But why should you I send emails?
Well first, it’s the second best way to spend your marketing time and dollars online, behind your website itself. Sometimes you want to be careful to not jump off a bridge just because all your friends are doing it, but across various industries, email marketing is seen as a positive, one that companies are spending money on. The reason they’re spending more money is because it works.
I don’t want to be a spammer.
Email marketing isn’t spam. We don’t like spam either. Spam is buying a list of millions of emails and sending out an email hoping to get a 1% or 0.5% response. We’re not asking you to do that. We’re talking about targeted marketing to your customers. It’s no different from having someone “like” your Facebook page. They can choose to get your emails, and choose to leave the list as well. You’re simply communicating with customers who have said “sure let me know what’s going on with you.” Nothing wrong with that.
So what’s the first step?
The first step is to build a list of people to actually send emails to. This should consist of people who actually want to hear from you. Your actual customers. Building a strong list is vital, as it lets you truly leverage email marketing.
How so?
It allows you to send targeted messages to your customers, even to subsets within your email list. Targeted marketing of emails can be nine times as effective as just broadcasting your message. On top of that your emails help you build a relationship with your customers, and if there is a buzzword with business it’s Loyalty.
Ok so I have a list then what?
You start sending emails. But not to many! We recommend organizations do a drip email campaign. Like a leaky faucet. Drip. Drip. Drip. Slow, small steady. A weekly email about a special, or an event. Maybe a monthly email newsletter. Nothing too major. If you send too many you’ll drive people off your list, and they’ll start thinking about you as a spammer. Slow. Steady. Be yourself, connect with your customers.
What should I talk about in my emails?
Different stuff. Tell them about a new special you’re offering or a new product. Have a contest and tie it into a form they can fill out on your website to name the new product. If you have musicians or events at your location advertise that. Every Tuesday morning just think about what you could say to get people to think about coming in to see you that week, or to just connect with your customers and build your brand, and build loyalty.
Is that it?
Well it can be, but then we get back to the targeted email part. The more you run analytics on your emails, the better they get. You can see the rate people open emails in Constant Contact, the rate they click through links, etc. Try different things with your emails, try sending on different days, different times, talk about different things. Find out what sparks an interest in your customers, see what brings more people into your location itself (if that is your kind of business). If your talking about a weekly special doesn’t get many opens, but your holding a contest to win a free side order of something gets a big response both on your website and in your store, then it’s worth knowing that it worked, and to have the numbers, and then replicate what works, and abandon what doesn’t.
Sounds good, but what if I need help doing it?
Well, as always, that’s something we can help you with. While we don’t provide email marketing as part of our base service, other than offering advice on how to do it, we can actually give you hands on service, and help you out with your email marketing, for an additional fee. You don’t have to figure all this stuff out on your own. Sometimes it’s good enough to know you need to do it, and have that drive to do it well, and then hire experts to help make your dreams a reality. Contact us today about how we can help you not only with your website, but your organizations email marketing.
