You Think You Know Email Marketing?
Email Marketing can be the most powerful advertising and marketing tool out there. It is quick, efficient and cost effective, if done in the right way. If done properly, you can cut costs by saving on postage, advertising and so on. You can also evade the stress of whether or not users will come across your ad or content and actually connect with you. Email marketing allows you to directly connect with online users in many ways shape and forms.
There are many types of email marketing, the two main types being Opt-in Marketing and Third Party Marketing
Opt In marketing may take longer to achieve results, but it is well worth the wait. Customer lists are created organically through subscriptions and comment card and will result in your list being honest and useable. Your audience in this instance will want to hear from you and will interact more frequently with your content and business.
Third Party Marketing can be considered a little more tricky and unreliable. Third Party Marketing is when you purchase email lists from third parties. There are a number of factors that will affect the results of such a campaign, including the quality of the list you purchase and the users connection with your product or service.
Once you have figured out what marketing type you wish to go with, you must start looking at the key elements of your strategy.
1.) PLAN
Start from the bottom and work your way up. Make your plan and highlight in it:
Budget
Demographics
Geographical locations
When it comes to email marketing there is no 'one size fits all' and you must be clear from the beginning where exactly you want to take your campaign and how you wish to run it. Take into consideration what type of emails you wish to send, where you will send them and when they will be sent. Do you wish to start by simply advertising? Offering information about a specific service or product? Or, do you wish to begin by getting down to the 'nitty gritty' and sending out those greatly appreciated and received promotional codes?
2.) CONTENT
It goes without saying that in order to grab the readers attention, our content must be interesting and engaging. It must be relevant, informative and of the highest quality. Getting it just right is what is needed here, writing too much or too little can be dangerous and fatal to your campaign. Give your email a clear heading, make it stand out from the others and ensure that the content itself does not bombard or starve the user.
3.) DESIGN
When coming up with a design for your email, it is vital that you are aware of the common traps that most fall into. Creating the perfect design for your email marketing campaigns does not mean including as many eye-catching and colourful banners and pictures as possible, it is about being clear and concise! Many forget that most email users are using their mobiles and that the layout and design of an email is displayed completely different on a mobile than a desktop. Another thing that you must pay attention to is the use of images. Images are not automatically displayed on an email, therefore it is of utmost importance that we do not rely merely on images to engage the reader and call them to action. The images that we use must simply add to the content that we have added textually. Last but not least, the most important part of our design is the call to action. Where we will place our call to action will be the difference between our emails having the effect we desire, or completely flopping. The call to action should be placed at the top of the email or somewhere where is it clearly visible and must draw the readers attention, this is after all the whole purpose of the email.
4.) CODE
It is advisable here to use HTML code. Many email services still do not support CSS layout and let's face it, we do not want to run the risk of our emails becoming disabled when they reach the inbox. You may be using an email blast programme that allows you to simply input your text / content into their pre-designed and coded formats, or you may wish to pay for the extra service of a custom design. Either way, make sure you code your email in the correct and most user-friendly way.
5.) TESTING
It goes without saying that your email has to be tested before it is sent out, we can hardly send out thousands of emails without knowing how they will look and work first. You should always check the following most important parts:
Visual aspect - Look at your email through the end user's eyes: How does it look? Is it what you expected? Is the layout clear? Can all banners and text be seen?
Headline - How does it look in your inbox? Does it stand out? Would you open it?
Content - Is your call to action where it's supposed to be? Will it actually call people to action? Is your address and contact information visible? If someone wants to unsubscribe, can they clearly find the link to do so?
There are many types of email marketing, the two main types being Opt-in Marketing and Third Party Marketing
Opt In marketing may take longer to achieve results, but it is well worth the wait. Customer lists are created organically through subscriptions and comment card and will result in your list being honest and useable. Your audience in this instance will want to hear from you and will interact more frequently with your content and business.
Third Party Marketing can be considered a little more tricky and unreliable. Third Party Marketing is when you purchase email lists from third parties. There are a number of factors that will affect the results of such a campaign, including the quality of the list you purchase and the users connection with your product or service.
Once you have figured out what marketing type you wish to go with, you must start looking at the key elements of your strategy.
1.) PLAN
Start from the bottom and work your way up. Make your plan and highlight in it:
Budget
Demographics
Geographical locations
When it comes to email marketing there is no 'one size fits all' and you must be clear from the beginning where exactly you want to take your campaign and how you wish to run it. Take into consideration what type of emails you wish to send, where you will send them and when they will be sent. Do you wish to start by simply advertising? Offering information about a specific service or product? Or, do you wish to begin by getting down to the 'nitty gritty' and sending out those greatly appreciated and received promotional codes?
2.) CONTENT
It goes without saying that in order to grab the readers attention, our content must be interesting and engaging. It must be relevant, informative and of the highest quality. Getting it just right is what is needed here, writing too much or too little can be dangerous and fatal to your campaign. Give your email a clear heading, make it stand out from the others and ensure that the content itself does not bombard or starve the user.
3.) DESIGN
When coming up with a design for your email, it is vital that you are aware of the common traps that most fall into. Creating the perfect design for your email marketing campaigns does not mean including as many eye-catching and colourful banners and pictures as possible, it is about being clear and concise! Many forget that most email users are using their mobiles and that the layout and design of an email is displayed completely different on a mobile than a desktop. Another thing that you must pay attention to is the use of images. Images are not automatically displayed on an email, therefore it is of utmost importance that we do not rely merely on images to engage the reader and call them to action. The images that we use must simply add to the content that we have added textually. Last but not least, the most important part of our design is the call to action. Where we will place our call to action will be the difference between our emails having the effect we desire, or completely flopping. The call to action should be placed at the top of the email or somewhere where is it clearly visible and must draw the readers attention, this is after all the whole purpose of the email.
4.) CODE
It is advisable here to use HTML code. Many email services still do not support CSS layout and let's face it, we do not want to run the risk of our emails becoming disabled when they reach the inbox. You may be using an email blast programme that allows you to simply input your text / content into their pre-designed and coded formats, or you may wish to pay for the extra service of a custom design. Either way, make sure you code your email in the correct and most user-friendly way.
5.) TESTING
It goes without saying that your email has to be tested before it is sent out, we can hardly send out thousands of emails without knowing how they will look and work first. You should always check the following most important parts:
Visual aspect - Look at your email through the end user's eyes: How does it look? Is it what you expected? Is the layout clear? Can all banners and text be seen?
Headline - How does it look in your inbox? Does it stand out? Would you open it?
Content - Is your call to action where it's supposed to be? Will it actually call people to action? Is your address and contact information visible? If someone wants to unsubscribe, can they clearly find the link to do so?
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