Sales and Marketing
Did we just see your eyes roll when you read “email marketing”? You wouldn’t be the first. Despite immediate associations with spam and cluttered inboxes, email marketing can actually be one of the most effective ways to get your business in front of potential customers.
Still unsure? No worries! We’re here to take you on a quick tour through the exciting world of email marketing—but let’s get started by looking at why you should consider using it in the first place.
Why email marketing?
Well, it all boils down to a well-worn aphorism: Knowledge is power. Especially when used in tandem with a secondary platform like Hubspot or Active Campaign, email marketing allows you to learn a lot about your customers and how to reach them, because you can see exactly who’s responding and what they’re responding to. It’s targeted marketing that just keeps coming closer and closer to the mark.
Email marketing also allows you to run campaigns that utilize blog and webpage analytics, including click-through rates on links and CTAs. Looking at your different email lists targeted at different demographics and user behaviours, you can see real-time data coming back to you. If you see that certain visitors are turning into repeat visitors (AKA potential clients), you can use that information to start gauging how to make the most of your advertising dollar.
How does it work with your other marketing efforts?
Engaging clients and fans through social media outlets such as Facebook or Instagram has also proven to help us gain traction—although the main goal with both email and social is to drive traffic to the website.
What platforms do you use?
Hubspot, AWeber and Mailchimp are three popular and well-established platforms for keeping your email marketing mailing lists in order. But software changes all the time—before deciding which platform is best for you, do a little research. Here are a few other (newer) platforms to check out: Constant Contact, Drip, Mailjet, SendinBlue, ConvertKit, Get Response.
If you’re not using at least one of these platforms, it’s likely that your email campaigns are few and far between, and that you have no way of telling how effective they are. And an email marketing platform won’t just make your campaigns more frequent and effective—it’ll make them a heck of a lot easier to set up, manage, and profit from.
What kind of content do you share?
As with any advertising, the more consistently you can approach and execute successful campaigns, the better. Start by aiming for a minimum of two articles or promotions per month, maybe with an event or product focus. Small blurbs that you can share via social media or through online publications are a great way to bolster the bigger pieces of content and keep your business on customers’ minds.
Decide on events/stories/promotions/product launches based on your calendar for the year, create a budget, then approach writers and photographers to cover the event. Once the content has been edited, release it to its specific demographic by email and/or online publication—using a double-pronged approach can be an efficient way to maximize traffic back to the website.
Our top email marketing tips
- Don’t be afraid to ask for help. If email marketing skills are a gap in your team’s arsenal, hire or contract people who can help get your campaigns on track.
- Keep it fresh. In these days of rapidly changing tastes and technology, what was effective two weeks ago may be obsolete within a few months. Always be on the lookout for new strategies, read as much as you can, and look at what others are doing to be successful.
Email marketing doesn’t sound quite as outdated now, does it? If you’re thinking about getting started with email marketing, get a quick rundown of CASL guidelines and how they affect you.
We know that email marketing is part of a bigger marketing strategy—do you need some help writing one of those? We’ve got you covered with our Marketing Plan Template for you to fill in.