Email marketing is an essential part of any business’ digital marketing strategy. It is a tried and tested method that has been used since the dawn of the internet and remains incredibly effective to this day. It’s easy to set up, too! If you’re a small business owner looking to launch your first email marketing campaign, here’s a brief introduction to get you started.
What is email marketing?
Email marketing is essentially the use of email to promote your business and connect with customers. As a consumer, you likely receive several of these emails everyday. If you check your inbox right now, you’ll probably find a few emails from brands informing you of the latest sales and special offers: that’s email marketing.
Who is it for?
As a small business owner, you may think email marketing is not useful or realistic for you. In fact, even the smallest of businesses, especially online stores, can benefit from email marketing. It is a cost-effective way of building your brand, connecting with your existing customers, and reaching new ones. It can be used to increase sales, drive traffic to your website, and generally boost business growth.
Does it actually work?
Despite the increasing emphasis on search engine optimization and social media advertising in the marketing world, email marketing still remains the most effective way to digitally promote your business. Why? Well, for a start, email reaches more people than any other type of digital marketing. A 2017 study found that a massive 85% of US adult internet users have email. This is 22% more than those who have social media, and 15% more than those who use search engines.
As well as giving you the largest digital customer base, email marketing also has one of the highest engagement rates of any type of online marketing. That is to say, people are more likely to click on and read an email in their inbox than they are to click on an advert. This engagement is crucial as it will lead to traffic and sales, and ultimately will grow your business.
How can I get started?
If this is your first foray into digital marketing, it’s understandable to feel a little intimidated. However, email marketing is one of the easiest forms of online marketing to get to grips with and doesn’t take too much technological know-how.
Your first task, as with any form of marketing, is to make a plan. You need to figure out what your goals are and what email strategy will help you achieve them. For example, are you looking to simply increase sales, or do you have broader goals such as establishing your brand or improving your relationship with customers? This will inform what type of emails you will send.
Once you’ve had a think about what your strategy may be, it’s time to start building your email list. These are the customers that will receive your emails. Email lists, such those provided by Lead Lists, can be a good way to find people who you think would be interested in hearing from your company.
Now you’ve formed an email strategy and figured out who your emails will be going to, it’s time to start writing. Make sure to write in a clear, friendly way in order to effectively communicate what your business is all about. Avoid overly promotional phrases such as “buy now” as these could land you in people’s spam folder and they will likely never see your email.
Once you’ve written up your first few emails, the only job left to do is hit send! Once you start your email marketing campaign, it’s advisable to keep a close eye on your website traffic and sales to see if your emails are having an impact. This can help you to figure out what is and isn’t working.
