Email marketing is out, email marketing is dead and email marketing is obsolete. Well, not so fast! We have seen many internet marketers out there reiterate the fact that email marketing is an imperative part of social media as it leads to many conversions as well. Let us see some facts about email marketing – according to Convince & Convert at least 44% of promotional emails led to sales last year. So, here are our few steps to start with email marketing.
1. Choose an email marketing client
There are lot of email marketing clients out there like Mailchimp, Getresponse, Aweber and Constant Contact. We use Getresponse as it suits our needs perfectly. Before choosing your email marketing service you might have to answer few questions like:
1. What kind of budget do you have?
2. Do you have database of contacts or leads?
3. Are you willing to do it yourself or hiring someone else to do it?
4. Do I need to create a responsive design email for mobiles also?
5. What kind of customer service do I need?
If you have the answers to these seemingly difficult questions, then your search for a perfect email marketing clients would be easy. Keep a lookout for affiliate benefits offered by a lot of email marketing service so that you can generate some money out of it by recommending it to your friends or clients.
2. Create a lead capture form
Lead capture form is quite essential to inbound marketing – like Jarvis is to Ironman. It is an effective way for your customers to stay in touch with you and to get updates about your products. Here are some prerequisites to a really good lead capture form.
1. Small form – better conversions
2. Place the form above the fold of your website as it helps to boost conversion
3. Give something in return to your users for their information like an e-book or an image. This helps motivate them to fill the form.
3. Create a perfect copy for auto-responder
As an internet marketer, I can tell you that copy is heart and soul of your marketing as it creates friends or enemies out of your consumers. So, before you speak to them…think! Get into your customers’ shoes and think if they want what you are offering. If yes, then go ahead and create the auto-responder for your lead capture form.
4. What to send out to your consumers
An engaged customer is better than the ones who are not. Email marketing creates a platform to directly talk to your customer who is already buying things from you. So, most probably he will buy again. Analyse with different types of content like blogs, newsletters, offers, discounts, contests or just a ‘hello’ message.
5. Frequency of your emails
Nobody wants to get bombarded with emails about promotions. So, decide when do you want to post the newsletter; a frequency of once or twice a week helps you keep the brand visible. Try few emails in different timings and check your open rates in different timings. Use the time which works best. In Scion Social we think our best time is 3:00 pm on a Friday.
6. Inspire them and win them over
Have you seen the Apple’s ad – the “crazy ones” in which Apple highlights leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Albert Einstein, Amelia Earhart and many more to inspire people? This ad changed Apple’s fortune because Apple didn’t try to sell products to people. Instead it inspired an entire generation to make changes. Even though emails are not as big as a full-fledged marketing campaign, they can still make an impact on one person – and that’s all you need to begin with!
