‘Tis the season for pointless Email …
Email Marketing!
Email, email everywhere, but not a click to link… Okay that sounded better in my head…
We have a love/hate relationship with email. Marketers love it for it’s economy, it’s simplicity and it’s tracking potential. Consumers love it for about a day and then get irritated when their in-boxes are swamped with “Awesome Offers” and “Amazing Deals!” Marketers and business owners also wring their hands and fret over each and every email they send, wondering, “What do I write about next?” or “Does it say the right thing,” or “…make the customer want to click…”
Simple Email Marketing Tip #1 – PLAN AHEAD.
I’ve said this to many clients and even more peers,
“Marketing JUST when YOU think it’s necessary is pointless. It’s like waiting to tell your wife you love her just on your anniversary.”
As part of an ongoing marketing communications process, we encourage you and your communications team to think about the next email articles that need to be composed and the positioning/messaging needed months, if not more, ahead of time. As an example, if you plan to send an email newsletter quarterly, it will require 8 to 12 feature articles and support pieces (at lease one per quarter) for the ENTIRE year – a very doable task if planned properly.
Simple Email Marketing Tip #2 – CREATE A CONTENT GENERATION PLAN.
Here are 5 items to consider when building a content generation strategy for your Email Marketing Campaign:
- What are some annual trends that you can write on to, remind, educate or use to support your clients?
- Forecasting or “trendspotting” is a great way to pique interest from “new” users as well as solidify your authority with current clients.
- Industry news is a great way to establish connections with the client. (of course can only be reported on after it happens)
- Can you feature company updates that provide value to the client? New employees? New/added services?
- What new/unique approach or product does your company provide to the client?
Simple Email Marketing Tip #3 – MEASURE AND SCHEDULE SMART
Studies have shown that while Tuesdays tend to receive higher open rates, Fridays, which are just a small % behind on open rates, get better click-thorugh rates. Other Studies have said that “over night” on the weekends get better returns.
Those are just “Studies.”
Sure, you can “do what the industry standard says to do.” OR you can treat your audience like they deserve to be treated. Send your communications to them when they expect to be communicated to. As poorly written as that sentence is, it means a lot.
AWeber, Constant Contact, Mailchimp (our favorite), and a slew of other email services provide OUTSTANDING ANALYTIC REPORTING. USE IT! If you see that sending your email s on Friday at 1:15pm isn’t getting the open or click-through rates you’d hoped for, try splitting your list and sending 1/2 on Tuesday at 3:00pm and the other 1/2 on Thursday at 9:00am. That’s called A/B testing and you need to run that for a few cycles until you find the “Sweet Spot” in your client response.
Of course, WHEN email is received is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to A/B testing. If you have the time and the budget, it’s smart to test everything along the way. My experience with clients is they don’t have the time, nor the budget to test repeatedly, so ramping up quickly with content testing and schedule testing is a good way to get into the game. Future delivery and content testing can be done once you’ve established a suitable benchmark from which to measure changes.
If you’d like to learn more about email marketing or have additional questions concerning email marketing strategies , please feel free to reach out to me directly. I’m always ready to help you better communicate to your audience.
Keep Cooking!
Andrew B. Clark
The Brand Chef
