ABC - email marketing

It is perfectly possible to use email marketing without appearing spammy and annoying your users. But you can’t phone it in. Put some thought into your message. Content needs to be fresh, engaging and relevant to your subscribers.

Email marketing is a form of direct marketing to the end user that relies on email as its communication channel. This is unlike blog posts, banner ads or online articles, which require the person to first visit your website.Email marketing is one of the most effective (and overlooked) marketing channels on the Internet. 

Software tools

Many email marketing platforms are available on the Internet today. You will be able to use these platforms to collect email addresses, design email newsletters and send messages on a regular basis, as well as cross-promote and link up to your website and your social media profiles and get statistics/track your results. The most popular solutions are “hosted,” meaning the company will host the software for you, and you’ll just need to log in to its website to manage your email lists.

Popular, user-friendly platforms include Emma, Constant Contact, Vertical Response and MailChimp. 

Which to chose?

Consider deliverability rate (percentage of emails sent that reach the end user), available features and price. Take note of the platform’s compliance with anti-spam laws and opt-in mechanisms. Many plans start at $15 a month and are on a tiered pricing plan. The more email addresses you collect and emails you send, the more you will generally pay. For larger businesses, enterprise-level systems such as Exact Target are available. These are more costly with their robust analytics and cross-channel and interactive marketing campaigns, and Fortune 500 companies typically favor them.

Some platforms let you create templates and newsletters to share with franchisees, independent sales representatives or others. This will permit you to control company messaging while allowing your sales team to leverage their email databases.

Getting subscribers

After choosing a platform, it’s a matter of logging in, adding emails to your list(s) and creating your email newsletter form. They offer simple templates you can use by dragging and dropping fields. You can even customize your form from scratch. In either case, you can add images and company logos.

You should consider displaying your subscription form in multiple spots. It should be noted that businesses must explicitly ask permission to collect the email address and send future messages, and this is typically accomplished via an opt-in process (a form is completed with name and email address, often followed by a click on a confirmation link sent via email).

On your company website, encourage folks to opt in to your email list near the top of the home page and at the bottom of every blog post (if you have a company blog). These two spots are very visible, and usually they have high conversion rates.

Install an email collection application on your Facebook page. Many email marketing platforms (like Constant Contact) make it very easy to install apps that collect email addresses and “dump” them into your master email list.

Lists can be sorted and organized according to your specific business needs. Perhaps you want to send emails targeted to a certain subsection of your master list. This is possible, not to mention a good use of the tool. Be creative about your email collection process as well. Allow consumers to opt in to your email database when they enter a giveaway or sweepstakes promotion or when they request a free product sample. These incentives can be a simple way to build your list.

Content is king

An email piece should NOT be thought of exclusively as a sales circular. People will unsubscribe faster than you can hit “send” a second time. As with social media, trust and value are paramount to success. Provide solid content, earn trust, and then sell. It’s OK to send an email with a more “sales-y” tone, but don’t make that the norm. And think long and hard about your subject line — it can make or break your email open rate.

Have a editorial calendar in place

This makes it possible for all marketing platforms to march in the same direction at the same time and for messaging to be uniform and consistent. For example, the email piece might highlight the most recent blog post, which in turn gets promoted on Facebook and Twitter. All platforms have a place for readers to opt in and receive emails.

Frequency

There is no magic formula. Most platforms provide some analytics that will allow you to gauge the success of your emails by reviewing your open rate, click-through rate and more. Keep an eye on these metrics, and adjust your email strategy accordingly.

Social Sharing

Take advantage of the social media sharing icons included in most popular email marketing platforms. These are great calls to action for readers, encouraging them to share your email with others via email, Facebook, Twitter, etc. This is an easy way to expand the reach of your messaging.