DeWinter Marketing RAVE: Email Marketing Tips & Why All Businesses Should Deploy Email Marketing
In this Marketing Rave, I’m focusing on why EVERY business & non-profit on the planet should be doing email marketing each month, plus specific email marketing tips related to best practices for this highly effective marketing tactic.
I sometimes find that people don’t give email marketing the respect it deserves because it’s been around for so long. So let’s remember this:
Email Marketing gets results. Email marketing is cheap.
For the basic cost of roughly $20 a month, plus the time it takes to generate some engaging, quality content, you have a legitimate reason to ping your customers & prospects and remind them you are there, and ready to offer a service or product that they need.
This is why I recommend that every business or non-profit should create and send one quality email per month. If you’re going to conduct email marketing, the following email marketing tips provide insights into email marketing best practices.
The Top 5 Email Marketing Tips
Email Marketing Tips 1: BRAND your email design template
This means that your email design template should include your logo, and your company color palette, including the main color and two secondary colors. Set the main headlines to be the main color in the palette. Set the subheads to be one of the secondary colors. Set the buttons and links to be the third secondary color. Bottom line: People like color, so use your company color palette to best advantage and remind the visual people of your company by using the colors in your logo.
Email Marketing Tips 2: ALWAYS Include Photos
Every study conducted in that past 10 years shows that people will open and engage with your emails MORE if you have engaging photos to help tell your company story. Use QUALITY photos. If you can shoot your own photos, great. Otherwise use online stock photo websites to buy affordable stock photos that provide visual interest, and add them to your emails.
Email Marketing Tip 3: ALWAYS include a “Call To Action”
Constant Contact has a great saying: If you send out information, you’re communicating. If you send out information with a call to action, you’re marketing. Examples of calls to action include:
- Read an article, checklist, or information asset on your website
- Print a coupon
- RSVP to an upcoming event
- Email a question
- Make an appointment
- Buy a product or service
Email Marketing Tip 4: ALWAYS Use a “Responsive” Email Design Template
A responsive email marketing design template is a mobile-friendly email design template. When you use a responsive email marketing design template, it means that the various elements in the email with automatically re-organize themselves to appear in a vertical mode that’s more easily viewed on the narrow profile of a smartphone. If you aren’t currently using a responsive email marketing design template, you’re shooting yourself in the foot.
Email Marketing Tip 5: ALWAYS Check Your Email Marketing Analytics & Adjust Your Email Marketing Program Accordingly
Email analytics are there for a reason. They help you improve your email marketing program over time. After you send an email, check the analytics to learn what your customers & prospects liked or didn’t like. Here’s a quick look at the most important analytics:
- Email Marketing Open Rate – The percentage of emails that were opened compared to how many were sent. The industry average is 16%.
- Email Marketing Bounce Rate – The number of emails that were sent and bounced
- Click-through Rate – How many customers & prospects opened your email and clicked on a link to go to your website or specific call-to-action link
The bottom line is that email marketing is one of the most affordable, effective ways to market your product or service. Follow these email marketing tips to help engage customers & prospects, and build your business.
Note: Courtney DeWinter has been a Constant Contact Solution Provider for many years. If you need help improving your Email Marketing Program, contact DeWinter Marketing & PR & let us help jump-start your Email Marketing Program.
