The How To Of Email Marketing

If you read my previous article, “Optimising Email Marketing For SME’s” you’ll understand why email marketing is perhaps far more important today that it has ever been. Every company and consumer will be on social media and as great as that is for reaching out to your audience it will also restrict the amount of ‘air time’ your campaigns will receive but the one thing that people will always find is an email at the top of their inbox every morning.

In my aforementioned article I discussed the importance of taking your readers on a journey which meets any needs they can fathom in a way that really suits them but before you can do any of that you need to understand the importance behind your consumers inbox and what it means to be apart of that — How many of us give fake or old email addresses when signing up to websites or in store? I know I have.

An inbox is like a home

I’ve often heard the expression ‘an inbox is like a home’, so if we go with that for the same of this argument, before you get into someone’s home you must first get an invite.

Before you get invited, the host (AKA the consumer) will be considering many different things:

• How would I benefit from you coming over?

(Are you going to provide useful information?)

• Can you be trusted to offer impartial advice?

(Are you just going to lie to me?)

• Is this commonplace or an occasion visit?

(How many emails am I likely to get from you?)

Among other things these are the main 3 questions which will determine whether or not you will get the invite you need to further your marketing campaigns.

Didn’t get the email invite you desperate craved? Well I guess it’s time to ask for it instead.

There’s no shame in asking.

Asking for an email can be just like asking somebody for their number, you need to make sure that your first impression is so impressive that they want to give you what you want.

An approach used by many to secure that ‘number’, or in this case email is to offer your potential consumer something of value that they cannot get anywhere else, for free! (or at least heavily discounted enough for it to make a difference).

Important notice: Do not offer your consumers a premium service at a regular fee, your consumer already has reservations about your credentials to provide the regular service, why would they want a premium service?

It will always depend on your audience but making it worth your consumers while is the most important thing. Here are some examples that I’ve experienced over the years:

• Free CV checks for new consumers with career services such as Reed or Total Jobs.
• A Free month at Slimming World if you signed up before 01–01–2015
• Free eBooks with various eBook apps on your smart phones.

Please don’t offer any service to your consumer for free, make it relevant to the needs they have, the above example with Reed and Total Jobs works well as it provides a service that would benefit a candidate looking for a new career, the key is as obvious as it sounds — know your market and know your consumer.

Your offerings are the most important part, but those expectations are also just as important. Have you ever had an electronic device repaired, been told it will take 4–6 weeks and within 10 days you’ve got it back?

Well, there’s a method to the madness. Always under promise and over deliver; never the other way around.

Receiving an email address is something that comes from trust. Stick to the proposed agreements and never assume a consumer is invested to such an extent that they would over pay or change the terms of agreement from day one — You’re being given an opportunity to prove you can be trusted, don’t blow it!

Make sure you’re clear concise and stick to what you’ve agreed to upon receiving the email, make your CTA clear so that your consumers can take advantage of it.

Remind your consumer of the agreement set out.

• What have they signed up to?
• Why does it benefit their needs?
• When will they receive it?
• How does it all work?

Relationship development

From the first email they receive, that very first opt-in offer you’ve gained a way to develop a relationship in a stronger manner than social media can currently.

Earlier on in this post I discussed how you’re being invited to the proverbial virtual house of your consumer, well make sure you’re not the person who sits there and discussed what you’ve done, what you’re doing, etc. It’s important to avoid turning a mutual relationship into a one way spam email.

There are two ways this can really be done. A good sales team will often stay in contact with their leads, sending emails to ask as how they’re doing, how their holiday, Christmas, etc. was.

Or…

A relationship in which contact is rare and specific. If you’re not offering a product or service specific to their needs then you do not need to get in contact.

Your consumers as a whole do not all have the same needs, cater for each group and each individual specifically based on what they actually need.

E.G. — If your company provides web hosting solutions for a variation of different blogs, e-commerce stores, etc. Then you do not need to send a promotional offer with discounts on ecommerce packages to a blog.

Provide a solution to the needs you agreed from the opt-in discussion.

Get the basics nailed and then you can move on to things such as reducing sales cycles, market automation, Auto-responding, etc.