You’ve probably been hearing a lot about digital marketing over the past few years, and rightfully so—it’s become something of a buzzword. But what does it actually mean? And, more importantly, how can you put it into practice and make the most of it for your own business? In this article, we’ll run down the essentials of what you need to know about digital marketing, including how to develop a great newsletter email to attract, engage, and delight your audience.
1. Create a clear identity for your brand
You’ve probably heard plenty about brand identity, and how important it is to establish a clear identity for your company and what you stand for. Truthfully, this is especially important as you try to grow your business and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry. Building and maintaining a brand identity is an important part of your overall marketing strategy. It will help you to become more memorable to your audience — and, more importantly, it will create a clear connection and trust between you and your audience. This, in turn, will make them more receptive to what you have to say.
2. Choose your words wisely
Let’s face it, headlines on the web are a dime a dozen and often overly used—and that’s no good! When you send out a newsletter, you want to grab the reader by surprise and pique their interest right away. But you also don’t want to overuse certain words or phrases that trigger spam filters and get your email dismissed as spam. Wise choice of words is important—and it’s a skill that, as a writer, you’ll need to develop.
3. Establishing editorial standards
As a content marketer, you’ll ideally be publishing informative and engaging blogs and articles about business and marketing — hopefully, something that will stick in the reader’s mind and inspire them to action. When establishing editorial standards, you want to make sure that the content you’re publishing is of a high quality—not just any old blog post will do. This means that you’ll have to put in the time to research the topic deeply, ensure that your facts are correct, and that you’re presenting them in a way that’s both authentic and engaging. It’s easy for a writer to produce sub-par content just to meet a quota, so establishing quality control is essential.
4. Tailor your pitch to each individual
Your newsletter is not one-size-fits-all; it’s designed to be personal and relevant to each individual reader. For this reason, preparing a tailor-made pitch for each recipient (also known as personalized email marketing) is essential. The key is to take the time to understand your audience’s issues and what they’re looking for—in other words, what makes them tick. This way, you’ll be able to craft a pitch that will speak directly to their needs and interests. As a content marketer, you’ll have to develop the skill of using data to reach your decision-making stage — that way, you’ll be able to choose the most suitable email template, segment, and offer for each individual based on their interests, hobbies, and previous buying behavior. Personalized email marketing is a fantastic way to gain a deeper understanding of your audience and what will engage them. It also allows you to create more effective and persuasive content.
5. Find your “sweet spot”
If you’re looking to grow your business and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry, you’ll need to find your “sweet spot” — that is, the level of content that’s most suitable to you. The best way to find this is by testing different types of content (e.g., blog posts, product reviews) and seeing how they perform. You can start by testing a few product reviews on your blog — something that’s relatively easy to do and won’t require too much investment of time or effort. If you see that these articles perform well, then you can safely assume that this is the kind of content that your audience will value and appreciate — and, therefore, it is the kind of content that you should be promoting and developing further. On the other hand, if the results of your product reviews are lackluster, there’s no point wasting your time and effort developing more of the same.
6. Include calls to action
Include calls to action in every piece of content that you develop. In other words, if you’ve written a persuasive piece about the advantages of your product or service, you’ll want to encourage your audience to take action and buy your product. Calls to action can be anything from encouraging someone to try your product for the first time to subscribing to your mailing list and receiving regular updates about your industry. The point is to include the call to action in each and every piece of content that you develop, whether that’s a blog post, product review, or even an email campaign— it really is that simple! With each call to action, you’ll want to clearly specify what will happen next in the form of a concrete action item. In the case of an email campaign, this might include asking your subscribers to submit their emails or to confirm their subscription—basically, anything that will allow you to continue building and nurturing your relationship with your audience.
7. Utilize metrics and analysis
If you’re looking to grow your business and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry, you’ll need to look at the numbers — namely, the numbers of people that are actually reading your content and engaging with it. For this reason, it’s essential to track the performance of each piece of content that you develop; in other words, you’ll want to measure the results of your editorial efforts. The key is to look at the hard numbers — e.g., how many clicks your PPC ads have generated, how many people have subscribed to your email list, or the number of times your latest blog post has been shared on social media. By doing this, you can easily pinpoint which content was most effective and choose to promote this content in the future. Plus, with a clear understanding of how each piece of content performed, you’ll be able to choose the best platform for each type of content—in other words, the best email template for a mailing list, the best blog post for a Facebook page, and so on.
8. Measure the success of your content
The above seven tips will help you develop a great editorial strategy and a solid foundation for your content marketing efforts. But to really stand out, you’ll need to measure the success of your content—and, more importantly, you’ll need to measure the results of your editorial efforts. If you’re looking to grow your business, establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry, and attract and retain high-quality customers, then content marketing is the way to go. But to do this, you’ll need to ensure that you’re measuring the right things.
You’ll want to track the performance of each and every article, blog post, and social media campaign that you develop — ideally, using a tool like Google Analytics to keep track of all the metrics. This way, you can easily pinpoint which content was most effective and choose to promote this content in the future. Plus, with a clear understanding of how each piece of content performed, you’ll be able to choose the best platform for each type of content—in other words, the best email template for a mailing list, the best blog post for a Facebook page, and so on.
9. Consider email marketing as part of your wider marketing strategy
Depending on your industry, you may already be using other types of marketing to attract and engage with your audience. But, if you’re looking to grow your business and establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry, you’ll want to consider email marketing as part of your wider marketing strategy. Why? It’s simply because marketing through email is considerably cheaper than other traditional forms of marketing — and it’s a form of marketing that’s proven to be highly effective. In addition, when people subscribe to your mailing list, they’re effectively opting in to receive regular marketing emails from you.
If you want to gain access to a highly targeted audience, then consider investing in email marketing — it’s a cheap and easy way to reach a lot of people. In fact, if you want to stay connected to your audience and continue promoting relevant content, then consider paying for a mailing list so that you can ensure you stay in touch with them regularly.