Email marketing is still considered the most effective way to reach your ideal client.
If it’s done right.
Sadly, many are not doing it correctly and are not reaping the benefits it could bring for their businesses.
Here are my top six tips for making email marketing work for YOU:
Know what you’re trying to accomplish and choose the email marketing provider that can meet those needs. The “big three” of service providers in terms of being the most well known are: MailChimp, Constant Contact, and Infusionsoft, but out of curiosity, I googled “best email marketing providers” and got a completely different list:
Best email marketing for small businesses overall: Benchmark
Best email marketing for low cost: Get Response
Best email marketing for ecommerce: Send in Blue
Source: Business News DailyKnow your subscribers. This seems like such a “Duh!”, but if you are only focusing on how many subscribers you have, you lose the ability to clearly decipher which each one wants and you end up marketing to the masses.
Get Permission. Meeting someone at a networking event and exchanging business cards is NOT permission. Nor is attending an event where everyone is provided with a list of the attendees. If you take people for granted, then you’re not building a relationship with them. Please, please, please — ask before you add.
Make it easy for people to find you. Add an opt-in to your website/blog and Facebook page as well as your email signature block. Using a tool like Wisestamp, you can add your social media networks and RSS feed, which includes your latest blog post, tweet, or Facebook. Have the opt in in a prominent spot “above the fold”.
Offer something of value in exchange for their email. When someone signs up for your list, not only are they indicating they want to hear from you, but they are affirming that you may be able to solve their pain with your services. So, offer something that gives them an idea of what it would feel like if their pain was gone. It could be a report, a video, a checklist, or a course. Whatever it is, it should be easy to digest and give them measureable results. (Enough so they come back for more.)
Treat it like gold. There’s a little word at the bottom of every email that should scare us just a little bit and that’s “unsubscribe.” This means, don’t ask them to marry you on the first date. Just because they downloaded your free report, does not mean they want to get a non-stop drip campaign of messages about every new program you have. It also does not mean you should send threatening/whining/cajoling messages if they don’t open your emails.
I’d love to hear about your challenges and triumphs with email marketing. Feel free to comment and share this with anyone you think will find it of value.
Thank you for sharing this space with me!