Having an email marketing strategy is so in fashion, marketer. Whether you’re ordering a gift for a loved one using a handy discount code or reading an insightful newsletter, emails are everywhere. Not only are they incredibly convenient, but they’re a must for your email marketing strategy. In this ultimate guide to email marketing, we’re going to share our very own tips and tricks that we use within our Girls in Marketing emails.
Firstly, what is email marketing? It does what it says on the tin; you market to subscribers through emails. According to Hubspot, there are over 4 BILLION email users daily. This stat alone should give you the push you may need into including effective emails in your marketing strategy. We can’t imagine life without emails, as we use them in everything we do. From organising events for our Girls in Marketing Membership to sending out marketing news, they boost our business by a tonne. Let’s explore the things our musts for you to include in your email marketing strategy:
Don’t dismiss your personas in your email marketing strategy
Regardless of if you’re writing for your own business or you’re working for someone else, personas always matter. If you’re unsure of what this consists of, personas are a fictional creation of customers based on business research. This usually includes age, gender, occupation, location, and goals.
With every word you type and each infographic that you include in your email marketing, consider your personas and who you’re actually pressing ‘send’ to. Thoroughly thinking about who will be opening your email will help you narrow down your content and make it effective. This brings us to our next point…
Consider your audience’s time
Those that have subscribed to your emails at some point along their customer journey need to be nurtured. The very last thing you want to do is drive readers away from your emails. Therefore, consider your audience’s time. Every second a reader spends looking at your email is a chance to hook, retain and convert a customer.
If you’re not trying to sell a service or product, you may be directing them to one of your resources or a page on your website. Do this with a little ✨spice✨, yet keep it precise. Keep the business tone of voice and personality involved, but don’t make it too long! This is a key point in our ultimate guide to email marketing, as an email will look better if the length is considered. Also, your audience will prefer to not read huge blocks of text.
Mix up your content
It’s an absolute must to refresh the content included in your email marketing strategy. Create pillars that you can rotate regularly. Here are some suggestions for email content pillars:
- Sales and promo
- News and insights
- Inspiration
- Business updates
- Industry suggestions
- Tips and tricks
Your aim is to encourage your consumers to open your email and read through it, clicking on buttons / links included. This will increase your open rate and click-through rate, which is super important when it comes to email marketing. The best way to do this is to have relatable content for your audience that aligns with the reason they subscribed to the emails in the first place. Make your readers feel valued and meet their needs through a variety of content.
Test yourself
Before you schedule an email marketing campaign, you need to test it on yourself first (we’re not just talking about reading it over). Within whatever email platform you’re using, there should be an option to test an email. Enter your email address and send it to yourself. This is an easy way of viewing the content from your audience’s perspective, and to also click the buttons to ensure they’re linked up correctly. Testing only takes a minute or so, and you’ll be able to take a ride in the seat of the consumer.
Include a CTA (call-to-action)
We know a call-to-action may seem obvious, but it’s a strong must. A call-to-action within an email will guide your audience in the right direction. This combines with mixing up your content, as there’s a purpose behind what you’re sending into the unknown (aka, people’s inboxes). Call-to-actions are usually highlighted within buttons that you want readers to click on or they’re simply put into text. Here are some that you can include within your email marketing strategy:
- Click here to read…
- Press me to join…
- Catch up with…
- Leave a review here…
Call-to-actions should never be undermined because it gives people somewhere to go after they’ve read your email. Keep them involved with your business and get people talking!
We hope this blog has helped clear up what email marketing is and the musts to include within your marketing strategy.
