Email marketing is a KEY component of your marketing strategy.
But Define email marketing in the first place?
When we talk to people, most people don’t fully understand what email marketing means these days.
Unfortunately, others see email marketing as an old-school marketing tactic that just doesn’t work anymore.
But we must tell you – they are wrong.
In fact, we just helped a small business send out an email newsletter that generated over $ 30,000 in revenue for their e-commerce store.
For another company, we ran an email campaign that generated over $ 12,000 in revenue.
You may be wondering – what is an email newsletter and what is an email drip campaign?
Or you nod your head but don’t understand what all this means.
Don’t worry, because today we’re going to clearly define what email marketing is, discuss why it matters, where it fits into your overall digital marketing strategy, and discuss the BIGGEST mistakes we can see people make.
We’ll also be adding our favorite email marketing platform right now to use for small business marketing.
What are you missing?
Now let’s start with a story that fully explains this example.
So, we spoke to an e-commerce business that sells packaged snacks online.
They gave us the old-fashioned “I need to increase sales ASAP” idea and gave us their ideas on how to use social media to increase revenue.
So we started asking them some questions.
One of the questions we asked them was, “Do you have a list of email addresses?”
Confused where we are going, they said: “Aha … we …?”.
So we said, “Really great, how many persons are there?”
“30 thousand people,” they said.
We immediately said: “Wow, how many letters do you send them monthly?”
They immediately said, “Well, we really don’t ship all the time.”
We were shocked by this.
Not only can you use customer emails for your social media campaigns, but you can COMPLETELY overlook engaging interested leads and customers who know about their business.
So we offered them email marketing and literally, they got thousands of dollars in revenue from the very first email we sent.
These thousands of dollars would have been wasted if it weren’t for email marketing.
If this example sounds like you, then we want you to know that you may be missing out on low hanging fruit that can increase your business’s income. So to prevent that from happening, let’s get a complete grasp of email marketing so you can do the same.
What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is the process of sending emails to promote your business.
These emails are usually sent to potential customers to convince them to buy your products and services. Or they are shipped to existing customers to encourage repeat purchases.
Either way, using email marketing is an art and, when used correctly, can help you grow your business. There are now two types of email marketing that we classify as Email Newsletters and Email Campaigns. Let’s quickly discuss both.
Types of Email Marketing
1. Email Newsletters
These are emails that are sent regularly to communicate with your subscribers via email. Think of the NEWS Letter as a fresh, fresh piece of relevant information that you send to your email address.
This could include new promotions, new case studies, or simply new information that is valuable to your subscribers.
For example, we created this email newsletter for a company that empowered their audience to try new recipes at home. An involved mailing list will consume similar content and look forward to similar emails in the future.
We like to think that email newsletters are somewhat the same as social media marketing.
Both involve creating content and publishing it for the audience to see. The only difference is that they will not see your content on your Facebook page, for example, in their Gmail inbox.
It’s all about getting customers to the place where they spend their time, and the fact is that 91% of people still check their email every day.
2. Email Drip Campaigns:
These are pre-made automated emails that are sent according to a pre-existing schedule.
If you’ve ever heard of words like…
- abandon-cart emails
- Drips
- email sequences
- marketing automation
…and so on, they’re all talking about the same thing.
This is an example of an email drip campaign.
It starts with a trigger, which usually occurs when someone subscribes to a mailing list. This is followed by a series of emails that you can send at any frequency you choose.
Then, when someone subscribes to your list, they will start receiving emails on a pre-set schedule.
We like to think of email drip campaigns as follow-up mechanisms.
Another example: if someone went to your store and asked about your products but didn’t buy at that exact time, would you like to contact them?
Or, if you are a service company that relies on potential customers, what happens when someone contacts you? If you call them and they don’t answer, what will happen next?
With drip email campaigns, you can send one email every other day, or as often as you like, to stay visible to potential buyers.
And advanced email marketers aren’t sending emails like, “Hey it’s me, are you ready to buy yet?”.
They’re sending emails like:
- Here are the benefits [ABC].
- This is how [ABC] helped someone achieve the same EXACT as you are trying to achieve.
- This is what sets us apart from all other people selling [XYZ].
…and so on.
To be successful in setting up email drip campaigns, you really need to understand the psychology of how your customers buy your products.
What problems are they experiencing?
What are they thinking about?
At what point do they decide that this is enough and it’s time to do something about it and buy your products?
Once you fully understand the buyer’s journey to your own products, you can design an email campaign that will motivate people to buy from you.
So, now that you understand what email marketing is and what it looks like, let’s discuss why it matters. Or rather, let’s expose the myth that email marketing is dead.
Is Email Marketing Dead?
Look, we get it. Email marketing isn’t the sexiest marketing method today.
There is a social. There is a search. There is video, audio, podcasts, etc.
And soon virtual reality and dancing robots will appear.
But email isn’t going anywhere.
Even so, 91% of people check their email every day. They work with their email, pay bills, and communicate with their favorite companies.
YES, people love to receive emails from companies that they INTENDEDLY subscribe to. You can check us out on this: 72% of US adults prefer to receive emails from their favorite companies.
Even so, many of the people we talk to fear being “spam” or sending out weekly emails to their subscribers.
As long as you add value, which is the keyword here, you have nothing to worry about.
If people don’t want the value you provide, let them unsubscribe. Either way, this is not the person you want to sell to.
You want to attract a person who is striving to achieve a certain goal. And there is nothing wrong with sending emails to help them on their journey.
In fact, they will be grateful to you and want more.
With that said, the whole “email marketing is dead” argument is wrong. Many people are just busy chasing the next big thing in the marketing world, sending horrible emails or being too scared to send anything. Either way, they are overlooking these basic email marketing benefits.
Top Benefits of Email Marketing
1. Lower Customer Acquisition Costs (and Advertising Costs):
Email marketing is the most cost-effective type of marketing you can invest in.
Literally small businesses report a ROI of $ 28 for every dollar spent on email marketing. This ROI will not be found anywhere else.
To explain, let me give you an example that illustrates why this might be the case.
Let’s say you went to a large restaurant. Ate a big fancy lunch – steak, lobster, whatever.
But when it comes time to pay, you realize you’ve forgotten your wallet.
Who do you think is more likely to get down to business at this point – your friend or a complete stranger?
Most likely your friend.
And this is because of the RELATIONSHIP you have with your friend. They obviously KNOW you and hopefully, they TRUST you enough to know what you give them back.
The keywords here are they KNOW you. They TRUST you.
They have a RELATIONSHIP with you.
This is the reason why people on your mailing list are more likely to buy from you.
People on your mailing list already know you and trust you if and ONLY if you are sending them valuable content that strengthens relationships.
Comparing Facebook ads and email marketing is like comparing apples and oranges. Everyone knows that people who know your business are more likely to do business with you than people who do not know.
Instead, use Facebook ads to grow your mailing list. Then you can promote to them for life or until you disperse, that is, they unsubscribed.
But you don’t need to worry about it, because your content will be so good that they will regret leaving your mailing list.
2. Email Marketing Can Automate Your Sales Cycle:
marketing has become so sophisticated that you can send emails based off of various Email triggers.
For example, if someone adds your product to a cart on your website, gets to your checkout page, and doesn’t click submit the order, you can immediately send them an email and text reminder.
Or, if someone contacts you about a project, asks for a quote, and stops communicating with you, you can keep an eye on them via email and text messages.
In fact, successful email marketing will save you more time and earn more money. Now you may understand what email marketing is, why it is not dead, but it is very important for your business. Now let’s discuss my main tips for success.
Top Tips For Successful Email Marketing
1. Grow an Authentic Email List:
One of the biggest challenges that most people encounter with email marketing is developing a healthy list.
People who make millions of dollars in email marketing revenue likely have at least thousands of email subscribers.
The BEST way to grow your mailing list is to simply buy the list.
This is AWESOME for many reasons, so we’ll have to create a separate post for this.
But in short, buying email lists is ineffective and illegal. Buying email lists is the fastest way to put your email on the BLACK LIST in places like Gmail and Outlook.
When you send emails to purchased mailing lists, the people who receive them get confused.
They are like “WHO ARE YOU IN THE WORLD?” They then block you, report your email as spam, and unsubscribe from your list.
And email service providers today can catch high spam activity coming from your account and end up blacklisting you, resulting in all your emails going to spam.
AKA – Kills your open bets.
The BEST way to grow your mailing list is to create value.
Develop an offer in exchange for someone’s email address. Promote this offer on social media and on your website.
You will then compile a list of email addresses of people who like your content.
2. Create Value:
Value creation is the single most important part of successful email marketing.
If no value is created with your followers, there is no relationship.
So send emails that benefit your customers by making them think of you as an influencer.
But how do you create value?
You create value through content – content that informs or entertains your audience.
But for now, you need to know that value creation is the most important aspect to satisfy your email subscribers and build relationships.
3. Send Frequently:
Send emails as frequently as your content allows you to.
Develop content. Submit it. Rinse and repeat.
Most companies should aim to send newsletters weekly, or at least monthly.
The bigger, the better.
Don’t be afraid to send emails multiple times a week, whether it’s twice a week, or daily, or twice a day.
If people open them and read your emails, keep sending them.
4. Automate anything and everything you can
Use email drips to automate parts of your sales process.
Whether it’s sending automated emails to people who download an offer, request a quote, or forget to send in their purchases, use email drops to your advantage.
This will help you speed up your sales cycle, and invest money in your pockets faster.
5. Choose a reputable email marketing platform
When it comes to an all-in-one email marketing solution, choose a solution that is complete with newsletter functionality and email automation technology.
And if it comes with text messaging features, that’s also a plus.
The tool we are currently using is Active Campaign, which we recommend for small businesses. It is packed with powerful CRM for sales, marketing automation, text messaging and newsletter functionality, and more.
Wrapping Up!
Today, we talked about:
- What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing is simply sending emails to existing and potential customers. Two main types of email marketing are newspapers and drip campaigns.
- Is Email Marketing Dead?
In general. 91% of people check their email every day. Addresses and 72% of consumers actually enjoy the brands they subscribe to.
- How Can Email Marketing Help Your Business?
Email marketing can significantly reduce your advertising and customer acquisition costs. And it can assist automate and speed up the sales cycle.
- Our Top Tip for Success?
Prioritize value creation, develop an authentic email list, send email frequently, automate anything and everything, and choose a solid email marketing platform that can assist you achieve your marketing goals.