A Proper Introduction to Email Marketing for Small Businesses

Email marketing is the gold standard of digital marketing, with over 80% of small businesses using email marketing to reach new audiences and convert prospects. If you are yet to start using email marketing for your small business, this piece offers some valuable insights for you.

What Is Email Marketing?

Email marketing uses the convenience of the inbox to target existing and potential customers. It also reinforces and complements other elements of your business’s marketing strategy. There are a number of good reasons why you should leverage email marketing in your business:

1. It’s inexpensive and easy to implement.
2. It builds a subscriber list.
3. It boosts brand awareness.
4. It helps you know and engage with your customers.
5. It boosts revenues and is perceived as highly personal by one of the most affluent demographics—the baby boomers.

Get Started with Email Marketing

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If you are new to email marketing, here are a few steps towards acing your email marketing campaign:

1. Choose an email marketing tool to optimize your marketing campaign.
2. Create and grow a subscriber list containing each email recipient’s name and email address through sign-up forms on your website or blog. You can also upload your current contacts via a spreadsheet file such as Microsoft Excel.
3. With the tool of your choice, create the content of your first email campaign—an email template. Ensure you follow the tool’s guidelines to the tee.
4. Send your first email campaign out to your subscriber list. Then repeat.
5. Analyze how people reacted to your email to improve your future campaign. Did people open and click links within your email or visit pages on your website? Did they buy something? With this information, you can achieve greater success with your campaigns.

Building Your Email List

You’re now ready to build a subscribers list! Here are a few ways you can do so:

1. Create a sign-up form on your website where a customer fills in their personal information
2. Promote your sign-up forms through social media channels
3. Bonus points if you use contests or giveaways to encourage even more sign-ups!
4. Use an email service provider to create a landing page with an enticing call-to-action (CTA) for potential customers unaware of your brand.
5. Use a lead magnet to entice your reader to subscribe. Use infographics, E-books, Whitepapers, checklists, case studies, webinars, and templates.

Create Effective Email Campaigns

Creating effective emails can seem complicated. There’s so much to think about and consider. If you’re new to email marketing, here are some things that you should focus on:

1. Know which emails to send – as a small business, the ideal emails include Newsletters, Product Announcements, Welcome, Transactional, Stand-alone, Re-engagement, Brand story, Video, Lead nurturing, and Thank you emails.
2. Use visual stimulators such as images, infographics, videos, graphs, and charts, among others, to encourage engagement.
3. Provide value – Provide informative content, such as a list of industry tips, a customer case study with an impactful quote, or an intriguing product demonstration video.
4. Include a CTA – What do you want readers to do once they’ve received the email? Make this obvious to them, so they don’t feel lost after reading the email.Place your CTA at the top and bottom of each email, so they’re hard to miss.
5. Write a clear and personalized subject line – ensure the subject line reflects the email’s content so that the reader knows what they’re opening. Let’s face it—that’s probably how they’ll read it.
6. Optimize for mobile – 55% of your potential customers read their emails via mobile devices! Your emails must look good on small screens because users will likely ignore them otherwise. Also, a responsive design will make your business appear professional and convince readers to interact and engage with the content.
7. Test send your email before sending it out – It’s important to test out your emails before sending them. This way, you can notice and fix any bugs beforehand.A test run ensures that the content you deliver is error free and engaging.
8. Personalize your content – don’t treat your readers like one of the herd. They are individuals, and 80% prefer a personalized experience.Once you have their details, you have what you need to address them by name and title and provide relevant, helpful, and informative content that feels like it is intended for them.

Measure the Success of Your Email Campaign

Once you send your emails, use the analytics features of your email marketing platform to gauge how effective they were. You should check certain key performance indicators (KPIs) that’ll give you a bird’s eye view of your campaign.

Generally, an “open rate” above 20%, a “click-through rate” above 5%, and a 1-2% conversion rate are fantastic for small businesses.

Promote Your Small Business through Email Marketing

Email marketing is a great way to promote your small business. First, you need to understand that email marketing is a long-term strategy. You won’t see immediate results as the rewards compound over time. Your prospective customers will not automatically sign up for your email list when they visit your website. You’ll need to incentivize them; a gift or discount will often do the trick to get them to subscribe.

If you have any questions about starting your own online business, be sure to contact us.