Email Marketing

How to Get Started with Email Marketing

By Tayler Cusick Hollman

Tips to help you create an effective email marketing strategy

When it comes to ways you can market your business using technology, email marketing is an incredibly effective tool. Because, in addition to almost everyone having an email address, it is a way for you to start conversations, share timely information, and build a relationship with people who might be interested in your services. The thing is (and just like everything else when it comes to marketing), you have to have a strategy set before hitting send on your first newsletter. So today, we wanted to help you understand what you need to plan and document after you’ve decided to add this is something you want to do. Read on to learn how to create an email marketing strategy and then put your plan into motion!

 

(As always) it starts with a goal

Setting goals for your business is about more than just giving yourself direction—goals help you understand what you need to do in order to stay on track and keep forward momentum. So, just like you may have heard us stress the importance of setting goals for your marketing plan and social media efforts, having clear goals for what you want to accomplish with email marketing is no different. And, when it comes to common goals wedding pros and business owners might have, here are a few you can consider setting course with: 

Goal #1 – Nurture potential leads There is an unofficial rule in marketing that someone needs to see you seven times before they decide to buy or inquire. So, even if someone finds your Storefront and loves what they see, there is a chance you’ll need to nurture them a bit more before they become a lead. Email marketing can help you do this by giving them more information or pointing them back to places like your Storefront in order to hit “inquire.”

Goal #2 – Stay top of mind In addition to wanting to stay top of mind with potential clients, it is also a good idea to keep in touch with previous clients! The goal here being that you want them to remember enough (and be reminded of how good you are at your job) to refer you to their network. So, sending regular newsletters or having an automated sequence can become a part of your off-boarding process in order to help you do that.

Goal #3 – Increase traffic to your website Who doesn’t like this one?! While your Storefronts are a great marketing channel for introducing you to potential clients and getting them to visit your website for the first time, if you want to bring people back to your website, sending regular email newsletters when you publish new blog posts or have announcements is a great tactic.

 

Figure out how you are going to build your email list 

Once you have thought about and documented your goals, the next (and very important) step in creating your email marketing strategy is to make a plan to build your email list. If you read our previous piece about email marketing, you might remember reading that this is not a situation of, “If you build it, they will come.” Rather, it is just the opposite and requires thought, strategy, and consistent execution in order to build a robust list. And, there are three keys to successfully doing so:

Key #1 Know who you want to talk to When you are building an email list, it is very important to do so with people who are going to be excited to see (and open) and email from you. And, industry-wide, most wedding pros want to be talking to newly engaged couples. But, do you want any and every newly engaged couple or ones who are planning a wedding in your service area?   

Key #2 Create an offer After you have put parameters around the audience you want to build, the next step is to create an offer that will incentivize them to sign up for your email list. This is where lead magnets (aka free content someone receives after signing up) comes into play. The important thing to do here is to create something that is very relevant to them. For example, a wedding planning checklist does have value for most engaged couples, but what does it do to really get them thinking that you are the right person for the job? Make your lead magnets hyper local to what exactly it is you do and where it is you do it.

Key #3 Make it easy to sign up This sounds commonsensical but you would be surprised! When you create an email opt-in form, be sure to put it somewhere that is not buried on your website. Your website footer or a content block just before it is a standard (and effective) place to put it. In addition, you can set yourself up for real success if you also put a form (and only that form) on a landing page that you can share and link to on places like Pinterest and social media bios.

 

Pro-tip: Want to take it to the next level? Create different segments in your list so you can move people from something like a sales series to an off-boarding campaign as your relationship with them changes. This allows you to send them relevant content.

 

Map out your content strategy

The last thing you need to do in order to create your email marketing strategy is map out your content. And, whether you are considering creating an automated sequence or sending regular newsletters (or both!), you can do yourself a huge favor by outlining what you need to design and write before sitting down to a blank screen. Have no idea where to start? Here is something you can work off of to create an automated sales sequence!

• A welcome email that includes an introduction of yourself, thanks them for signing up, and delivers your lead magnet
• An email where you talk about the biggest problem your clients have and why they come to you to solve it
• An email that outlines the ways you can help and/or your most popular services
• An email that gets them to look at your portfolio and reviews on your Storefront(s) and encourages them to inquire

Pro-tip: Creating content themes that are organized by the time of the year or your sales cycle can help you create and send timely email newsletters.

 

 

Photo Credit: JKstock/Shutterstock.com