HOW TO BUILD YOUR E-MAIL MARKETING STRATEGY
If you want to no much about Email marketing and how to build email marketing strategy, then this article is for you.
We shall discuss these topics;
– What is Email Marketing?
– How Does Email Marketing Work?
– Advantages And Disadvantages of Email Marketing.
What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is the act of sending promotional messages to people in mass quantities. It typically is to generate sales or leads and it may contain advertising.
Remember: You’re a Guest in Their Inbox
People are inundated with interruptions, pitches, and advertisements everywhere they look.
Though you might think your email is special. To the reader, your email is one in a million—and not in a good way.
This is why it’s important to remember where you are and use good manners.
Getting into someone’s inbox is like being invited to their home for dinner. If they ask you to take your shoes off, you respectfully do so.
It’s the same with email marketing, so before we begin I’d simply like to remind you to be on your best behavior at all times and remember… you’re a guest in their inbox.
Now, let’s talk about how to build your email marketing strategy from the ground up.
How Does Email Marketing Work?
Email marketing is one of the top-performing strategies, in no small part because it’s fairly intuitive and often automated.
In its basic form, an effective email marketing campaign requires three essential elements:
1. An Email List
For you to pull off successful email campaigns, you need an active email list. This is a database of email contacts who have expressed interest in receiving marketing communications from your brand.
There are many ways to build an email list. One of the easiest is to create a lead magnet (also called an offer) your target audience is interested in, like a coupon, in exchange for their email addresses.
2. An Email Service Provider
An email service provider (ESP), also known as an email marketing platform, is software that helps manage your email list. It also helps design and execute automated email marketing campaigns.
Using an ESP allows you to automate actions triggered by your target audience’s behaviors. These enable you to personalize each interaction with them, meaning engagement and conversion rates generally improve.
3. Clearly Defined Goals
You can use email marketing to achieve many business goals. For example, you can use email marketing to:
• drive sales
• boost brand awareness
• generate and nurture leads
• keep customers engaged
• increase customer loyalty and lifetime value
• To execute an effective email marketing campaign, your email list, ESP(Email Service Provider), and goals must align. Then, you can get to work.
The first step is to segment your email list according to subscriber demographics or actions.
Next, create an email or series of emails designed to get consumers to do something (your goal).
Finally, use your ESP(Email Service Provider) to send emails and monitor the campaign automatically.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Email Marketing
Just like any other marketing channel, email marketing has pros and cons. Let’s briefly dive into some of the more significant ones:
Advantages of Email Marketing
• Email Is Permission-based
When a customer trusts you with their email address, it’s the virtual equivalent of being given the keys to their house. Gaining permission to enter rather than showing up uninvited increases the chances of engagement and conversion.
• Affords You Direct Access to Your Audience
You can communicate directly with subscribers on their schedules. In addition, because people check their emails daily, your email is likely to be viewed.
• Gives You More Control
With most other marketing platforms, you don’t own the platform. If the platform ceases to exist, all your hard work sinks with it.
With email, you own the relationships you forge with your subscribers.
• More Personalization Capabilities
You can use demographic or psychographic data to create personalized and hyper-targeted campaigns. Research shows segmented and personalized campaigns increase revenue by as much as 760 percent.
• Measurable
Measuring the effectiveness of a marketing campaign is crucial, and automated email marketing makes measuring your campaign a breeze.
• Scalable
Email marketing campaigns can scale without putting a strain on your resources or compromising quality.
Disadvantages of Email Marketing
• Tough Competition
Standing out in a cluttered inbox can be quite a challenge. You have to be creative to ensure your emails get noticed and opened.
• You Need an Email List
With email marketing, you must already have an email list for your campaigns to be effective.
• Tricky Rules and Regulations to Navigate
There are a lot of rules governing the use of email for commercial purposes. Common examples include GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and CCPA. All of these state you can’t send unsolicited emails.
Unfortunately, some subscribers also report your emails as being spam even after they subscribed to the list. As a result, your sender reputation takes a hit.
• Delivery and Deliverability Issues
Getting your email to land in receivers’ inboxes is not guaranteed. To run effective email marketing campaigns, you must contend with delivery and deliverability issues.
SEE ALSO : HOW AND WHY EMAIL MARKETING WILL HELP YOUR BUSINESS GROW
HOW TO BUILD YOUR E-MAIL MARKETING STRATEGY