Newsletters are a great way of reaching your target market to promote your products and services. Used with precision, they allow you to expand your brand to potential clients, whilst up-selling to your existing client base.
One of the great benefits of email marketing is that it is an inexpensive and very targeted means of promotion in comparison to off-line advertising, and generic online campaigns. The five tips below are designed to help you make sure your email newsletter gets opened, read and acted upon.
Why use email marketing?
Email marketing is the most direct, trackable, and cost effective way to market your business. We all check our emails at least twice a day – research has shown that 75% of companies who use email marketing would rate it as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ in terms of return on investment (ROI).
Email newsletters take seconds to send – unlike traditional direct mail – and provide clients with an interactive means of communication. Including information and updates on your products and services encourages recipients to click through to the website to find out more.
The personal touch
One of the problems people have with direct mail is the impersonality of it all. Flyers and leaflets stuck through letterboxes are rarely addressed to the person in question, which gives them little incentive to pay attention to the promotional content.
Access to intelligent data can be used to capture the first name of your reader so each email can be personally addressed to the correct individual. Email newsletters can also be customised to create a feeling of community between your business and your readers. Once you know your target market, their interests and dislikes, you can include topical articles in your email newsletter that will catch their attention and get them involved.
The sales pitch
Email newsletters don’t need to be packed with sales speak. The purpose of a campaign is to get readers to click through to your website; bombarding them with a typical sales pitch is more likely to see them hitting the ‘delete’ button.
That said, email newsletters are a great opportunity to up-sell your products or services, especially if you’re sending a personalised email to an existing client.
Look and feel
You should view your email newsletter as another part of your business promotion. This means the email newsletter should follow the same branding, logos and tone of voice as used in other marketing material i.e. your website or print advertising.
Consistency in branding will help unite your marketing efforts and make your newsletter instantly recognisable within your target market. It’s especially important when targeting clients you’ve not worked with before as it will familiarise them with your brand, encouraging a sense of recognition when they click through to your website.
Information in your email newsletter should be presented in a clear format, with small paragraphs of simple text. Check all your links work before scheduling the campaign and make sure the newsletter is easy to navigate with prominent social media icons.
Legitimate email marketing
When scheduling an email marketing campaign, there are several legalities that need to be observed. Most crucial is the unsubscribe link, which all email newsletters must display by EU law. Hiding an unsubscribe link is not only illegal, but it will make your business look ambiguous and raise questions of safety and privacy in the minds of your readers.
If you’ve got several subscriber lists it is important that you are clear in your mind as to which list you are targeting. Email newsletters should be tailored according to each list so the reader receives customised information that is relevant to them. Having a clearly defined group of lists will also stop you emailing the same readers repeatedly about the same product or service – or worse, unrelated news.
Conclusion
We hope you’ve found these tips useful; they’ve certainly helped us sharpen our email newsletter campaigns. If you think we’ve missed something let us know through the comments box below!
