Email is one of the most tried and true methods of marketing, and it is incredibly reliable if it is used the right way. As long as you’re using it right and utilizing the most recent tools and tips to stay relevant, email is one of the most valuable and targeted channels for reaching your audience. It is also shown to have a high return on investment compared to other marketing methods. However, you might be in a rut and using the same old tools and not seeing an increase in audience.
Here are some of the best email marketing tools to ensure you are increasing your audience and hitting the mark every time.
Use Email Marketing to Increase Social Reach
While you may approach your email and social marketing strategies as completely separate initiatives, you can use the two to enhance each other. Email marketing allows you to share unique content with customers that both highlights your product’s features and nurtures relationships. Social media is used more as a tool to build customer awareness and encourage engagement with your brand. The goals are completely separate, and you wouldn’t use one the same way you sue the other. So, how do you use two different marketing tools together to improve each other?
A recent study showed that only half of a company’s social media followers were also subscribed to their newsletter. Since the crossover is low, you can use the two channels to increase the audience of the other. One way to use email to increase your social media audience is to promote your contests, giveaways, and discounts that you normally post on social media through email. Email your subscribers about these offers and send them to your social media pages to participate.
An incredibly simple way to improve your emails is to add social share buttons to your email layout. Take advantage of welcome emails by using part of the message to promote your social media channels and tell readers how to engage with your brand using those methods.
Utilize Text Messaging to Grow Your Audience
If you’ve ever used offline methods to advertise your company, you probably don’t include a call-to-action that requires the audience to email you. For example, a radio ad never says “Email us to enter our contest,” or a billboard that tells you to send an email to learn more about the company’s products or services. Email isn’t a very good call-to-action in these offline scenarios, but you can still utilize them to grow your email list.
Instead, you can use text messaging as a call-to-action in those types of scenarios. Texting is a great option because it is simple, easy, and nearly everyone has it. Also, people tend to have their phones on them at all times.
Using text messaging is as simple as including a call-to-action that says something like, “Text the word CONTEST to 12345 to sign up!” Then, the user would receive an immediate reply that asks them to respond with their email address to join the contest, or whatever it is you are promoting. Finally, the user would receive a final message confirming receipt of the email address. Now, you can save the email address to your list of subscribers and put the user directly into an email campaign.
Text messaging is an excellent call-to-action option for:
- Traditional media like TV, radio, print, or outdoor ads.
- Speaking events or conferences. Include the instructions on a small card to give to people as they are arriving to or leaving your event.
- In-store foot traffic. Instead of having a clipboard sitting on a desk, just have them send a quick text to join your email list.
Increase Personalization
Consumer behavior is changing, so your content needs to change, too. It should be personal and relevant to the audience you are trying to reach. Here are some ways to increase personalization with your emails:
- Use calls-to-action that speak to your audience’s needs, interests, goals, or problem points.
- Organize your audience list based on interest, subscription type, or geographic location to deliver personalized content easier
- Build your content and campaigns to match each segment.
Email marketing, while one of the original online marketing methods, is still as relevant and effective as ever. However, there are constantly new tools and tricks that can increase the effectiveness of this marketing strategy. If you’d like to stay up-to-date, or you need to guidance on how to get your email marketing strategy off the ground, sign up for Business Marketing Engine’s free email marketing course. You can also take free courses in social media marketing, entrepreneurship, and content marketing to help you develop a well-rounded marketing strategy for your business.