What Business Doesn’t Need Email Marketing?
Every online marketing plan is going to need email marketing. Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to communicate with your audience and to build your brand.
But nobody ever says “I wish I could receive more emails”. So when somebody signs up to receive emails from you they are giving you very special permission to send them information.
It’s then your responsibility to give them what they signed up for. Not just to constantly send messages where you’re trying to sell stuff. Email marketing is about making real connections with real people who want to hear from you. As they receive your emails, they’ll grow more attached to your brand, engage with your content and be much more likely to buy from you.
You know you need email marketing. So where do you begin?
Click Here: Free Email Marketing Guide
Why Is Email Marketing Effective?
Email marketing is one of the most important and effective forms of marketing to ever be invented. Reading emails is the number one activity online. Statistics show that 94% of people online send or receive emails, whereas 83% use a search engine and 61% use social media. The conversion rate for appropriate email approaches 4-7% over time. That’s because a prospect needs to see a brand 7 to 8 times before they trust it enough to buy something. Email is the perfect way to do that.
So Where Do You Start When You Need Email Marketing?
1. Decide Your Goals
Think about what your business objectives. What do you need email marketing to achieve for you? Do you want to increase sales for your product or service? Do you want to build relationships with subscribers? How will it fit with your overall marketing strategy?
2. Know Your Ideal Subscriber
Who is the ideal subscriber for your email list? What problems can your product or service solve for them? How can you make their life easier or more comfortable? To identify your ideal email subscriber you need a very clear and distinct picture of your prospect. This is known as your customer avatar. Your can’t sell everything to everyone so the more focused you are your ideal subscriber, the easier it will be to connect to that individual.
3. How Do You Get Email Addresses?
Obviously you have to collect and store email addresses of prospective customers. This is usually done via an email opt-in form on your website. Or you can direct prospects to a specific landing page where they are offered something for free in exchange for their email address. This free giveaway could be a checklist, report, e-book, video tutorial or anything that is relevant to your business and of value to your prospect.
4. What Are You Going To Email Them?
A lot of businesses know that they need email marketing to grow their business, but get stuck trying to figure out what type of content to send their subscribers via email. But, today there really is no limit to the form in which the email can be sent, so you are less limited by the types. You can send videos, text, newsletters and more.
Sending a variety off emails will keep your audience interested to open each email that you send to them. Pick a few of these types of emails below to send to your audience. Test out how each one does in terms of getting opens, click-throughs, and results.
- Welcome Emails
When somebody joins your email list, your first email should be a welcome email that explains to your new subscriber what to expect from being on your email list. Tell them how often they’ll get messages from you, plus what type of messages they’ll get.
- Educational
One of the things you should do for your email subscribers is to educate them about your niche or industry. Remember that they joined your list because they’re interested in you and your business. Tell them about problems and solutions that would be of benefit to them.
- Newsletters
Having a regular weekly or monthly newsletter is an important component to having a profitable email list. There are many different things you can include in a newsletter, such as a reminder of other emails, blog posts, round-ups of information and so forth. Inviting your email newsletter subscribers to share certain newsletters that don’t have exclusive material is a great way to improve your subscription rate. It will also make your current members feel included in your community.
- E-Courses
An email is a great way to send lessons about how to do something to your audience. You can make a series of emails that give tasks to them on things to do that ultimately leads them to a goal. A great way to fill up your email marketing autoresponder is with an e-course that delivers daily or weekly with information and assignments for your audience. This is not only a good way to teach them something but also a good way to suggest other products.
- Promotional Emails
While you don’t want every email you send to be promotional in nature, you do want to promote; that’s how you’re going to earn money. Use the other emails as a way to build up to a promotional email. Tell your list subscribers about new products before you announce them to the world and giving them a few days to purchase at a discounted “early bird” rate.
- Announcements
If you have a new blog post, new video, new e-course, new anything to offer your audience, or even some personal announcement to make about your life (when relevant), then send an announcement to your list.
- Advice
If someone asks a question in person, in a coaching call, on a message board or email, sometimes you can turn it into a message to send out to your email list. Giving advice to everyone on your list about something will add a lot of value to your email subscribers. If you send out a regular newsletter, you could include a list of ten tips that involves putting your services or products to their best use.
5. When To Use Email Marketing
While your website is a public platform for your target audience, your emails are a more private communication. You get to directly communicate with people who have specifically signed up to hear what you have to say. That’s a pretty special relationship. So you want to treat that connection right so that they don’t unsubscribe.
There’s no one right or wrong answer for how often you should send emails. Email enough so that your subscribers remember who you are and why you’re emailing them. All your emails should have something of value to say and stick to a schedule. If you send an email every day for 2 weeks then wait 3 weeks before sending the next one, your subscribers may have forgotten about you. They might even think you’re spamming them because they forgot that they signed up to your list.
Importance Of Email Marketing For Business
On any day of the week, your target audience may or may not visit your website, blog or one of your social media pages. Most people check their email every day, several times during the day or even several times per hour! You need email marketing because when you communicate through email, you can build a loyal audience of people who truly want to hear from you.
Check out this free email marketing course where you’ll learn how to write welcome emails, set up autoresponder email software and more. Plus, you’ll get a fill-in-the-blank email templates to help you get the results you want from your next email marketing campaign.
