Despite all the attention that social media gets these days, emails are still the most important way to reach out to clients and potential customers. Emails are more direct, they’re more personal and more professional, and they can communicate information a lot more effectively than social media.
Email advertising can be especially important for small businesses that need to get the word out about themselves or about a particular product, service, or initiative. If you’ve picked up some email advertising software, or are starting a campaign on your own, here are some important tips to help you reach out to people the right way.
Network With Everyone
Networking is when you go to a party or a conference—anywhere that people gather—and start making connections. These connections can lead to partnerships or sales or other beneficial transactions later down the road. When starting an email advertising campaign, don’t just reach out to people you think you can close deals with, reach out to everyone. The more people you reach out to, the more chance you’ll be networking with someone who may end up being important to your business.
But Don’t Spam People
There’s nothing worse than a company that over-does-it on the emails. Certain email advertising software will cause this to happen, so make sure you make the frequency of messages tolerable for the people you’re contacting. If your emails end up in someone’s spam folder, there’s pretty much no chance you’ll ever be able to effectively communicate with that person. Also, make sure you’re considering the time and day that the emails go out. Past midnight on Sunday is not such a good time, but mid-morning on a weekday is just right.
Experiment
There’s no way to tell ahead of time what will work with your client list. You’ll have to spend some time trying out certain strategies and swapping out body text and headlines in order to see what’s the most effective way of getting people to open an email or follow links you’ve included. This is where email advertising software becomes particularly important, as it can tell you how many people opened an email message, which will allow you to refine your messaging based on what works and what doesn’t.
Good Value is Better than a Good Offer
It can be tempting to make your email advertising overly sales-y. But if you include a lot of language like “incredible deal” and “once-in-a-lifetime offer,” not only do you risk running right into the spam folder, you’ll likely bore your audience into ignoring the message altogether. What you want to do is weave specific, interesting communication with information about the value you offer. Make it a mix of informal outreach and formal data. Let your clients know what they would benefit from taking you up on your offer without making them feel like they’re being pitched to.
Source: http://findquickanswers.com/top-5-tips-email-marketing-small-business/
Featured image: DepositPhotos – fuzzbones
