You may be familiar with the term ‘Digital Marketing Expert’ or ‘Digital Marketing Specialist’, but did you know that there is more than one kind of expert? Here are 12 things about email marketing specialists you probably didn’t know existed.
1. They Provide A ‘One-Stop-Shop’ For All Of Your Marketing Needs
The role of an email marketing specialist is to help you optimize your efforts across all marketing channels. This means that instead of focusing on one area (like social media), they can help you to develop a strategy that will integrate your efforts across different platforms (like email and organic search).
Having a team of specialists means that you can scale up your marketing efforts quickly and efficiently, while also maintaining focus on key metrics (like open rates, click-through rates, lead generation, and overall performance).
2. They Have A Specialized Knowledge Of Email Marketing
The first thing you’ll need to do is decide what type of email marketing suits your business. Do you want to use email to connect with customers, or do you want to use it for more of a marketing or advertising purpose?
If you’re looking for more information on the different kinds of email marketing, check out this blog post from HubSpot, or look up the different types of email marketing on Wikipedia.
3. They Can Generate Leads By Using Inbound Marketing Techniques
Inbound marketing is all the rage these days. It calls for using techniques that attract – rather than repel – the customer or prospect. One of the main practices of inbound marketing is generating leads by asking questions and then following up with offers that are closely related to the questions asked.
An email marketing specialist will probably recommend implementing a lead-generation form directly into your website. This way, you can start collecting email addresses even when a customer is just on the doorstep. The more leads you collect, the more you can offer them down the line. When someone fills out that lead generation form, you can follow up with a welcome email that contains a small piece of content related to their request. This content could be an ebook, a cheatsheet, or maybe even a free trial of your product or service.
4. They Can Optimize All Of Your Online Marketing Materials (e.g., Landing Pages And Email Signatures)
Your website is your storefront; it’s what you use to reel in your customers and prospects. As such, it needs to be responsive and fit perfectly on all devices (e.g., desktop, tablet, and mobile phone).
An email marketing specialist will help you to make sure that all of your online marketing materials (e.g., your website, landing pages, and social media platforms) are optimized for maximum visibility.
Whether you’re using a landing page, blog post, or social media account, everything needs to have a call-to-action (CTA). This could be a button, link, or even a specific phrase (like ‘sign up’ or ‘go to site’ – among others).
You can also ask the email marketing specialist to look at your current email marketing materials and suggest ways to make them more effective. Sometimes it’s just a matter of updating the copy on your website, landing pages, or social media accounts. Other times, it means coming up with a new template for your emails.
5. They Can Design And Build Effective Email Campaigns
Your email marketing specialist will be able to create a number of different types of email campaigns for you. Some of these may include things like autoresponders, marketing emails, or even automated welcome emails (among others).
Depending on your available funds and the size of your business, your email marketing specialist may also be able to recommend paid advertising, such as Google AdWords or a social media advertising campaign. They can also help you to set up a pay-per-click advertising strategy on search platforms like Google and Bing.
6. They Can Help You To Measure The Results Of Your Marketing Efforts
To ensure you’re making the right decision about your marketing budget and approach, it’s essential that you have clear measures of success. This is where an email marketing specialist comes in handy. They can help you to set up automated email campaigns and analysis tools that track the success of your different marketing efforts.
For example, you could set up an email marketing campaign that uses a free tool like HubSpot to capture emails. You could also follow up with a welcome email and introduce them to your product or service. Two weeks later, you could check the results of your email marketing using HubSpot or another tool like MarketingCharts.
7. They Can Facilitate Phone Calls From Prospects
Prospects who call in to your hotline are often times difficult to convert into paying customers. What’s more is, many businesses wind up losing these leads, as they either put too much pressure on the salesperson, or they simply hand off the phone for a salesperson to pursue.
An email marketing specialist can help you identify the best leads (based on demographics, psychographics, and digital behavior), build trust and credibility, and then hand off the phones to you or your team. With this strategy, you’ll be able to close more sales and boost your bottom line. Plus, you won’t have to chase down phone leads – saving you both time and money.
8. They Can Help To Define Your Marketing Goals And Objectives
Marketing goals and objectives are one of the most important aspects of any marketing plan. They help you to set benchmarks for your marketing activities, and they provide you with a clear indicator of how you’re doing (e.g., are you hitting your goals or are you falling short?).
It’s important to note that these goals and objectives should be attainable – meaning they should be measurable and represent a real improvement over your previous marketing efforts. Otherwise, you’re just spinning your wheels – and may even be driving in the wrong direction. Defining clear goals and objectives is the key to successful marketing.
9. They Can Help To Identify The Best Platforms For The Type Of Marketing You’re Doing
Depending on your budget and available resources, you may decide to pursue paid advertisements (like search engine optimizations, or SEM) or opt for free alternatives (like blogging or social media).
An email marketing specialist can help you to determine which platforms are best suited for your unique needs and goals. Furthermore, they can help you to determine the ideal mix of paid and free platforms for the type of marketing you’re doing.
For instance, you may choose to advertise on social media platforms like Twitter or Facebook, as well as gain visibility through content on your blog or in emails sent to your list.
10. They Know How To Set Up Unfair Advantage
In the world of sports, the saying ‘it’s what is inside the cage that counts’ rings true. However, in business-to-business (B2B) marketing, there is more than one kind of cage, or platform as others call them. This is where the expertise of an email marketing specialist comes in handy.
Depending on your situation, you may need to setup an email campaign, or opt for a social media campaign. However, in many cases, you can find the ‘sweet spot’ where you can get the best of both worlds. An email marketing specialist can help you to set up a hybrid or multi-channel marketing strategy that will give you an unfair advantage over your competitors – so that even when the games begin, you’re already ahead of the competition.
11. They Can Help To Determine The Best Financials For Your Marketing
One of the main responsibilities of an email marketing specialist is to help you to establish the right financials for your marketing efforts. What does this mean?
As a rule of thumb, you shouldn’t spend more than what you’re earning. However, this isn’t always the case when it comes to B2B marketing, so it’s important to determine how much you can afford to spend on marketing operations and how much you need to spend on leads. This is where an email marketing specialist comes in handy, as they can help to determine how much you need to spend on each item, while also giving you an idea of how much you can spend overall.