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The Land of Email Marketing Strategies & Tactics

When it comes to email marketing strategies and tactics for small business, maybe it’s time we shed some light on the subject for those of you who are in the land of small business.

Ever seen an email message that landed in your inbox and you just knew it was going to be another advertisement with Sale! Sale! Sale! written all over it?

We all have and that’s why today’s topic is kicking off a series about email marketing and its direct correlation to direct response marketing. Now there’s more than enough articles and info products out there on the web about these two subjects, and even I have plenty of meat and potatoes right here at clickandmortarblog.com should you need some.

My point is this…

If you, the small business owner or manager is going to utilize email marketing in your business to build your customer base, then why don’t you test, use best practices and work towards connecting with your subscribers?

I know this takes time, effort, and planning and good copywriting. Yes – good copywriting is part of the equation when it comes to developing emails that get opened, read and clicked. Decent copywriting and creative can be the difference of an unopened email and one that gets thoroughly read and clicked.

More and more I see small business owners using email to ‘blast’ the people who have signed up or not signed up to their list. And the blasts they send are sale focused, not connection focused. 

This is not engaging, does not build credibility and is frankly very annoying.

The last thing a consumer or businessperson wants is another advertisement landing in his or her email inbox that screams sale! They already receive enough of these as it is and your pitch and shove doesn’t make them any happier or more eager to buy.

Soooo…. 

You, my small business friend, must look at the emails you create and send as more than just a digital version of a newspaper or magazine ad. These messages that are sent through cyberspace to the people whom have entrusted you with their email, are more than just advertisements.

These messages are relationship and bridge builders or at least the majority of them should be. Yes, you read that correctly. The majority of your email messages should be bridge builders and setups for a demolition crew!

The vast majority of the messages you send to your subscriber lists should be to build relationships, bridges, connections and if done properly – sales and long-term streams of revenue.

And with time-tested proven direct response tactics & strategies, you can make this happen in your email campaigns and even in your offline marketing. It makes no difference what business you are in; you can save yourself a lot of headaches and lost revenue by embracing direct response email marketing strategies and tactics that will work over the long haul.

So rest assured my small business friend, you too could attract, capture, connect and convert without screaming sale in every single email.

Look for more about how you can do this, right here at Clickandmortarblog.com (series to be continued) and through our friends at Smallbiz Mechanix.

Dave Krygier
Publisher 

Email Marketing Tips – The Subject You Need to Know

“EMT”

The subject you need to know to know about today is the subject line in your emails that you send to your subscribers and clients. Does the EMT above make sense or did you miss the connection to the post title above?

Ok – onward, upward and to today’s topic….

When it comes to email marketing, one thing that drives me nuts is an off-liner (traditional, brick and mortar business owner) who doesn’t know what to put in the subject lines of their emails. It’s like they guess or just pull a rabbit out of the hat and click control v.

The subject line is what gets us humans to open the message.

The subject line is the headline to your marketing message and the key that opens the door.

Many times the traditional business owner (who I refer to as an off-liner) will just throw what ever onto the subject line along with a one to two page crammed together news blurb or whatever he or she thinks is relevant and/or urgent. They send the usual weekly e-letter with subject lines that don’t tie into a headline or the body copy and usually have so much cut and pasted content that it looks like a supermarket bulletin board!

BORING, BORING, BORING!

What these types need is excitement and enthusiasm or something so interesting that the reader is ready and willing to open the next message.

That something could be an audio or video link in the body of the email that leads to an interview. Or maybe a refreshing article that pertains to your niche and what they are subscribed to.

The nonchalant attitude of just sending info with no links to click on is about as dumb as driving over a snow-covered mountain pass with bald tires. And yours truly is guilty as charged for doing this in the past.  (no links to click that is)

So here are my email marketing tips for you today:

When writing your …

Subject Line (headline)  – Make sure that the words stand out and say, HEY YOU!  Because these words generally determine if the subscriber is going to open the email.

Intro sentence (subheadline) – Use words that keeps the subscriber’s attention so they read through to your message.

Body Copy – Remember to include a link to something else of interest, like an article, video, blog post, or even a sales page.

Close – Use a simple call to action, a thank you, a lead in to the next message, that may or may not include an additional link.

PS – This is your final chance to catch the reader’s attention. Use it wisely.

Now there are alot of different ways to develop and write email campaigns and you might have a solid strategy that works and is driving new subscribers your way.

If this is not the case, then subscribe to The List Building Guide and get on the right track.

Dave Krygier
Publisher

Best Practices for List Building

Best practices for list building applies to any online and offline businesses. In this series I am going to cover how best practices can be used and implemented in your list building business.

First, let’s start out with the topic of content.

If you are building a list of subscribers then the content that you post needs to be original. Buying repurposed or second-hand articles is not the way to go.

You are better off outsourcing your articles to a professional article writer but this too has its pit falls as some writers will not deliver totally original content to you. How do I know this – because I’ve experienced it first hand and on more than one occasion.

Just recently I had yet another marketer sending me a message that said he was offering a certain number of prewritten articles that could be used to promote his product.

Now why on earth would he do that? A whole bunch of people on his list will be using those articles and most likely without rewriting them. This puts a whole bunch of the same content all over the web until the engines clean it all up.

Let me ask you this…

Do like to search and find junk content or content that is obviously not well thought out or just plain awful? Does this make your day or do you hit the back button and get frustrated?

It boggles my mind that people think that they are going to use second hand content just to make a buck. But really all they are doing is taking a short cut. And I understand this – find the easiest path. It’s just human nature.

But for you the list builder who is building a business, I am suggesting you take the high road and produce high quality content that your subscribers look forward to receiving.

The people on your list do not want regurgitated, repurposed, rehashed content that has been around the block several times. They want original, quality content and by you using best practices and producing such content, your subscribers will come to appreciate you.

There are other ways to build your list. You don’t need to have articles circulating all over the place, but should you choose to write articles and blog posts, make sure they are all original.

With all that said – take the high road and produce content, products and services that speak quality. Your subscribers will thank you and will be more likely to stick around for the long-term.

Dave Krygier
Publisher

PS- If you need some insight and tips on list building – subscribe here.