on online communities, social media management, and display ads.”
Thanks to the shift in demographics towards digital nomads and the growth of mobile technologies, businesses large and small can utilize email marketing to gain a significant customer base, increase brand awareness, and generate leads.
Why Email Marketing?
The most significant advantage of email marketing is its global accessibility. No matter where you are in the world, you’ll be able to connect with your audience with email marketing. In fact, according to the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s), “over 80% of consumers now get email notifications when there’s new information on brands or products they’re interested in.”
With instant messaging and texting becoming more convenient and widespread, many people are shifting their communication methods to emails. This presents a huge opportunity for businesses.
How does email marketing work?
When someone subscribes to your email list, you’ll be able to send them regular emails with helpful tips, news, and product announcements. The beauty of this medium is that you can send out as many emails as you want, whenever you want, to as many people as you want. You’re not bound to one publication date or frequency.
In addition to this, you can also segment your email list and send specific messages to specific groups of people. For example, you could send a promotional email to someone who bought a product from your company, and then follow it up with an email about a new product that you think they’ll find valuable.
Top Tips for Successful Email Marketing
The fact that so many businesses are moving to email marketing means that it’s not going to be easy to stand out among the pack. To help you stand out, here are some tips for effective email marketing:
- Personalize your emails. Aside from using a relevant subject line and opening with a greetings, be sure to add a bit more personal touch to your emails by referring to previous conversations you’ve had with the person on your email list. This will make them feel like you’re talking to them personally, and not just another brand or company.
- Include a real call-to-action. Instead of using a bland “click here” or “watch this video” button, get more creative and include a relevant image or video. This will increase the chance that your email recipients will take the desired action.
- Track the results of your email marketing. Just having an email marketing campaign is not enough. You need to track the results of your efforts and see how well you’re performing. Luckily, most email marketing platforms make this simple. You can set up automated email analyses that will track the success of your campaign, report on the number of opens and clicks each email receives, and more.
- Maintain a steady, consistent pace. It’s easy for a person to get bored with a steady stream of emails, especially if they’re receiving them daily. To keep your audience interested, vary the pace at which you send your emails to maintain a sense of excitement. For example, you might want to try sending a quick note a few days after ordering a product from your company in an attempt to establish a sense of excitement.
The Difference Email Marketing Makes
When utilizing email marketing, you’re not just selling a product or service. You’re also getting to educate and inform your audience about your company, your products, and even yourself. This is important because, aside from just sending out a bunch of emails, you’re also building a relationship with your audience. It might not seem like a big deal, but when you’re pitching a new product or service, many people avoid trusting you because they don’t know you. However, by building a personal connection with your audience through regular, informative emails, you’ll be able to show them that you’re a legitimate source for information and that you’re ready to be trusted.
In an effort to boost my own business, I looked into the different ways that email marketing can help a business owner. I thought that if I could understand what worked and what didn’t, I could apply this to my own marketing efforts and get more out of them. Here’s what I found:
The Case for Building a Watchlist
One of the most significant differences between traditional marketing and email marketing is the ability to build a “watchlist.” With a watchlist, you can store individuals’ email addresses or entire mailing lists of users. When you have a ready-made list of potential customers or leads, you can send them regular emails to keep in touch with them and show them that you value their business. Thanks to a tool such as email marketing platform ConvertKit, you can even create custom email campaigns, track the results of your efforts, and build a community around your product or service.
Why should you build a watchlist? First, it’s already been proven to increase sales by up to 21%! According to MarketingCharts, “people who are on a brand’s watchlist already believe in the product or service, are more likely to buy it, and, as a result, are more valuable as potential customers.”
In addition to this, if you’ve been around long enough, you’ll hear many stories about companies that grew by word of mouth. This happened because their customers were satisfied with the service, and they wanted to keep in touch with them. So, they built a list and started emailing them about new products and offers.
The Difference Between “Purchasing Awareness” and “Reach”)
One of the most common mistakes that new entrepreneurs and marketers make is confusing “purchasing awareness” with “reach.” When it comes to email marketing, you have two options for reaching your audience: you can target individuals based on their previous purchases or you can target everyone who receives your emails, regardless of whether or not they’ve purchased anything from you. The main difference between these two methods is how you’re going to measure the results of your campaign. If you’re sending out targeted emails, you’ll be able to see the exact number of people you reached and the number of individuals who took the desired action. However, if you sent out a mass email and it turned into a success, you won’t be able to track this specifically. You’ll just know that you reached a significant audience, and perhaps some of them will buy your product or service.
The Importance of Having a Growth Mindset
In order to be successful as a business owner, you need to possess a growth mindset. A mindset that believes that ability can always be improved upon, and that each new day brings something new to learn and improve upon. When you think about launching a business, you’re undoubtedly going to face many challenges. It might not be easy to find the right location, set up shop, or even generate sales right away. This is when having a growth mindset can be beneficial. Instead of worrying about what you don’t have, focus on what you can do.
For example, you might decide that getting an MBA is the best way to ensure your success as a business owner. Since obtaining an MBA will take you longer to develop than your current skill set, you’ll need to decide how much you’re willing to invest in this.
If you want to be successful, you have to be willing to put in the time and effort. This means that instead of thinking about what you don’t have, you need to be thinking about what you can do.