Handy, Quick Guide to Understanding How to Effectively Use Email Marketing to Grow Your Business

Posted by ImageWorks Creative Team September 28, 2016

If you’ve heard that email marketing is dead – think again! It’s alive and thriving, and still one of the most effective ways to reach customers and gain conversions. But, it’s really all in how you use it to get the best ROI.

Here we've laid out a few different ways email marketing grows your business by generating sales. And the best part is these methods are simple to grasp, so you can start applying them to your marketing campaign today with no hassle.

 

Lead nurturing emails that build your brand

So many businesses focus on hard selling that they forget how vital it is to nurture your audience and give them something that they can use with no financial obligation. While these emails may be designed to soft sell, their intent is to show your audience that you value them as people, and not just their money.

For example, if you have a store that sells hiking gear, and you've noticed a lot of beginners signing up for your subscription list, you can send an email (or incorporate it into your newsletter) the top 20 places near your location to take an amateur hiking.

This form of communication will be persuasive in nature, as well as relevant to the particular customer segment you’re targeting. Plus, it adds a nice touch of variety to your email marketing campaign.

 

Focused email blasts that keep you in front of your ideal customers

It's critical that your email blasts are carefully planned and executed to ensure that you don't over or underwhelm your audience. There is a fine line between selling through informative and strategic emails, and being seen as spam or irrelevant to your audience. For effective email blasts, you'll want to focus on topics within your industry and showcase relevant promotions that your reader will find value in. And you'll want to space these out, so you don't bombard your customer’s inbox.

For example, if you own a bakery, you can send out a coupon in October honoring National Cookie Month, as well as a schedule for baking classes during the month that links back to your website’s sign up form. The email will inform, have an offer that gets people in the door, and keep you in front of your ideal customers.

 

Newsletters that customers look forward to opening

Newsletters are a fantastic way to reach your current customer base, as well as the past and potential people that haven’t converted yet. But the primary goal here is to get those newsletters open and read – and trust that this is easier said than done.

However, utilizing the best practices will get you results so be sure you that you keep your topics fresh, have eye-catching promotions, and always add value to each email. The best way to do this is knowing your audience and what they find relevant, and not spend the entire time focusing on what you want them to hear.

If you find writing this style of email to be difficult, or simply don’t have the time, then ask about our special offer for newsletters that’s going on right now!

 

Strategically written content that engages, intrigues, and informs

Simply sending out automated emails isn't enough to drive business to your website or brick and mortar building. Don't think of them as a box you need to check off your to-do list but as an opportunity to personalize your customer's experience when they enlist your services. Newsletters, lead nurturing and promotional emails, and all other forms of communication with your potential audience should be strategically written with quality in mind, and should never sound generic.

An excellent way to ensure that you send out emails that engage and intrigue is never to write them in haste. Pre-write them so you can review and edit them later, or have a professional take over the task for you. You can also test different emails on various customer segments to see what is most effective for your particular business whether it’s using humor, entertainment, emotions, or other psychological sales triggers.

And remember - the subject line is crucial to getting people to open your emails, so spend a good deal of time crafting that handful of words for best results.

 

Eye-catching email designs that wow

Now that you have a better idea about the styles of email you should be sending and how the content should come across to customers, make sure that you have eye-catching email designs that look fantastic. And don't forget that these need to be responsive for smartphones and tablets! By having the right amount of text paired with images, you'll find that you don't end up in spam or promotional boxes never to be opened.

 

Are you ready to amp up your ROI and send emails that wow your customers? Well, you’re in luck because right now Image Works Creative is offering $500 off email template designs!

Get ready for professional, responsive, and effective templates that give your email marketing campaign a (big) boost! Simply call (800) 308-8573 or swing by our contact page and fill out the quick form.

 

 

 

 

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