Marketing techniques are constantly evolving – what was once considered effective may not be current with today’s best practices and customer demands. Businesses that choose to ignore these changing trends by not updating their marketing strategies are not in tune with their customers – for small business owners, this can mean the difference between marketing success and marketing failure.
The Move to Email Marketing
An important trend in marketing today is the move to email marketing. Telemarketing, once a top choice for many companies, is gradually being phased out worldwide, as ‘Do Not Call’ legislation is being passed in many countries. Companies with lower marketing budgets need to find alternative ways to get their message to their potential customers. Email marketing is becoming an increasingly important part of the marketing tool box for small businesses, as it is a proven method to level the playing field between them and their larger competitors. Since mass media advertising is undisputedly expensive and difficult to measure the results of, email marketing is becoming the logical choice of small businesses. Surveys have shown that email marketing earns the highest return on investment over search engine marketing and direct mail. It offers lower costs and a broader reach than most other marketing formats. Email marketing can help small businesses stay competitive with larger companies, since it encourages real relationships with their customers.
One important advantage of email marketing is its measurability. For companies whose marketing budgets are small, it is necessary to ensure that all funding is spent on campaigns that can be proven effective. There are many different email campaign metrics that can be measured, however, the most popular metrics are:
1. Number of successfully delivered emails (delivery rate)
2. Number of opened emails (open rate)
3. Number of recipients who responded to the email (click-throughs)
4. Number of recipients who unsubscribed (unsubscribes)
Know Your Audience
The first stage of planning a successful email marketing campaign should be to determine your target audience. To make an email campaign effective, you must understand what your audience truly wants and needs, not simply what you would like to tell them. Many marketers mistakenly make their message too broad, thinking that it will help them reach a wider audience. The truth is the more specifically you target your audience, the more they will relate to your message. If your product or service would best suit homeowners, don’t spend your time marketing to those who live in apartment buildings. The easiest way to learn these details is by asking relevant questions on your sign-up page.
Don’t Let Your First Impression Be Your Last
Even the most carefully thought-out email content will go to waste if the subject line doesn’t persuade recipients to open the email. Your subject line is the first part of your marketing campaign that your audience sees, yet, more often than not, it is the least creative aspect of the entire campaign. Learning the number of opened emails sent in a marketing campaign is a testament to the effectiveness of the email’s subject line. The best subject lines are short, mention your brand name, and create interest in the content. The subject line should answer the “what’s in it for me” question for the recipient; it should appeal directly to them by stating the benefits of your offer or information contained in the email.
Make it Memorable
Once your email has been opened, your content must speak for itself. Just like your subject line should speak to your audience directly, your content should answer the most important question the reader has: “Why should I care?” Make your content memorable. Each email should deliver something useful to your audience, be it details about an upcoming promotion or information they would find interesting or entertaining.
An important key to email marketing success is keeping your message short. Long emails will be put aside to ‘be read later,’ and will most likely wind up in their deleted folder. Keep it short and keep your audience interested. If you have a lot to say and don’t feel you can edit down, give a brief overview of the most interesting and relevant points, and then direct readers to your website for more information.
Determine what you want your audience to walk away with or do after reading your email, and end your email with a “call to action” that will prompt them to do something. Ultimately, if your email is relevant to them and keeps them interested, they are more likely to turn into your customer. After all, that’s why you sent them the email in the first place!
For more information, to receive our full white paper on Email Marketing, or to learn how WSI can run an email campaign for you, contact Graham Buchanan on 01323 724159
graham@wsileadingwebdevelopment.co.uk
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