Email newsletters are an essential element of marketing your business. Many businesses are not using them effectively. That’s often because they worry about annoying people in their email database.
There is plenty of information around telling you how to build an email database for your business. There’s also plenty of information around on sales funnels and autoresponders. It’s great to get these things in place but once you’ve started building that list you have to keep in regular contact with them.
Like all things in your business your email marketing strategy should include a goal and a plan on how to execute it.
What is the goal of your regular email newsletters?
The goal of your email marketing strategy should be to provide interesting, helpful and relevant information to your email database. If you are doing that then you don’t need to worry about annoying them. When you are writing great email newsletters then people will look forward to reading them.
Here are my ideas and insights to help you nail the frequency, tone and content for your email newsletters.
To keep things simple I’m going to stick with service based businesses in this post. I’ll detail some great email marketing strategies for product based businesses separately.
Depending on your business you’ll have times when you have something to promote and times when you don’t. How your email database responds to your promotions will be impacted by how you interact between promotions.
In online marketing, once someone has given you their email address they have made a commitment to you. They’ve married you. Your email marketing strategy should reflect the same things that constitute a good marriage.
Treat your relationship with the people on your email database exactly like a marriage.
Frequency
The best relationships are forged through regular, thoughtful communication mixed with an occasional deep & meaningful. Plan your email strategy the same way.
There is no absolute answer to this question but the frequency of your email newsletters is linked to the depth and breadth of what you offer. Most service based businesses do not send email newsletters as frequently as they should. A quarterly, or even monthly update is not enough.
Your email marketing strategy should continue to build trust and keep you top of mind. Email newsletters allow you to illustrate how you can help.
Another common mistake I see in email marketing from service based businesses is that the content is written about the business, not about the person reading.
Like any good marriage your email newsletters need to communicate in a way that is appealing to the reader. Your reader is like your best friend and it’s essential that you remember that when you write to them.
No spouse likes it when you walk through the door of an afternoon, tell them all about your day, demand your dinner then stalk off for a shower leaving a trail of dirty clothes behind you. You also forgot to ask how their day was.
Not appealing.
If you behave like that there’s a good chance that you’ll get no dinner, your clothes will get chucked in the bin and the marriage won’t last very long at all.
Here’s how you can use the elements of a good marriage to inspire your business email marketing strategy.
Communication (engage)
Communication is an essential element of every good marriage. The quality of communication often dictates the quality and length of marriage.
Shorter emails, send more frequently are more effective than long updates sent infrequently. The trouble with long updates are:
- People don’t have time to read them.
- Multiple calls to action mean that people take no action.
Use your regular emails to update your audience on what’s going on. Give them your best stuff.
Well written emails engage the reader by making them the focus, not your business. Use the words you and your far more generously that I and we.
Romance (inspire)
Sure, you’re married now but it’s still really important that you make people feel like you care. Don’t go asking for something from them all the time. Use your time in their inbox to offer inspiration.
A few words of wisdom, share a story or case study. Something that’s meaningful to them that adds value (and maybe a few warm fuzzies) to their day.
Laughter (entertain)
In the world of business, as in a marriage, it’s not uncommon to get to a place where we forget to have fun. In this new digital age expectations have changed
Having a laugh with your audience is one of the best ways to humanise your business persona. You don’t have to paint yourself as a clown but sharing stories that are enjoyable to read and relatable is a key element of a good email marketing strategy.
Growth (educate)
Good relationships happen when people grow together. Use your email newsletters to share what you know with your audience. No matter how boring you might think your business is you’ll be surprised how interesting it can be to your ideal client.
By educating your audience about elements of your business you are showing them how you can help them. It’s tempting to worry that if you tell people too much they’ll use what you’ve told them to do it themselves or employ someone else to do it.
Yes, it does happen.
However, by educating your audience you are positioning yourself as an expert. The majority of people who receive your email newsletters will never engage your services or buy your products. Your email marketing strategy is about giving yourself the best chance that your business will be the one they select when the time is right.
Content Ideas for Email Marketing
I’ve talked a lot about the tone of your email newsletters so far but I know that one common problem area is ‘what exactly?’
Any relationship gets stale when the style of communication is the same all the time. It’s important that you mix up the style of your email newsletters too.
I’ve mentioned a couple of ideas already but here’s a few more. Pick ideas that you feel comfortable with then start planning and writing. Ideally you want at least one idea each for Communication, Romance, Laughter and Growth. Put them on rotation and away you go.
- Letter from the CEO giving insights into the business
- Short case studies. For long case studies you can put a summary in the email and make a long format available for download. Case studies are perfect for showcasing what you can achieve for clients in a relatable way.
- Link lists. This could be links to your blog content for the month or links to other sites. Link lists are great as part of an EDM marketing strategy because they help you better understand what your audience are interested in.
- Comment on relevant industry news. People like to know how change impact them so putting it in real terms is really useful. TIP: these pieces are even better written as blog content on your website. I recommend publishing it there and then giving your email database the reader’s digest version with a link to the full article.
- Q&A. Ask for subscriber feedback and provide insights into the questions they ask. This makes great email newsletter exclusive content and really keeps the conversation flowing.
- Employee profiles. The more people on your email database feel that they know you and your team the more they trust you. Humans are nosy creatures after all.
- Checklists. Are there regular actions that your ideal clients should be taking? Provide them with checklists to help them keep on top. If there is a service you provide on the list then there’s a good chance you’ll be first in line to get the job.
We’d love to hear about what action you take to implement these ideas in your email marketing strategy.
Do you need a hand getting your email marketing strategy sorted? Click here to book your free Strategy Session.
