It is undeniable that a great email marketing campaign is the best way to organically reach potential clients. People are so bombarded by advertisement each day, that seeing an ad, or a pop-up can cause feelings of anger and resentment.
Forcing someone to watch an advertisement is known to leave a bitter taste in people’s mouths. Actively subscribing to a newsletter, however, is a completely different kettle of fish. When a reader subscribes to a newsletter, the reader actually wants to receive ongoing contact from that company, thus creating the perfect chance for the business to provide relevant and free content, all while gently encouraging readers to convert to clients.
While many take on creating an email marketing campaign themselves, others take a different approach by hiring digital marketing services. Someone can be hired to develop an effective marketing strategy for a business, and this includes email marketing. This article will discuss how to properly start an email marketing campaign and some of the benefits of using digital marketing services.
Decide on topics in advance
In order to properly create an ongoing email newsletter, it is important to decide on a range of topics in advance. Many even go as far as drafting rough ideas for newsletters up to a year in advance. This can reduce stress and create ease throughout the year, especially when times get busy. Topic ideas can change if the business changes directions, or if it is noticed that particular topics are more popular. Creating a subject matter ahead of time helps create a consistent theme, and makes it more likely that newsletters will go out in time. The regular newsletters help build trust and readers become to depend on the weekly, fortnightly or monthly email.
Pick an email company
When implementing digital marketing services, a professional may recommend a particular email company to use to send out newsletters with. Otherwise, research must be done to decide on what provided is the best to use. A simple Google search can deliver a list of free email providers that allow users to send out regular newsletters, create subscription lists as well as opt-ins for websites. There are also a variety of paid providers that offer a wider variety of services such as email automation. When deciding on a company it is important to look at online reviews to find the best provider possible. This will make setting up a regular newsletter easier, however, it is completely okay to try several different sites until the one with the best fit is found.
Decide on what to sell and where to display it
In an email campaign, is it crucial to decide on what to market. Many businesses offer several different services and are ambassadors for several other companies. Displaying everything a business has to offer in one email may confuse a reader and will begin to make the newsletter feel like an advertisement. Instead, deciding on one thing to display in each correspondence sent out is the perfect way to encourage readers to learn more. While some choose to send out a specific newsletter that is completely dedicated to a company’s offer, others choose to send out a newsletter with free content such as a blog post and then have a small but clear call-to-action at the bottom of the page. For example, one could encourage readers to book a free session if they enjoyed reading the blog post and would like to learn more.
Create a template
The next step is creating a successful campaign is to create a template. This way all correspondence that is sent out will have the same font used, the same colour used and the same layout. This will create a sense of professionalism and instill trust in readers. It also makes sending out a post much easier as the template can be used each time rather than starting from scratch.
Schedule posts
Whatever company that is chosen to send out the campaign will likely include the option to schedule posts. Once the topics have been chosen and the template has been created, posts can then be scheduled to be sent out. The recipients will be the readers that have been added to a list in the provider’s database. It can be advantageous to schedule posts at the same time of day each week to invoke trust in readers, however, it can also be beneficial to play with the time an email is sent to decipher the time of day when the most emails are read by subscribers.
Create meaningful opt-ins
Many reputable digital and SEO agencies create a newsletter opt-in on a website is crucial to gaining subscribers. A great way to do this is by offering meaningful and free content in the form of eBooks, audios or initial consultations. Discount codes can be offered or free webinars. The ideas are endless, but the key is to bombard website visitors will free content that is also extremely beneficial. This way trust is again built, and more potential paying clients are found.
Test it out
The last thing to do is to test it out. Sending a test email is the perfect way to make sure there are no spelling mistakes or any resizing issues. Signing up to an opt-in to make sure that it works is also essential.
Another great idea is to test an email campaign on family and friends. This way they can give feedback on the look of the template, if the content provided was interesting enough and if they are receiving everything okay. Testing each time a change is made is also very important.
At the end of the day, in this world of ever-growing technology, an electronic post is still a very powerful tool. It is an authentic way to reach readers who are genuinely interested, and who could become potential clients. There are few steps to be taken when starting an email campaign, and this can be done personally or by a professional.