Marketing techniques are constantly evolving - what was once considered effective may not be current with today's best practices and customer demands. Businesses that choose to ignore these changing trends by not updating their marketing strategies are not in tune with their customers. For small-business owners, this can mean the difference between marketing success and marketing failure.
The Move to Email Marketing
An important trend in marketing today is e-mail marketing. Telemarketing, once a top choice for many companies, is being phased out worldwide, as many countries pass "Do Not Call" legislation. E-mail marketing is an increasingly important part of the marketing tool box for smallbusinesses, because it is a proven method to level the playing field between them and their larger competitors. Surveys have shown that e-mail marketing earns the highest return on investment over search engine marketing and direct mail. One important advantage of e-mail marketing is its measurability. For companies whose
marketing budgets are small, it is necessary to ensure that all funding is spent on campaigns that can be proven effective. The most popular metrics are:
- Number of successfully delivered emails (delivery rate)
- Number of opened emails (open rate)
- Number of recipients who responded to the email ("click-throughs")
- Number of recipients who unsubscribed (unsubscribes)
Know Your Audience
To make an e-mail campaign effective, you must understand what your audience truly wants and needs, not simply what you would like to tell them. Many marketers mistakenly make their message too broad, thinking that it will help them reach
a wider audience. The truth is the more specifically you target your audience, the more they will relate to your message. The easiest way to learn these details is by asking relevant questions on your sign-up page.
Don't Let Your First Impression Be Your Last
Even the most carefully thought-out e-mail content will go to waste if the subject line doesn't persuade recipients to open the e-mail. Your subject line is the first part of your marketing campaign that your audience sees, yet, more often than not, it is the least creative aspect of the entire campaign. The best subject lines are short, mention your brand name and create interest in the content. The subject line should answer the "what's in it for me" question for the recipient.
Make It Memorable
Just as your subject line should speak to your audience directly, your content should answer the most important question the reader has: "Why should I care?"
Make your content memorable. Each e-mail should deliver something useful to your audience, be it details about an upcoming promotion or information they would find interesting or entertaining.
An important key to e-mail marketing success is keeping your message short. If you have a lot to say, give a brief overview of the most interesting and relevant points, and then direct readers to your Website for more information. Determine what you want your audience to walk away with or do after reading your e-mail, and end your e-mail with a "Call To Action" that will prompt them to do something.
Done correctly, email marketing can be the greatest return on your investment!
