Email marketing should be an integral part of any marketing strategy.
While social media may reach a huge audience, they are also very public. Emails, on the other hand, are more personal, direct, and there is far less chance any given targeted prospect has scrolled past and simply missed it.
Added to which, email marketing is easy, inexpensive and efficient.
After all, your mailing list is made up of people who have subscribed, signed up, or expressed an interest in your company (in theory at least). What could be easier than keeping them up to date with your latest offers, products, launches and news? Read on to find out how to get the most out of your email marketing.
1. Invest in a great email client
Not only is plain text email marketing boring, it doesn’t represent or reflect well on your business. It’s well worth shopping around to find a good email client - one that is user-friendly, enables you to create interesting and eye-catching emails easily, and lets you easily access all the data and information you need.
We recommend either Mail Chimp, Campaign Monitor or our own Email Client that is exclusively available for clients of Pixel Studio and comparable to Campaign Monitor.
You may end up paying a subscription service, but it will be money well spent.
2. Segment your mailing list
Not everyone on your mailing list will be the same – some may be suppliers, others end users, others press contacts, etc.
They won’t all need to read everything you put out, and even when there is overlap, you can reword an email that conveys the same basic information several ways to suit various audiences.
An email is a personal form of communication -‐more so than, say, a social media post – and wording it to sound like it is addressing the recipient directly will reflect well. At the very least, you will avoid annoying your subscribers with irrelevant emails.
3. Educate your Audience
Emails can be so much more than a way to advertise offers or new products. Consider the sort of content you can create to help your subscribers become more invested in your brand. Perhaps you could write a blog. Perhaps you could do a weekly newsletter.
Never waste an opportunity to get your subscribers as interested in you as they are in your products. You could even consolidate regular blog posts or articles into an e‐book to add further value.
4. Consider your email layout
It doesn’t matter if you aren’t a designer; just keeping a few key points in mind when planning the layout of your email marketing.
Firstly, don’t overload them. Many people want to skim through their emails quickly, and if your email looks like it will be a considerable read, many people will move on.
Keep information bite-sized, and broken up with images to keep it visually interesting. Try to restrict yourself to a palette of company colours. And load the essential point of the email right at the top, so people can tell at a glance the key information you are trying to get across.
5. Nurture your Mailing List
Remember that it is against the law to send unsolicited emails. The key to email marketing is to encourage people to sign up.
Your emails should be interesting and informative, and your website itself should give as many calls to action encouraging people to subscribe as you think is reasonable.
It used to be popular to gate content so people needed to give their email address before they could access your site, but people have become more wary of giving their details away, so it’s better to let them have a taste of your products or content before deciding to subscribe.
There you go, a few top tips to consider when settin gup your business and planning your email marketing. Which will integrate well with the 6 Things To Think About When Planning Your Website.