How to use Email Marketing to Grow Your Business
Are you using email marketing to promote your business?
Are you thinking about using email marketing in your marketing strategy?
This blog post covers four types of email marketing strategies and how you can use them to grow your business:
- E-Newsletter- An Email Newsletter (E-Newsletter) is an email created in a newsletter format and emailed to a list of your email contacts who have opted-in to receive information from you on a consistent basis (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.). There are many variations of e-newsletters including plain text e-newsletters or html e-newsletters. The look and feel of your e-newsletter is up to you, but it should be consistent with your brand. Although the look and feel of the e-newsletters will vary for each company, most of the time there are key components included in an e-newsletter. The components usually include the following information in some way:
- Intro– An introduction from the company or person who publishes the newsletter. The intro is the lead into the email and usually includes a brief update and then leads into the rest of the newsletter
- Article/Blog Post Preview– Many e-newsletters link to the company’s recent blog post which covers the topic in more detail, so the first few sentences or paragraph of the blog is placed in the e-newsletter and the reader would have to click on a link in the email to read the entire article or blog post
- Event Announcement– Many companies choose to include any announcements of upcoming events in the e-newsletter. These events could be live in-person events including conferences, seminars, workshops, etc. or online events like webinars or teleseminars. This will be included in the e-newsletter with a link to the event page where people can register for the event.
- Special Promotions- This could be promotions from your company of promotions from partner companies. The promotion offer is listed and the reader can click on the banner or link to get additional information. The link usually takes the reader to a sales/promotional page to get more information regarding the special offer
- Inspirational Quotes– These are popular and many companies like to include them in their e-newsletter
- Testimonials- Many companies like to showcase testimonials in their newsletters because it is a great way to show your audience why people love your product or service and people tend to look favorably on testimonials.
- Videos– A link to a video is great to include in an e-newsletter. If you have a company video or a video that your audience would find useful, you can include the video image and link to the actual video in the e-newsletter.
E-Newsletter Tips:
- Be sure that the content in your e-newsletter is 80% educational/entertaining and 20% promotional.
- Limit the information to no more than four topics for each newsletter.
- Keep the e-newsletter clear and concise and make sure that the information does not appear cluttered to the reader.
- Have a strong call to action at the end of each section (i.e. “click here to read more…” “click here for more information” “sign-up today” etc. )
- Promotional Emails– The specific purpose of this email is to promote ONE thing. This could be an event, a special company promotion, etc. You want the information to stand out, so you create a specific email dedicated to just this one topic. This is also known as a stand-alone email. This type of email is great to use if you have one topic or you want your audience to focus on one thing. The one thing could have several parts, but the email itself focuses on only one topic. For example, if you are having a special sale and you want to focus your readers’ attention on the special sale, although you may have several items on sale, the focus of the email is the one topic of the sale. Promotional Email Tips:
- Be sure to focus on only one topic
- Have a strong call to action at the end of the email (i.e. “buy now” “limited time” “click here for more information” “sign-up today” etc. )
- Make sure you are clear on what you want your reader to do
- Autoresponder– An Autoresponder Email is a series of emails that is sent to a person when they sign-up for something. This could be when they sign-up to join your email list, when they sign-up to get a free download, when they sign-up for a webinar etc. The action of signing up and therefore opting into the list creates an automatic response (or autoresponder) that is a series of emails that are sent to the individual over a period of time. Autoresponders are great because you can set it and forget it. Once you create the series any time someone opts into that particular list, he or she will receive the emails automatically and you only had to create it once! AutoResponder Tips:
- Make each email in the series timely and relevant
- Provide valuable information before you promote your product or service
- In a series of 4 emails, 3 should be informative and educational and the 4th one can be a promotion (always provide value first)
- Drip Campaigns– Drip campaigns are very similar to autoresponders in that they are a series of emails. The difference is that a drip campaign does not have to be initiated by a person opting in. You can create a campaign for a specific group of people already on your email list and drip them information over a period of time. Drip campaigns are great to promote an event or a special company promotion to your entire list or a portion of your email list. Similar to the autoresponders, once you create the emails you just set it and forget it as the series of emails will be dripped out to your list over a period of time Drip Campaign Tips:
- Make each email in the series timely and relevant
- Make sure each email has a strong call to action
Are you using any of these email strategies? If not, what other email marketing strategies are you using?
Be sure to download this checklist with 21 tips on how to get amazing success with email marketing!
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How to pick an Email Marketing Service Provider
Are you using email marketing for your business?
Are you trying to decide what email marketing service provider to use?
If you are using email marketing for your business, or you are considering using email marketing, you have probably found out that there are hundreds maybe even thousands of email marketing service providers out there. So how do you decide which one is right for you? It would be impossible for me to mention them all in this post, so I have narrowed it down to the top three that seem to be at the top of everyone’s list; MailChimp, Constant Contact, and AWeber. Based on the popularity of these companies, I decided to do a post that compares these companies on customer base, price and product features.
MailChimp
MailChimp has the largest customer base with over 4,000,000 customers according to their website. I suspect that their large customer base may have to do with the fact that they have a “Forever Free” product that allows small businesses to use their product and several of the main features for free as long as they don’t have more than 2,000 subscribers. In addition, if someone opted to upgraded to a paid account, MailChimp has the lowest priced monthly package of the three companies at $10/month.
Another advantage MailChimp has over the other Email Marketing Services providers is that they have several great features like automated list segmentation. Their system allows you to segment your email list based on several already defined factors that you can select or adjust (i.e. member rating, subscriber activity, location, etc.). MailChimp is also great if you want to upload an unlimited amount of images to use in your email. Constant Contact and Aweber have limitations on the amount of images you can upload to their systems or the storage size available for the images you upload.
MailChimp also offers the following features that neither Constant Contact or Aweber offer:
- Event Triggered Autoresponders– this allows you to send a follow-up email to someone based on an action they have taken within your email.
- A/B Testing– this gives you the option of testing elements of your email campaign to see which one works better via A/B testing.
- Inbox Preview– this offers you the ability to preview your email and see how it looks over various email providers like gmail, yahoo, aol, etc.
Constant Contact is in the middle of the three companies with over 500,000 customers according to their website. They are also in the middle with price. They offer a 60-day FREE trial option, and their lowest priced package after the trial period is $15/month. One of the features that stands out with the Constant Contact email marketing product is the fact that they offer you an extensive Contact Management System that allows you to treat your list as not just subscribers, but contacts in which you can add additional information on each contact like the person’s phone number, address, special notes, social networks, etc. making the system more of a type of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) instead of just a list of subscribers. Constant Contact also offers its customers direct access to quality stock images to use in their email, but there is an additional cost for this feature.
In addition, although email marketing is their main product, Constant Contact offers a suite of solutions for small business owners (at an additional cost). Allowing you to create a dashboard of online marketing tools that complement your email marketing product. These tools include:
- EventSpot- A tool to help you manage events online
- Social Campaigns– A tool to help you grow your fans on social media
- SaveLocal– Allows you to create offer deals to send to your customers
- Online Surveys– Online Surveys, Polls, & Questions to get your customers feedback
- And more…
Constant Contact also offers a lot of support. Depending on where you are located, Constant Contact offers many local FREE workshops and seminars to help educate the community about email marketing. Another great feature that Constant Contact offers is FREE coaching for its customers and phone-based customer service.
AWeber comes in at the lower end as far as amount of customers served with over 120,000 customers according to their website. AWeber does not offer a free option or free trial, but does offer the first 30 days for $1. After the first 30 days the lowest priced package is $19/month. As far as features, an outstanding feature that is include in the AWeber email marketing system is the ability to convert your blog post into an email newsletter with the click of a button (MailChimp also offers this feature). AWeber also claims to offer some of the best email delivery rates in the business.
AWeber also offers customer service via phone 7 days a week (Constant Contact also offers phone support).
So the key takeaway from this analysis is you have to figure out what features are most important to you and select the company that has those important features!
Please see the chart below for a full comparison:
| MailChimp | Constant Contact | AWeber | |
| Customers | Over 4,000,000 | Over 500,000 | Over 120,000 |
| FREE Option | Forever Free | 60-day Trial | No (first month for $1) |
| Lowest Priced Package | $10/month | $15/month | $19/month |
| Features of Lowest Priced Packages: | |||
| Subscribers | 0-500 | 0-500 | 0-500 |
| Emails per Month | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| List Features: | |||
| Contact Management System | Limited | YES | NO |
| List Segmentation Available | YES | YES- Limited | YES |
| Sign-up Forms | YES | YES | YES |
| Geolocation | YES | NO | YES |
| Email Features: | |||
| Customizable Email Templates | YES | YES | YES |
| Image Hosting | Unlimited | Limited (Up to 5 images) |
Unlimited (Up to 10 MB) |
| Access to additional Stock Images | YES- via APP | Additional Cost ($5/month) |
NO |
| Drag & Drop Editing | YES | YES | YES |
| Mobile Responsive Email Templates Available | YES | YES | YES |
| Autoresponder Emails | YES- New Subscribers and Event based | Limited- New Subscribers Only | Limited- New Subscribers Only |
| A/B Testing | YES | NO | NO |
| Inbox Preview for various Email Providers (i.e. gmail, yahoo, aol, etc.) | YES | NO | NO |
| Integration Features: | |||
| APP & Integration | YES | YES | YES |
| RSS/Blog Integration | YES | NO | YES |
| Social Media Features: | |||
| Share Email with Your Social Networks | YES | YES | YES |
| Social Follow Buttons | YES | YES | YES |
| Social Share Buttons | YES | YES | YES |
| Reporting/Archive Features: | |||
| Campaign Archives | YES | Additional Cost | YES |
| Reports | YES | YES | YES |
| Google Analytics Integration | YES | YES | YES |
| Customer Service: | |||
| Phone Customer Service | NO- Text or Chat Only | YES | YES |
All information in this posts is based on information on the email marketing service provider’s website or obtained after talking to a representative from the company. Features are based on current (January 2014) information.
Disclosure: I have used both Constant Contact and MailChimp for my clients. I have not used AWeber. Although I like to feel that my analysis is not bias, I believe it is important to mention that I am a Solutions Provider for Constant Contact.
4 Reasons Email Marketing is Key to Your Online Marketing Success
Are you using online marketing to promote your business?
Is email marketing a part of your online marketing strategy?
No matter what type of online marketing you engage in, blogging, social media, sales pages, podcasting, video marketing, etc. You will find that one key element that can help in the success of your online marketing is Email Marketing. Some people are under the impression that Email Marketing is dead and that nobody really reads email anymore. Although it may be true that most of our inboxes are inundated with email messages, and it is getting harder and harder to get people’s attention in a crowded email box, email still plays an important role in our daily communication.
So why is email marketing so important to the success of your online marketing? The simple answer is own, control, personalize, and act. So let’s look at these four reasons in detail:
- You Own Your Email List– Compared to other online marketing mediums, email is one of the only mediums that allows you to own the information that you collect on your contacts. Therefore, the goal of your email list is to own a large list of people who are interested in what you have to say and are engaged with your brand. The larger your list is with engaged, interested subscribers, the higher your chances of successful email marketing. It is also important to use all of your online marketing channels to encourage your loyal followers, fans, etc to join your email list. As the saying goes, the money is in your list!
- Control of the Visibility of your Content– compared to the social network platforms, email marketing gives you more control of who sees your information, and the actual information that they receive. Almost on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, some major social network is making changes to its algorithm, which influences, how, when or if your posts, tweets or whatever is being seen by the audience that you have on that network. Therefore, there is limited control as to how much of your information that your audience will see. Let’s face it, these networks are looking for ways to monetize every area, so the visibility of your posts will be less and less unless you plan to spend some advertising dollars. Take control of how often and what information your followers see by consistently sending valuable email marketing campaigns (the keyword here is valuable).
- Personalization– Most online marketing efforts have a “one-to-many” feel. When we are on large social networks it feels like you are at an online event, or an online party and although the marketing messages are geared to be personal, it still feels public. Email on the other hand although it may be “one-to-many”, it feels more “personal”. Especially if you add various personalization throughout the email like the person’s name, business name, etc. This gives email marketing more of a stronger relationship building feel for a brand than other forms of online marketing.
- Strong Calls to Action– Email Marketing is also the best place to use strong calls to actions and to inspire your audience to take the next step with your company. Whether that next step is purchasing, learning more, referring business or just having your company top of mind. After all the end results of good marketing should be consistent exposure, which leads to consistent sales.
Do you feel email marketing is important to the success of your online marketing? Be sure to share your comments below.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )21 Things You Must Do to Get Amazing Email Marketing Results (Part 3)
In my last post I discussed the importance of the content in your e-mail. Once you’ve grown your list and have great content that you are sending out, you need to analyze your results! Here are 7 tips on ways to analyze your e-mail marketing results:
- Test different days and times for sending your e-mail to see what works best for your list. Even though there are suggested days and times for sending out your e-mail in order to get the best results, I recommend that you test different days and times because every e-mail list is different. After you test it out, you will have a better idea of what days and times work best for the people on your list.
- Analyze your e-mail results . When analyzing your e-mail results, some of the key indicators you should be looking at are your open rates (what percentage of people from your e-mail list are actually opening your e-mail), review the click through rates (CTR). The CTR will help you gauge how the content you place in your e-mail is working to engage your subscribers by indicating whether your subscribers are clicking the links within your e-mail in order to get more information. In addition, you want to track your opt-outs to be sure that you are not losing a lot of people every time you send out an e-mail. Lastly, be sure that you have the correct e-mail addresses for the contacts on your e-mail list by checking the bounces that are marked as invalid e-mail address.
- Make adjustments to your e-mail based on your analysis. Once you have tested and analyzed your results, be sure to make adjustment to improve your results. Those adjustments could include changing the day and time you send your e-mail, changing up the type of content you have in your e-mail, etc.
- Be consistent…..This is an area where I see many small business owners fall short. If you have committed to do an e-newsletter, e-zine or e-lert, if you have a daily e-mail be sure to send it out every day, if you have a weekly e-mail be sure to send it out every week, etc. Being consistent shows that your company is trustworthy, credible, and responsible, which are all characteristics of companies people like to do business with.
- Test different types of subject/headlines for your e-mail. In addition to testing the right day and time to send your e-mail, you should also test different types of subject/headlines. Some times changing the sound and feel of your subject line/headline can make a difference in your open rate.
- Keep the look and feel of your e-mail consistent with your brand. If you have a set look and feel for your brand, keep the look and feel of your e-mail the same as the look and feel of your website, blog, social media platforms, etc. you want your customers to have a similar experience no matter the platform that they are receiving information from you.
- Add relevant images to your e-mail. People like visually appealing e-mails. As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words, so be sure to add relevant pictures in your e-mail to get your message across.
What techniques and ways do you use to analyze your e-mail efforts?
This blog series discussed 21 Things You Must Do in Order to Get Amazing Results from Your Email Marketing which included 7 tips to grow your e-mail list , 7 tips to ensure you are creating engaging content, and 7 tips on ways to analyze your e-mail marketing results. Click here to download the complete checklist of 21 Things You Must Do in Order to Get Amazing Results from Your Email Marketing!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )21 Things You Must Do to Get Amazing Email Marketing Results (Part 2)
In the last post for 21 Things You Must Do to Get Amazing Email Marketing Results, I discussed the importance of consistently growing your opt-in e-mail list, for this post I will discuss the importance of the content in your e-mail.
Once you are consistently growing your e-mail list, you want to make sure that the content that you provide in your e-mails is valuable to your readers. So how do you make sure your content is valuable? Here are 7 tips to ensure you are creating engaging content:
- Start with creating a great e-mail headline (better known as your e-mail subject line). Make sure your headline is interesting and compelling enough for people to want to open your e-mail (i.e. 7 reasons most people….., 5 tips to avoid……, etc.)
- Be sure to use existing content from your blog or website for the content in your e-mail. Keep your content brief and to the point. People don’t like to read long articles in e-mails, so keep it short and link the information back to your blog or website where people can get more information.
- Always add a Call to Action (CTA) somewhere in your e-mail. A CTA encourages people to learn more about your business or to try your service or product (i.e. download my free e-book, sign-up for the next workshop, etc.)
- Be sure to link the content in your e-mail to additional information found on your website or blog. This is also a great way to see what content your readers are more interested in, by finding out which articles they click on to read more.
- Make sure your content is 80% educational/entertaining and 20% salesy/promotional. People don’t like to be sold to, but they love to be informed and educated, so be sure to inform/educate/entertain for the majority of your e-mail, and add a small portion of your e-mail as a chance to promote/sell your business.
- Add a discount or referral offer in your e-mail. Offer your subscribers incentives for being on your list. A coupon for a discount on your services, a special offer if they refer someone to you, a FREE download to your latest educational item, etc.
- Add social sharing links to your e-mail so people will be able to share your e-mail with the people in their networks
What type of content do you add to your e-mail to make it engaging?
Just as equally important as the content in your e-mail is analyzing the results of your e-mail marketing efforts. The next blog post in this series will discuss the best ways to analyze your e-mail marketing results. Stay tuned for the next blog post or click here to download the complete checklist of 21 Things You Must Do in Order to Get Amazing Results from Your Email Marketing!
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 1 so far )21 Things You Must Do to Get Amazing Email Marketing Results (Part 1)
If you are using email marketing to promote your business, or you are thinking about using email marketing to promote your business, then the first step to being successful in your email marketing efforts is to BUILD YOUR LIST:
The money is in your list and it is important for you to consistently build your e-mail list. Here are 7 tips on how to successful build your e-mail list:
- Send an invitation to join your e-mail list to the contacts that you have e-mail addresses for. INVITE them to opt-in to receive your e-mails, don’t just add your contacts to your e-mail list, make sure they have opted in (you don’t want to be a spammer- someone who consistently sends e-mails to individuals who did not request it).** A big pet peeve of mine is do not add individuals whom you met at a networking event to your e-mail list unless they have requested to join your list or they have opted in! **
- Offer a good incentive that people in your target market would be interested in receiving if they opt in to your e-mail list (i.e. FREE report, e-Book, white paper, checklist, etc.)
- Concentrate on QUALITY not just QUANTITY when it comes to your list size. The size of your list doesn’t matter as much as the quality of the people on your list.** ideally you do want to grow your list into a large list with lots of quality individuals from your target market **
- Create an e-mail sign-up form and place it on your website, blog, social networks, etc.
- In order for your list to grow, you have to promote joining your list. Promote joining your e-mail list on your social networks, e-mail, website, blog, etc.
- Don’t limit the promotion of joining your e-mail list to just your online activities, but also promote joining your e-mail list on your offline marketing material by including a QR Code that links to your e-mail sign up form on your business card, brochures, etc.
- Make it easy for people to join your email list by including easy joining methods like join via text message
What techniques and ways do you use for people to join your e-mail list?
Just as equally important as growing your e-mail list is the content in your e-mail. The next blog post in this series will discuss how to create engaging content that will make people want to open your e-mails and give you business. Stay tuned for the next blog post or click here to download the complete checklist of 21 Things You Must Do in Order to Get Amazing Results from Your Email Marketing!
3 C’s to Get Amazing Results from Email Marketing
Email Marketing is a key element to online marketing for every small business. However, being successful at Email Marketing can be a challenge. Just like other areas of your small business marketing, you must have a strategy for success. Here are 3 C’s to help you get amazing results from your email marketing.
3 “CON”s:
CONtacts- Your email list is where the money is at. It is important to make sure that the contacts on your e-mail list have opted-in to receive your e-mail (you don’t want to be a spammer- sending e-mails to individuals who have not requested it). Always remember that it’s not the size of your list, but the QUALITY of the contacts on your list. It’s always better to have 50 interested individuals than 1000 uninterested individuals.
CONtent- Most of us have heard the saying “Content is King”, but what does that really mean? It means that the content that you send to your contacts needs to be informative, entertaining and/or engaging. The QUALITY of your content is what makes the difference in whether people will open your e-mail, follow your company, or do business with you.
CONsistency- It is super important to give your contacts your content on a consistent basis. If you decided to have a monthly e-newsletter, then be sure to send it out every month. If you publish a weekly e-mail be sure to send it out every week, or if you have a daily e-mail, be sure that your contacts receive your e-mail in their inbox on a daily basis. Consistency is key, it shows that your company is reliable and trustworthy.
Bonus C:
The bonus C may not be a “CON”, but it is very important for every business to do, Compare.
Compare- Be sure to compare your results with the results of e-mail campaigns of others in your industry (most e-mail marketing providers have statistics of open and click through rates for various industries). Also, be sure to compare your e-mail results from month to month. Look at your open rates, click-through rates, opt-ins, opt-outs and more, to get a big picture of how you are doing with your e-mail campaigns.
What strategies for e-mail marketing success do you have for your company? Be sure to share your comments below.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 4 so far )Don’t Put ALL of your Promotional Eggs in One Basket
When it comes to promoting your business, it is important to not put all of your promotional eggs in one basket! What I mean by this is be sure to promote your product or services through various promotional avenues both online and offline. For the purpose of this post, I will discuss the importance of having various promotional eggs online.
When it comes to promoting your business online, there are many ways to accomplish this. You have to choose the best method for you and your business, but here are some of the basic promotional avenues you should be using:
1. Company Website– This seems like a no brainer, but I recently read a statistic that said 30% of businesses do not have a company website. What?!!! A company website is your company’s online profile and the way that people get to know you and your business. Your website should include information about your company, your products and services, locations, etc. Using Search Engine Optimization (SEO) strategies and tactics both organic and pay per click are great ways for potential customers to reach your website and get to know about your company.
2. Company Blog– Now it can be argued whether a company needs a website and a blog, but in my opinion, now a days a company should have both. A company blog differs from the company website, because the blog is a way for people to learn about your company’s expertise and allows you to show-up as an expert in your particular field based on the information you post. If people don’t reach you by going to your website, a blog on a popular blogging site gives people another avenue to learn about you and your business with the informative posts that you place on the blog.
3. Email Marketing– Opt-in E-Mail Marketing is a great way for you to keep your company and your products and services top of mind for existing clients or prospects. When a business is top of mind with consumers, they are more likely to continue to use your product or service (as long as they are happy with it) and would be more likely to refer business to you if you stay in contact with them and offer good valuable information and or discounts. Email Marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to stay top of mind with your customers and prospects online.
4. Social Media Presence– Now this a huge topic that could be a separate post, but is necessary to include as a part of any company’s online promotional efforts. With social media it is important for a company to know its target market, select the appropriate social media platforms to reach that target market, and have a social media strategy in order for promoting on social media to be successful for the company.
By making sure that you are not putting all your promotional eggs in one basket, you are ensuring that your message is reaching the right people in the right places, and the idea is for those promotional eggs to hatch into repeat or potential customers.
What promotional avenues/eggs online are you using for your business? Be sure to post a comment below.
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Marketing Essentials by Nadine Mullings 