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Launching Your E-Mail Marketing Campaign in 2015
E-mail marketing has been praised as being one of the most effective forms of marketing out there today. And as marketers continue to search for a social media strategy that will gain them some contact with consumers, e-mail marketing is already speaking directly to interested consumers and creating a connection with the targets that is difficult to achieve with any other platform.
The problem becomes being able to create the parameters that will make conducting e-mail marketing campaigns effective at their intended purpose of reaching and converting consumers. As a marketer, you already have an advantage because the person has opted to become a subscriber to your list, and as consumers become bombarded with more and more content across the Web and on social media, having them decide on your content is a big deal. Now it’s up to you to foster a relationship with the subscriber that balances expectations of content with paid services.
Below is a list of tips that will help guide you, as a marketer, to ensuring your e-mail campaigns hit their mark in 2015.
Your Content Needs to Be Helpful
This is crucial. Someone only chooses to subscribe to an e-mail list if they feel they can benefit in some way, that the content you will be sending them will be useful—don’t break that trust. A subscriber should never feel like they are being sold anything; instead, they should always feel like the content or services you are providing them are helpful and will relate to their lives in some practical manner.
Automate
With a Lenskold Group study showing that 78% of marketers refer to automation as having contributed to increased revenue, you had better be taking this seriously. Determine which of your campaigns require marketing automation and formulate inspiring content and offers with the goal of raising the activity of subscribers within that campaign.
Update List
There is no use in designing a killer campaign if it’s been two years since your subscriber has updated their expectations. Send out a form or some kind of update sheet on an annual or semi-annual basis that gets the subscriber to update their profile, or include an update link as a footer in all communications that you send out.
Be Ready to Build Relationships with Your Subscribers
Yes, automation is all the rage, and of course sending relevant content and offers that are useful to subscribers is a good way to keep them clicking on links. But you also have to remember that this is a person that has taken the time to specifically request information from you or your business. You need to engage them on a more personal level that shows you understand the trust they’ve shown in your company.
One way to achieve this engagement is by simply asking clients to reply to a question in your e-mail. And not a question directly about an offer you have, but instead ask them to fill out a survey on how they feel you can improve the content they are sending you. You can even go a step further and ask for their opinions on matters related to your industry; just be ready to deal with responses that may conflict with those of you and/or your brand.
Starts with a Plan
Any e-mail marketing campaign must start with a solid strategy. Macromark designs successful e-mail campaigns and understands all of the factors that go into planning and launching a targeted campaign. Visit Macromark’s web site to learn more about the history of their company and how they can help lead your next e-mail campaign.
Sources:
Sandeen, P., “3 Email Marketing Strategies and How to Make Them Work,” Peter Sandeen web site; http://www.petersandeen.com/e-mail-marketing-strategies/, last accessed January 19, 2015.
van Rijn, J., “The 6 Most Important Things in Email Marketing for 2015,” Email Marketing Tips Blog, December 12, 2014; http://blog.getresponse.com/6-important-things-e-mail-marketing-2015.html.
David Klein