I don’t care if you’re a small startup or an enterprise business, email marketing is the way to go. It’s still one of the most effective channels for reaching out to your customers or potential customers. But, it doesn’t have to be difficult!
If you follow my advice below on how I put together an email marketing strategy and then use it just like me you’ll find that sending emails has never been easier or more fun.
| Takeaways |
|---|
| 1. Crafting a successful email marketing strategy requires careful planning and execution. |
| 2. Segmentation is crucial for sending targeted content that resonates with different audience segments. |
| 3. Personalization enhances subscriber engagement and encourages higher open and click-through rates. |
| 4. Consistent testing and optimization of email campaigns help improve performance and achieve better results. |
| 5. Analyzing metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversions provides insights for refinement. |
Why You Need An Email Marketing Strategy
In the world of email marketing, there’s no denying its importance.
In fact, according to a recent report by Salesforce and LinkedIn, more than 80% of B2B businesses use email as their primary channel for communicating with prospects.
And when it comes to driving revenue, more than 50% of those same companies say that email is critical for them.
If you’re looking for a way to reach your audience with messages that matter and if you want to build relationships with those people there’s no better tool than email.
Building a successful email marketing strategy requires careful planning and execution. Discover valuable insights on how to get your emails opened and engage your audience effectively, ensuring your messages stand out in crowded inboxes.
Your Strategy Checklist
Before you start writing, it’s important to make sure you’re clear on your goals. Consider the following questions:
Why am I sending this email? What is my aim? Is this campaign intended to convey news, promote a product or service, announce an event or otherwise inform readers of something new and relevant?
Who is my audience? How do they differ from other people who might be interested in what I have to say? Are there specific characteristics about them that will affect how I write content for them (for example, are they homemakers or small business owners)?
What am I selling or promoting here? What product/service/idea am I trying to sell through this email channel (or series of emails)? How can I keep my focus on these things instead of drifting off into tangents about unrelated things (like politics) and losing the interest of the reader(s)?
Set Your Goals
Before you start to build your email marketing strategy, it’s important that you set your goals.
When I say “set your goals,” I don’t mean define what emails you want to send, or who you want to send them to.
Instead, I’m talking about defining the problem before starting on a solution. For example, if my goal is to get people into my fitness studio so they can train with me and become better at CrossFit (a real goal of mine!),
I need to know why they’re not coming in right now. Maybe they don’t know there are classes available at night after work!
Or maybe they think our prices are too high because all of our competitors have lower prices but we offer better quality equipment and trainers than anyone else nearby us which means higher overhead costs that affect both how much money we make per class.
As well as how much profit margin goes into each session so that even though our prices may seem high compared to other gyms in town but when compared based on value proposition provided – including coaching services like nutrition help, etc.,
Then yes even though something like $30 per class might be considered expensive by some people who only care about getting their money’s worth out of something instead of seeing its overall value proposition.
Then yes sure go ahead take advantage here because this will save them time and money down the line (since they won’t have trouble sticking with their program due lack thereof results).
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Create A Target Persona For Your Email List
Now that you have your overall email marketing strategy in place, it’s time to dive into your list and see how you can start using it. Before we get into the nitty gritty details of what needs to go into your emails, it’s important to understand who you’re sending them to.
- Who is on your email list?
- Why did they subscribe?
- What do they care about most?
Once you’ve defined these things, the rest is easy peasy lemon squeezy!
Build An Editorial Calendar
If you’re new to email marketing, an editorial calendar is a simple but powerful tool for planning your messages. It’s similar to a calendar on which you plan out your day at work or school: You can see what tasks need to be completed and when and how long they’ll take.
An editorial calendar is similar; it helps you organize the emails that send in the future so that they don’t overlap with each other or come off as too repetitive.
For example, if I had two emails scheduled to go out next week (we’ll get into more details about scheduling in just a minute), one would be sent on Monday at 9 am and another would be sent Thursday at 9 a couple of days apart from each other.
That way there’s no confusion among my subscribers as they read their inboxes!
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Make Engagement A Priority
To make sure engagement is top of mind, I’ve built a community around my brand. This means that I listen to the people who follow me and those who engage with me on social media.
When it comes to email marketing strategy, this means:
- Building a list of engaged customers by offering value in exchange for their contact information (i.e., free resources).
- Engaging with customers regularly through social media and email newsletters/campaigns that provide value for them as well as your brand (i.e., tips, guides, and tools).
- Listening to customer feedback via surveys or reviews from other platforms (i.e., Amazon reviews).
Embrace Automation And Personalization To Make Life Easier
Automation is a way to make your life easier. It’s also a part of a good email marketing strategy.
As an example, once you’ve gathered all of your customer data, bulk-automating emails (like welcome emails and transactional ones) can save you both time and money.
Instead of manually sending out these messages one at a time, you can use software to generate them in bulk for you!
It’s not just about time-saving either automation helps you make your email marketing strategy more efficient by letting algorithms do the work:
They’ll find contacts who haven’t opened or clicked on any of your past campaigns, decide which ones are likely to respond best based on their behavior so far (say they’re big fans but haven’t bought anything yet), then send those potential customers personalized messages designed specifically with them in mind.
This allows companies like yours to reach out without having much human interaction involved at all.
This means less overhead costs in labor hours spent researching & perfecting templates or writing copy each time something new rolls around on Facebook advertising platforms like Instagram
Ads Manager where everything starts looking exactly alike anyway due to too much repetition over time because no one puts anything unique into anything anymore unless it’s extremely rare enough no matter whether people notice it.
Or not because there isn’t enough incentive anymore thanks to too much competition among businesses especially small businesses trying hard to stay afloat during tough economic times like today when everyone wants “everything” immediately now without paying extra money upfront.
Since credit cards aren’t reliable anymore thanks to too many identity thefts lately so everyone needs cash now before buying anything else even though inflationary pressures will increase prices eventually making it harder still
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Focus On Consistent Branding Across Channels
When you’re investing in email marketing, it’s important to keep your branding consistent across channels.
This will help build trust with customers and secure their loyalty. Consistent branding also helps increase brand awareness, which can lead to increased engagement and conversions.
The more familiar people are with your brand and its products or services, the better they’ll be able to understand the value that you offer and why they should choose you over other options.
Consistent branding is also a key component of building equity in your business and there are several ways this can occur:
When someone comes across information about your company for the first time (on social media, for example), if they see stylistic elements such as color schemes or typography that match those used in previous communications from that same source (e-newsletter articles).
It will be easier for them mentally connect those two experiences together as belonging under certain commonalities of style which then strengthens their perception of having formed some sort relationship with whoever owns those properties!
Another example; is when someone sees both e-newsletters and advertisements being sent out through social media platforms like Twitter at roughly similar frequencies per month/year – thereby creating an expectation over time.
There’s a greater likelihood than not that eventually reaching out via one channel rather than another happens organically without any prompting whatsoever because those expectations have been created over time through consistent exposure…
So now let’s talk about how I do this myself:
Segment Your Audience For More Relevant Content And Better Results
Segmenting your audience is the key to success.
Segmentation is the process of dividing a large group into smaller groups based on shared characteristics.
For example, when I say “segmentation,” you’re probably thinking about how segmenting your email list can help you identify which messages are getting opened most often or which users are engaging with your Facebook ads.
That’s one type of segmentation: behavioral. In behavioral segmentation, you’re looking at how people behave (and what they do).
So that you can better tailor content to them and make sure it gets in front of their eyes as much as possible since it’s proven successful for other people like them in similar situations.
Behavioral segmentation is super important but it only tells us so much about our audience members’ needs, wants, and interests.
Behavioral data doesn’t show us why someone might be interested in something; all we know from our actions is that they were interested enough to click on something related to what we sent out there (which could have been anything).
That’s where psychographic segments come into play! Psychographic segmentation uses information about the user’s personality traits, values, and attitudes rather than just their actions when making decisions about whether or not something appeals strongly enough for them to take action upon reading its message (which may not always be true either).
You could use both types together as complementary tools when creating an email marketing strategy; but if any one thing will help get results faster/better/stronger than anything else then psychographics would probably win hands down every time.
Because they give deeper insight into who exactly reads each message before deciding whether or not they want more information on whatever subject matter was being written about inside that particular message.
And this allows marketers like yourself access to understanding what those readers want most right now without having an impactful influence on sales conversion rates!
Don’t Be Afraid To Experiment With Content Types
There are several ways you can use content types to your advantage, but here are a few examples:
Use different content types to reach different segments of your audience. For instance, if you’re a B2B company, make sure you have both short-form blog posts and long-form guides with graphics that can be shared on social media.
If you’re working with startups who are just getting started in an industry, create a series of educational videos for them to watch.
The point is that by creating multiple forms of content across platforms, your audience will be better engaged and more likely to see what else your brand has to offer them (and how they can benefit from it).
Use different types of content as part of the stages in the marketing funnel (awareness phase, consideration phase, and purchase phase).
An example might be creating an infographic about why people should buy your product during the consideration phase; then once someone has purchased something from you.
Send them an email thanking them for their purchase and including helpful tips on maintaining their new item (in this case: “How To Keep Your New Car Looking Great”).
By doing this at each stage in the funnel from awareness through purchase you’ll give potential customers every opportunity possible while they’re considering buying from another company vs yours!
Pay Attention To The Competition…But Don’t Envy Them
When you’re starting out, do not envy the competition. Don’t try to be like them, and don’t try to be better than them. Just focus on being yourself be different from they are, but don’t make that your priority.
Once you have a solid foundation, then start experimenting with things like your email signature or subject line format.
Don’t worry about what other companies are doing right now; just focus on what’s best for your business in the long run.
Don’t Send Too Many Emails
I’ll be upfront with you: I’m a sucker for getting emails. I check my email far more often than I should, and if an email comes in that piques my interest, it doesn’t take long before I’ve clicked through to the sender’s website or checked out their latest blog post.
This is why it’s important not only for me but for anyone sending out emails to follow best practices.
One of these best practices is sending fewer emails or at least not enough so that recipients get annoyed by them.
If people have subscribed to your list because they’re interested in what you have to say, don’t send them too many messages over time; those who are subscribed just because they were tricked into signing up won’t mind so much (and might even appreciate being asked again).
But those who signed up because they want updates from you probably won’t keep their eyes peeled on their inbox once or twice a week indefinitely unless there’s something really special coming up soon!
Pay Attention To What’s Working (And What’s Not)
One of the most important things you can do is to pay attention to what’s working (and what’s not).
Go Beyond Your Own Data
You need more than just your own data — for example, if your emails are going out once a week, you should look at how often other people in your industry send their emails.
If they’re writing three times per week and getting great open rates and click rates, that gives you some insight on how often you should be sending out your emails.
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Consider Your Audience’s Interests
If one of the topics I write about is architecture and design, but my readership isn’t interested in those topics, then it would make sense for me not to include them in my email campaigns too often.
Instead of forcing content upon people who may have no interest in it (which will only lead them to unsubscribe from my list), I’d spend time finding out what they’re interested in so I can craft better strategies around those interests instead of trying to force-feed an audience with information they don’t care about or want.”
A/B Test Wherever You Can!
When it comes to A/B testing, there are two things that I always consider:
- Which version performs better? (This is the goal.)
- How much money can be saved by using the winning version?
A/B testing is a great way to test different versions of your email and see which performs better.
The key here is that you need a large list; otherwise, it won’t make sense to A/B test anything because the results won’t be significant enough. With this in mind, you can use A/B testing on both subject lines and content but remember: only do so when you have enough data at hand!
Use Subject Lines That Help You Stand Out In Inboxes
Use Subject Lines That Are Different From The Competition
I like to think of my email as a product or service, so when I’m planning out my emails, I try to create subject lines that help me stand out in inboxes.
The best way to do this is by using a subject line format that has been proven successful for other brands (for example: “10% off your first purchase!”).
This makes it easier for your subscribers and readers to recognize your brand and know what they can expect from that specific email.
If you want to get creative, use unicode characters the standard characters used in coding, and turn them into words when you write out your subject lines!
Personalize Your Emails With Personalized Subject Lines
Personalization can be incredibly effective at increasing engagement rates because it shows that brands care about their audiences and understand them on an individual level.
It also helps build trust between you and the reader/subscriber because there is less chance of spam if they feel like they are receiving something tailored just for them!
For example: “Hey [name],” “[Name] – Here’s How You Can….,” etc… You could also incorporate some fun facts about each individual subscriber into these personalized comments such as their birthday or anniversary date if they have given consent beforehand (this will make them feel special).
Conclusion
If you want to keep your email marketing strategy on track, it’s important to start with the basics. The great thing about email marketing is that it’s a lot easier than other types of communication and doesn’t require any specialized training or skills.
If you’re looking for an easy way to connect with customers or attract new ones, then email should be at the top of your list!
Further Reading
Here are some additional resources that can provide further insights into creating effective email marketing strategies:
Creating an Email Marketing Strategy with Mailchimp: Explore Mailchimp’s guide to crafting a comprehensive email marketing strategy that resonates with your audience and drives results.
Step-by-Step Guide to Creating an Effective Email Marketing Strategy: Learn from Liana Technologies about the step-by-step process of developing an impactful email marketing strategy that enhances customer engagement and boosts conversions.
Creating an Email Marketing Plan with Constant Contact: Constant Contact offers valuable insights on how to create a strategic email marketing plan that aligns with your business goals and engages your subscribers effectively.
FAQs
What are the key components of a successful email marketing strategy?
A successful email marketing strategy comprises several essential components, including audience segmentation, compelling content, personalized messaging, effective call-to-actions, and regular performance analysis.
How can I create an engaging email marketing plan?
To create an engaging email marketing plan, focus on understanding your target audience, crafting relevant and valuable content, optimizing email design for different devices, and testing different approaches to find what resonates best with your subscribers.
What role does audience segmentation play in email marketing?
Audience segmentation involves categorizing your email list based on specific criteria like demographics, behaviors, or purchase history. It enables you to send targeted and relevant content to different groups, enhancing engagement and conversions.
How do I measure the success of my email marketing campaigns?
Measuring email marketing success involves tracking metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and ROI. These metrics provide insights into the effectiveness of your campaigns and help you refine your strategies.
How can I ensure my email content resonates with subscribers?
To ensure your email content resonates with subscribers, focus on addressing their pain points, delivering value, and using personalization. Crafting engaging subject lines, clear messaging, and appealing visuals also contribute to higher engagement levels.
Costantine Edward is a digital marketing expert, freelance writer, and entrepreneur who helps people attain financial freedom. I’ve been working in marketing since I was 18 years old and have managed to build a successful career doing what I love.