A simple overview of email marketing

What is email marketing?

In simple terms, email marketing is the process of using emails to convey your message to your subscribers. It is an easy method of building know like and trust with your audience through creating personal and relevant messaging which is sent directly to their inbox. It is one of the most profitable forms of online marketing as its return on investment (R.O.I) is approximately $42 to $1. This means for every dollar you invest in using email marketing can yield up to forty-one dollars profit but it’s a little more complicated than it sounds so we will discuss how that in another blog post.

What are the types of emails?

There are different types of marketing emails but they usually fall under the categories of:

1. Promotional – these emails as the name implies are used to promote your offerings such as products, services, upcoming sales or special offers that your business may be having.
2. Transactional – these types of emails provide you with information on a transaction that occurred. For e.g. when you purchase a product on Amazon you are then sent an email confirming your order and your shipping details.
3. Informational emails provide valuable information to the subscriber. The leading form of information email is a newsletter but regular emails can be informational as well, depending on their focus.

Why is email marketing important for your business?

1. We all know there are various forms of online marketing such as social media marketing and advertising but email marketing is a cheaper and easier method to send your message to a warm audience.
2. Most importantly, you own your email list! Your subscribers signed up for your email list through a lead magnet: an offer you put out where people sign up for your list and receive a freebie. The freebie is something useful to them and they don’t mind giving out their email address to receive it.
3. Your subscribers want to hear from you because your lead magnet was valuable to them and therefore it is easier for them to deem you as an expert.
4. Your message can be tailored to suit your audience’s needs through direct feedback via surveys and quizzes.

How to start utilizing email marketing for business

Here are a few tips:

1. Find the best email marketing platform to support your email marketing goals. I always recommend Mailerlite as it’s a free platform for small business owners. The features included in the free version are paid features in other versions and the platform is very easy to use for persons who want to DIY.
2. Always start with a welcome series. To build know, like and trust, use your first two to four emails to talk about yourself and help your audience to get comfortable with you.
3. With email marketing, less is more. Don’t write a whole blog post in one email as your audience will feel overwhelmed.
4. Make sure to use headlines that spark curiosity to encourage your audience to open your emails.
5. Forget the fancy headers and banners when starting out as too many graphics and links affect the deliverability of your emails.
6. Encourage your audience to respond to your emails as this will also help with deliverability.

 

I hope this helped you to clear your mind somewhat about email marketing and how it can help your business develop in the online marketing space.

If you need help getting started with your email marketing or you’ve become overwhelmed with taking care of the email marketing element of your business, then schedule a free consultation and let’s discuss how we can work together to ensure your goals are being met as I love all things email marketing related.