I’ve been researching online marketing for my own personal use for some time now, and I’ve found it to be an incredibly useful tool for entrepreneurs and small business owners who want to grow and expand their brands. With the right information and training, anyone can master email marketing and start enjoying the benefits of a professional-looking, cost-effective marketing plan without the need to hire a full-time marketer.
Why Email Marketing?
People are much more connected to their email than they are to any other form of social media network, with most adults spending over 4 hours per day on their phones using email, according to HubSpot Blogs research.
Based on that, you’d think that email marketing is a form of online marketing that’s here to stay. However, in case you’re wondering, not so much. Despite its prevalence, email marketing is a form of marketing that’s been around for a while but is still considered a bit of a ‘salesy’ tactic by some.
If you’re looking to learn email marketing in 2019, there are several options available to you. Here are just some of the best and most efficient ways to learn how to market via email without any professional training.
Find A Product Or Service That You Think Will Be Worthwhile
The first step to learning any new skill or technique is by finding a product or service that you think will be worthwhile. In the world of online marketing and e-commerce, this step can be a bit more tricky. You don’t want to just jump into marketing a product or service that you know nothing about. Instead, find a company that you believe will be amiable to your audience and has a product or service that they believe will be worthwhile for your target audience.
For example, if you work in e-commerce and you have a specific audience that you want to target, you might decide to try selling high-end, designer dresses for women. However, if you’re looking to learn email marketing for a product-related company, you might choose to try out a service that helps businesses grow their online store. For the best results, it is advisable to pick a niche and find products or services related to it. This will help you develop a stronger bond with your audience and make the learning process more enjoyable.
Sign Up For A Free Trial Or Demo
One of the best things about the internet is that you can learn almost anything for free. All you need is a laptop, a stable internet connection, and you can watch online videos, read articles, or take online courses at your leisure. Plus, you can use all these learning resources from the convenience of your couch.
A great place to start if you want to learn email marketing is from the comfort of your home. All you need is a laptop and an internet connection to get started. Some of the best and most-relevant learning platforms are listed below.
Create A Blog
In case you’re wondering, a blog isn’t just for fun these days. A blog can be a very useful tool for marketers, whether you’re an experienced marketer or just getting started. When people discover your blog, they often wonder what your blog is about, which is why it’s a good idea to tell them concisely in your first few blog posts. Once they’ve found out what your blog is about, they’ll come back regularly and read more content on your topic. At that point, you’ve effectively engaged them in your marketing campaign.
If you’re looking for an easy way to get started, you can always opt for free blog hosting from a company like WordPress or Blogger. With free blog hosting, you don’t need to purchase a domain name or pay for internet hosting. You can simply use your laptop or phone’s internet connection to create a blog in no time.
Start Building A List Of Potential Customers
Once you’ve created a blog with a few useful posts, it’s time to start building a list of potential customers. This is a list of people that you’re going to email regularly to tell them about your blog. You don’t need to overdo it and overwhelm your subscribers with constant emails – a few good, quality emails per week will suffice. When people receive emails from a company they’re not interested in, they often delete them or mark them as spam without even reading the subject line.
Use your blog as a way to gain credibility with your potential customers. People generally trust websites more than they trust individual email messages, so if you can get your website to rank high on Google Search, you’ll be able to gain credibility quickly. Once you’ve established yourself as a thought leader in your industry, you can use your blog to pitch and sell your products or services to your target audience. If you have an e-commerce store, you can use your blog to promote your products (in a non-spammy way of course).
Decide On The Length Of Your Blog Post
After you’ve built up a decent-sized list of potential customers, it’s time to decide on the length of your blog posts. A blog post doesn’t have to be a long form. In fact, keeping things short and sweet is often the best way to go. Remember that your blog is a way to establish credibility with your audience, so you want to keep the content as informative, entertaining, and concise as possible.
If you’re looking to create an e-commerce store or are just getting started and don’t have a lot of money to spend, consider using short-form blog posts. You can use a tool like Google Analytics to track the results of your blog posts and see which content is performing well and which is struggling.
Use Video Content
If you’re going to use video content on your blog, use it to demonstrate how you utilize a product or service, how you solve a problem, or how you value the people and the role that your audience plays in your company’s success.
For example, if you want to showcase how an online calculator tool can be used, you can create a YouTube video demonstrating how the tool can be helpful to someone, maybe in your own life or in someone else’s. Upload the video to your channel and embed it in a blog post or sales letter where appropriate.
If you’re looking to attract potential customers to your site who aren’t familiar with your product or service, you can use video content to explain what you are and how you assist customers. Potential customers can then get a better understanding of your company and the value you provide without having to read through a massive sales letter.
Publish Regular Blog Posts
The benefits of publishing regular blog posts is that it keeps your content fresh in the minds of your audience and lets them know when new content is available. When people come back regularly and see new content, it shows that you’re doing something new and interesting. It also allows you to establish some degree of personality and branding for your company, since you’re writing on a topic that you’re presumably passionate about.
If you consistently publish new content every week or every other week, you’ll gain credibility with your audience and they’ll come back for more. When they visit your blog or go through your email list, they’ll see a steady stream of engaging content that they find valuable.
Publishing content regularly is a great way to build credibility and gain trust with your audience, and it doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to have long-form articles to do so. As long as you’re engaging, informative, and concise, you’ll be able to pull off short-form blog posts just as effectively.
Now that you’re equipped to start your own email marketing campaign from the comfort of your own home, you might have all the pieces you need to get started. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel. For some quick tips on how to get started, check out the following blogs and websites. They’re full of useful information for newbies interested in getting into email marketing and e-commerce.