LET’S LOOK AT HOW YOU CAN USE EMAIL MARKETING TO INCREASE BRAND AWARENESS AND GROW YOUR BUSINESS.
With a growing number of marketing channels available, it can be a challenge to know all that is available and to determine which is best based on your target audience and desired outcomes. To decide if email marketing is right for your business, it is important to understand exactly what it is, why it's effective and how it can be used successfully.
What is email marketing?
To put it simply, email marketing is sharing content with your audience by sending it directly to their inbox. It’s a way to keep your audience engaged and up-to-date on your business, and drive sales. It provides a cost-effective, efficient method to communicate your brand in a unique and consistent manner because it allows you to share your voice and personality in a way that other marketing channels may not.
Does it work?
One of the benefits of email marketing is that your contacts have willingly given you their email addresses to receive your email marketing messages, which means they are interested in hearing what you have to say. They are counting on you to share good content. Your OPT IN and OPEN RATES will be higher when your contacts KNOW who you are, which is another reason you should not purchase email lists.
Email marketing is not only for B2C audiences. In fact, it is more effective for B2B. Click through rates (CTR) in B2B email marketing are 47% higher than in B2C emails. As a source of information, email marketing is the third best source, only behind industry-specific thought leaders and colleague recommendations. And, according to B2B marketers, email marketing is the most effective marketing channel for revenue generation. After all, the ROI on email marketing is $44 for every $1 spent. You can find more statistics on email marketing here.
How can you use email marketing?
We’ve learned that email marketing does work, but how can it help you?
Convert your website visitors into customers. Email marketing allows you to nurture relationships with those who have visited your site and subscribed to your email marketing. You can communicate your expertise and value to your subscribers, and when they are ready to make a purchase, they will come to you.
Grow your audience. With or without a website, you can use email marketing to grow your audience and keep them updated on your business. When you attend or exhibit at trade shows or conferences, collect contact information and grow your list. A lead retrieval device is ideal for recording contacts and building your database. If you provide AIA Continuing Education Lunch and Learns, this is a great way to build your database with quality contacts you can begin to nurture. Your goal is to become a reliable and knowledgeable resource for them, right?
Increase your brand awareness. If you deliver valuable, consistent content to your contacts, you will solidify your brand with your audience. They will know who you are, your expertise, and they will grow to trust you. Additionally, as they find value in your emails, they will begin sharing those emails with their friends, family and colleagues.
Make sure to share targeted messaging. Make sure to segment your database and create email lists that allow you to share appropriate messaging with a specific target audience or geography. Do not use a one message fits all approach. Modify your messages to speak to each unique audience. Are you a building product manufacturer or distributor? Based on your products or service, create individual lists specific for Architects, Interior Designers, Fabricators, Contractors.
Increase website traffic. As you share new content with your email subscribers, you should include a call-to-action and links that will drive traffic to your website. Your contacts are already interested in your business, which makes them the perfect, captive audience to drive traffic and boost sales. Hopefully, you’ve attended to your website sufficiently and you are keeping it fresh. When customers, prospective buyers and influencers visit your website, it should be informative, visual and easy to navigate. Don’t disappoint!
Boost sales. Email marketing is also a fantastic way to promote new products and share about upcoming promotions. By using the right tone, words and images, you can influence the reader to act. Utilize email communications to showcase project work recently completed. This is a testimonial to who is using your products or services, the variety of applications supported, quality, breadth of offering, etc.
Establish customer loyalty and advocacy. Sharing customer success stories, reviews or user-generated content within your marketing emails will show your audience that you care. Plus, as you listen to customer feedback and implement positive change in response, your audience will take notice, solidifying their trust and loyalty. As they become loyal, they will also become your advocates, which will multiply the impact of your marketing efforts.
Where should you start?
Developing your email marketing strategy will take work, but it will be time well spent. First, you will need to choose which email marketing software you want to use. Second, you will need to build your database. Another critical note to share: DO NOT PURCHASE EMAIL LISTS. As a matter of fact, most [if not all] email marketing service providers will ask you to sign agreement that states you did not purchase your lists of contacts.
Remember to segment your lists. You may even want to create list specific to sales territories [by sales representative], or by service location. For example, you don’t want to send a message to contacts nationwide, if the message is specific to a promotion or event that is unique to a specific region or operation. Constant Contact is an excellent tool to utilize for email distribution. Of course, there are many tools to use and some are free if you have a small database, and you just want to begin testing the waters.
Prepare in advance for targeted messaging. You can accomplish this by including an email opt-in form on your website, or by manually collecting contact information at events. Next, you will need to identify your goals and create a plan. What are you wanting to accomplish through your marketing efforts and how can you bring forth the desired results? Your plan should include the nature of content to be shared with the different target audiences and frequency. For more information on creating your own email marketing strategy click here.
Whether you are a building product manufacturer, distributor, or contractor, email marketing should be a tool in your arsenal. If you aren’t sure how to get started, or simply do not have time to develop or manage an effective email marketing strategy, schedule your free 30-minute consultation today. We can help you use email marketing to grow your business!