Inform your customers, send eNewsletters!

At GOOP, we believe there are five core components of any good online marketing strategy, and eNewsletters is one of them. As an online marketing authority in Geelong, we help our clients get their priorities right for an effective online presence. Priority one is to get your website working as a Google trap, driving traffic to your website where they can view your business’s core offerings and then compelling them to take the desired action – pick up the phone, visit your store, click “add to cart”…

Priority two is blogging on your website – adding text-based updates on your actual website – not on an external blogging source, making sure you include reference to your products, services and location. Once your website is working and you’re keeping it up-to-date by adding blog posts, you can throw eNewsletters into the mix as your third priority!

Email marketing campaigns keep your existing customers informed. Think of it as a friendly “do you want fries with that?” type of message.

Did you know we do this, did you know we offer that, we are closed for Christmas, here’s some tips for using our products, we’re having a special on our services, we’re offering free shipping, watch our new video…

When sending email marketing campaigns, apply the principles of KISS… keep it simple stupid! You don’t need to write an essay and you can most certainly include pictures and links to your website. So how do you craft interesting eNewsletters that people actually want to read?

Email marketing tip 1 – why can’t I just send eNewsletters to my contacts from my regular email program?

You shouldn’t send bulk emails from any “regular” email program such as Outlook, Gmail, Bigpond, etc. because it is considered spam and you can get blocked by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Sending the same newsletter individually to your contacts is neither time-effective nor professional.

An email program – such as MailChimp – is designed to send an email to a bulk list of people at once. Furthermore, you can customise your email template to look highly-professional and consistent with your branding. You can also measure the success of your email campaigns with statistics about open rates, click rates and more. Email programs also gives people the option to unsubscribe. There are so many benefits of using an email program to connect with your database!

Email marketing tip 2 – are you asking permission to add people to your email database?

You should never go ahead and add anyone to your email list if they have not requested to be on it! It can have legal implications for you, it will annoy people and they will unsubscribe from your list anyway because, well they didn’t ask to be on it!

At GOOP we can provide email marketing integration with your website so people can sign up online. You can promote this fact and encourage people to enter their details, but you should never take the liberty yourself.

Email marketing tip 3 – are your email templates branded?

One of the benefits of using an email marketing program is the ability to customise the template so it reflects your business’s branding. For example, with the MailChimp product you can customise templates which have your logo and branding on it. You can have just one consistently branded template or you can have a few to choose from. Then you write a new campaign each month or quarter and you choose which template your content will sit on. It’s the most professional way to send bulk email to your customers and contributes to awareness of your brand.

Email marketing tip 4 – does your website feature email marketing integration to help your business grow your email database?

A customer database – one that has given your business permission to contact them – is an invaluable online marketing asset! Grow your email list by integrating a sign-up form on your website. Make it easy for people to subscribe to your eNewsletters and make it easier to grow your list. We offer email marketing integration for our WordPress websites. If you have an email marketing program set up, enquire about having it integrated with your website.

Your sign-up form can be as simple as asking for an email address, through to having a variety of customised fields, as seen on the Great Australian Beer Festival Geelong website. By the way, GABF Geelong is on again in Feb 15, why not sign up for updates now! www.gabfgeelong.com.au/subscribe

Email marketing tip 5 – your clients want to hear from you!

Guess what? If your customers have subscribed to receive news from you, they actually want to hear from you! Respect their interest in your business by communicating with them regularly! You don’t have to sell, sell, sell – use your eNewsletters as a tool to inform your customers. Give them tips, useful information, updates about your products and services… Inform your customers about your brand and keep your brand front and centre in your clients’ minds!

Email marketing tip 6 – email marketing campaigns are measurable.

You know why we love online marketing? Because it’s measurable! You can track a variety of statistical insights for almost every platform! Your email campaigns should be no exception. Do you know how many people open your eNewsletter? Are people clicking on any links you include and which ones? Was there a particular campaign more people unsubscribed from?

Choose an email marketing program with some form of its own analytics! And then use the data to pick up on any trends and improve your campaigns.

Email marketing tip 7 – don’t neglect the subject line.

Make sure when you’re crafting an email marketing campaign that you don’t neglect the subject line! It needs to be three things: Relevant. Compelling. Non-spammy.

Don’t bother with things like “November 2014”… think about what would make you want to open this email rather than hit “delete”…

Our current preferred email marketing program is MailChimp, we find it easy to use and it has a fantastic “Forever Free” plan which allows you to send 12,000 emails per month to a database of up to 2000 subscribers. There are other products out there which are also good, such as AWeber. Based in Geelong, we provide email marketing integration with our WordPress websites, MailChimp account set-up, template branding, training and eNewsletter writing and despatching. Contact us to find out how we can help your business send effective email marketing campaigns!

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