Email marketing tips for small businesses

One of the most efficient yet cost-effective modes of advertising in recent times is email marketing. Some individuals may suggest that email is dead, but that is far from the case. The email system is one of the best when it comes to the generation of loyal following and sale increase, especially for small businesses. The problem, however, is that companies often overlook its benefits as most individuals do not just offer their addresses to any brand that comes their way online.

No matter the industry you operate within, with these tips on email marketing, your small business is sure to thrive amongst all other.

Encourage Easy Subscription

The most critical steps are often those viewed as fundamental. Your mail must make it easy for recipients to sign up for your newsletter. Cut down on the required fields in your registration form as its length may put people off your emails and business as a whole. Consider posting your subscription forms on your homepage, blog and all platforms on which your target audience frequents.

Welcome People To Your Site

A welcome gives people a reassurance that they’re going to be interacting with a community and not just an inanimate place. Your welcome may be in the form of a unique product offer or even extra content, just for being loyal to you by subscribing.

Be Clear on Your Intended Content

Readers and subscribers do not like to be kept wondering. Be specific about your content, how it’s going to be presented and when your readers should expect it. If there are any benefits to be enjoyed, make sure that you state it within your registration box. Provide clear information from the onset, so that people can decide whether they’re interested in signing up or not. When strategizing, ask yourself; Why should someone offer their email address, how will they benefit from signing up?

Make Your Brand Consistent

Ensure uniformity in your display results so that your audience can resonate more with your email. Subscribers may feel lost and puzzled when open or accessing your mail; there’s nothing that can be connected to your website, as both platforms are vastly different.

If your business uses template newsletter outlines, we strongly suggest that it is customized to mimic your brand as actively as possible right from the start.

Make Your Messages Personal

Compose your messages in a manner likened to sending an email to your best friend. Allow your mail to exude the feeling of home and familiarity, no matter the message you want to send across. Customers are quickly turned away by emails that resemble sales pitches and broadcasts. When using an app or software that schedules and sends emails on your behalf, aggregate time to customization of all messages before sending.

Edit & Test Messages

After personalizing all messages, ensure that they’re professionally proofread and adequately revised. Include the editing process in your publishing calendar such that it’s not a rushed activity. You may be an editor, but you still need a neutral editor to go through your content because once that mail goes out, you cannot retract it for an update.

Once your message is edited to your satisfaction, it is essential to run a test trial across various devices. Devices have different displays, and as such, it is necessary to be aware of the possible ways your message will show. Send your mail to colleagues or family and have them open it on separate devices. You can also have multiple email accounts as a test, to know where your letter may ultimately end up, be it your recipients’ spam or inbox.

Get Social!

Utilise your social media. Do not limit your messages to only emails. Platforms such as Pinterest and Google can be used to gain more addresses for your emails. You can do this by asking existing followers to subscribe to your newsletter. Inversely, you can use emails to inform subscribers of your social media pages, which they may not have known existed. Spread your benefits across both social media and emails such that no matter the platform, customers are assured of rewards. Offering rewards for ‘liking’ your Facebook page or following you on Twitter is more than enough incentive for both existing and potential customers.

Ensure Your Mobility

The first thing most people come into contact with as soon as they wake up is their mobile phones. Mobile phones are portable and easy to access in comparison to other technological devices. Thus, your company should optimize its marketing campaign to accommodate all kinds of mobile devices.

Consider mobile devices as your window of immense opportunity and design your content- no matter its level of relevance- to suit it accordingly.

Be Analytical

Sending out well-crafted, edited emails that are pre-tested does not mean a thing if you do not receive any returns. Evaluate the reach of your emails periodically and identify any deficiencies. Use this as an extra stepping stone to optimize the profits of your proceeding marketing campaign. All results should be studied, such as your open mail rate, click, and conversion rate and even your unsubscribe rate. Analysing and optimizing your marketing strategy is an endless process until you can meet your ultimate goals.

Keep an Eye on Your Competition

If you want to be set apart from your competition, you must know what, how, when and when they do the things they do. An easy way to easily keep yourself updated on all these is to subscribe to their mailing lists. This way, you are exposed to their language and form of content as well as how their message relays to customers. Keeping an eye out doesn’t relate to absorbing and using their skills, but instead, it enables your marketing team to draw up better, more engaging content that stands out from your competition.

At 2o.com we offer a range of email marketing services, in addition to implementing strategies. As a business that is now starting out, you do not require an excessive amount of revenue to implement strategies that will yield you active returns. With almost every individual owning an email address, email marketing is essential in the online marketing world, and every small business must adopt a plan that provides their organization with the benefits every successful campaign offers.