Introduction: What is email marketing?

Before diving into specifics, it's important to understand what email marketing is —

An essential marketing strategy to gain new clients, make more sales, and grow your business.

Email marketing attracts potential clients who value the product or service you offer; New people interested in your brand are much more likely to submit an email address in a form, than they are to buy your product or service.

This marketing channel can be pivotal for your business! It helps you build relationships with existing customers and new leads that may turn into life-long returning clients. (Mo clients🧔 = Mo Money💵) It can also be great for boosting brand awareness; showcasing why your brand is the best choice for your existing and potential customers.

Fortunately, email marketing makes it possible to do all these things relatively inexpensively because it is a very efficient way to reach a large audience.

The Basics of Email Marketing: Getting Started

Email marketing, in the age of social media and instant messaging, may seem like an old hat. But did you know it's still one of the most effective marketing channels? With a return on investment (ROI) of $36 for every $1 spent, email marketing remains a powerhouse for both established businesses and small start-ups. (Numbers as November 2023)

If you're new to this game or need a refresher, read on for a quick guide to the basics of email marketing.

1. Building Your Email List:

The foundation of any successful email marketing campaign is a solid, engaged list of subscribers.

Getting an engaged list of subscribers isn’t about quantity, but quality.

Acquiring subscribers organically, through your website, blog or store, ensures that your messages are reaching an audience genuinely interested in what you have to offer.

3 Strategies to optimize email opt-ins:

• Opt-In Forms: These can be placed on your website or blog. They should be easily visible but not intrusive. You can use a pop up that asks if they want to join your email list, or a call to action button with the form to join your list.

• Incentives: Offer something of value, this is called a Lead Magnet– a discount, eBook, or exclusive content – is a great way to spark interest and a great exchange for their email.

• Transparency: If you want to be seen as a credible source that's not going to spam them, clearly explain what subscribers can expect in terms of content and frequency.

2. Crafting the Perfect Email:

An effective email is more than just text, it's about crafting a message that resonates with your audience. As mentioned above, it's about offering value that's relevant to your audience.

5 Elements of the perfect email:

1. Subject Line: This is the first thing recipients see. Make it catchy and relevant to encourage the recipient to open the email.

2. Personalization: If your email software allows it, use the recipient's name and provide content with personal stories- Make your content relatable, you don't want to sound like a robot.

3. Content: Whether it's a promotion, newsletter, or update, ensure your content provides value. Avoid only doing heavy sales pitches.

4. Call to Action (CTA): Direct your readers on what to do next – take advantage of a sale, read a blog post, or sign up for a webinar.

5. Responsive Design: Ensure your email looks great on desktops, tablets, and especially mobile devices.

   

3. Avoiding the Spam Folder:

It's the dreaded destination for any email marketer – the spam folder.

3 Steps to avoid the spam folder:

1. Authenticating Your Email: Services like SPF, DKIM, and DMARC can help validate your email's authenticity.

2. Avoid Spammy Words: Words like "free," "win," and "urgent" can trigger spam filters.
   (Click here for a list of spam words you should avoid)

3. Clean List Maintenance: Regularly remove inactive subscribers or those who haven't engaged in a while.

4. Analyzing and Refining:

Just sending emails isn’t enough, you need to monitor how they're performing to refine and improve your strategy.

4 Metrics to keep track of with email marketing:

1. Open Rates: This measures how many recipients opened your email. A low rate might mean your subject line needs work.

2. Click-Through Rates (CTR): This measures how many recipients clicked a link in your email. It’s a good indicator of how engaging your content is.

3. Unsubscribe Rates: If this rate is high, reconsider your content, frequency, or list quality- In other words you're probably sending the wrong content to your audience.

4. Conversion Rates: The ultimate metric – how many clicked links turned into sales, sign-ups, or another desired action.

5. Automation and Segmentation:

Advanced email marketing strategies make use of automation and segmentation. Automation allows you to send emails triggered by certain actions, like when someone signs up for your newsletter you can have an automation that sends a welcome email.

Segmentation involves dividing your list into specific groups, allowing for more personalized messaging.

For example: If you are offering multiple free resources like an eBook, a short video course, or template, you should have a group for each so you know what the individual signed up for, and can offer other solutions that relate to what they signed up for in the first place.

In Conclusion:

Email marketing, while traditional, remains a crucial tool in the marketer's arsenal.

By focusing on list quality, crafting engaging content, staying out of the spam folder, analyzing for improvement, and embracing advanced strategies like automation and segmentation, you will ensure your email campaigns are an asset to your business, and not just extra work.

Ready to dive in? Your audience is waiting in their inboxes!

If you currently use email marketing for your business, or if you're wanting to get started, check out The Burb Haus! It has everything you need to get started, grow your current list, and automate almost everything. Learn more by clicking HERE.

The Burb Haus is the all-in-one software solution to support and scale your business. It consolidates a multiplicity of software tools, allowing you to manage your business in one place!

Having one software that takes care of your business will save you time, money, and the stress from juggling multiple tools! If that sounds good to you, do yourself a favor and check out The Burb Haus!