If you’re looking for a way to grow your business, I imagine you’ve heard of the mighty yet under-utilized email marketing strategy. The ability to send out compelling email messages to entice potential customers to action is a skill that can be harnessed for commercial success. This blog post will explore the various elements that you need to include in your strategic email marketing plan in order to maximize your impact and ultimately grow your business. So sit back, get comfy, and read on.
Strategy
The first step to effective email marketing is to lay the groundwork for your campaign by formulating a strategy. What do you intend to achieve with your email marketing campaign? What is your objective? You need to consider the target audience, the type of content you’ll be sending, the channel(s) through which you’ll be communicating, and the metrics you’ll be using to gauge your performance. The strategy you develop will form the backbone of your email marketing efforts and govern the selection of platforms, content, and calls to action (CTA) that you’ll use.
Platform
Once you have your strategy in mind, you can move on to the next step which is to select the platform(s) on which you’ll base your campaign. The answer to this question will depend on what is available to you. If you have a clear budget in mind, you’ll want to consider the cost of each option. Owned platforms (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) are relatively inexpensive and offer great potential for reach. On the other hand, dedicated email marketing platforms like HubSpot and MailChimp can get a bit pricy but offer additional features that make them worth the investment. Don’t forget to factor in the cost of an email marketing service like MailChimp if you decide to go this route as well.
Content
The next step is to consider the content you’ll use to attract and engage your target audience. The type of content you’ll use will depend on your strategy. If you’re looking to engage with customers who are already familiar with your brand, you might want to consider creating content that reflects that familiarity. For example, if your brand’s slogan is “World’s Best Bakery,” you could use that as inspiration to create videos demonstrating the quality of your products or the unique ways in which you use them to craft delectable baked goods. This type of content is likely to be more valuable to existing customers than prospects who have never heard of your brand. Additionally, you could consider creating content that addresses a specific need or want identified by your target audiences. Consider writing an article that responds to a question like “How can I promote my business in a unique and creative way?” You might want to consider what type of customer you’ll be targeting with this particular content and whether or not you’ll be offering them any value in return for their attention.
Call To Action
The last step in the creation of an effective email marketing strategy is to decide on a call to action (CTA). The goal of your CTA is to get your readers to take a specific action in response to your message. For example, you could encourage potential customers to visit your website in order to learn more about your products or to sign up for your email list. Alternatively, you might want to direct readers to an external site where they can make a purchase. You’ll want to decide on one call to action and stick with it throughout your entire campaign. The decision on what that action should be will depend on your target audiences, the type of content you’re creating, and the platform you choose.
Launch
Once you’ve formulated your strategy and selected the platform(s) through which you’ll conduct your campaign, you can launch your email marketing campaign. This is when the fun actually begins. You’ll need to consider how and where you’ll be pitching your campaign. If you’ve decided to use social media platforms to reach your audience, you’ll want to develop a social media strategy in advance. Once you have that in place, you can set up automated social media posts to keep your content fresh and engaged with your audience. Additionally, you could consider using social media to engage with your target audience in real-time. Use platforms like Twitter to engage with potential customers as you create content, or send out a short message that encourages them to visit your website or join your email list. The possibilities are endless.
Measurement
The last thing you want to do is launch a massive email campaign without any idea of how it’s performing. In fact, you might want to consider using a tool like Marketo’s Email Analytics to get a handle on exactly what’s working and what needs to be changed. Take a look at your campaign’s open and click rates, subject line performance, and landing page conversion rates. By analyzing these numbers, you can determine the effectiveness of your campaign. If you decide that tweaking certain elements of your strategy is necessary, you can make adjustments and test your emails again. This is a tedious process, but it’s necessary in order to develop an effective email marketing strategy. Don’t get discouraged if your first few attempts at email marketing aren’t as successful as you’d like. With a little bit of patience and some of Marketo’s awesome tools, you’ll be able to develop an email campaign that is guaranteed to make your business successful.