7 Tips for Crafting an Effective Email Marketing Campaign
Published on June 13, 2022
There are many ways to market your business online, but one of the most powerful and direct channels for promoting your products and services is through an email marketing campaign. Email marketing campaigns allow you to reach thousands of people at once, and typically don’t require a lot of time to put together although, the design and messaging are critical components that play a significant role in their success.
When you start a business directory and coupon website with Ideal Directories, you’re provided with a variety of sample marketing materials that you can use within your marketing strategy. But, it is up to you to determine what outlets you want to use to spread the word about your business directory website. If you’re currently using email marketing or are interested in including this method into your marketing plan, there are a few key email features that can help you maximize their effectiveness.
In this article, we’ll review seven proven tips that will help you craft the perfect email marketing campaign to boost your sales, build your brand, and help you stand out from the competition.
1. Identify Your Audience
Before you begin crafting your email marketing campaign, you have to first identify the recipients of your email. Depending on the business, you may have one or more audiences that you want to reach. For email marketing campaigns, it's important to gear your messaging towards your intended audience.
For example, if you’re running a directory website, you may use email marketing to reach both local consumers and small business owners. When using email marketing to communicate with local consumers your focus will likely be on driving traffic to your site to get more exposure for your advertisers. However, if you are using email to reach potential advertisers, your message should be focused on highlighting the benefits of a directory listing and push them to the sign up page.
Once you’ve figured out who you want to connect with, consider some of the following elements when crafting your email marketing campaign.
2. Craft an Engaging Subject Line
With any marketing technique, it's important to understand your audience and the type of content they might want to receive. Furthermore, you want to select a subject line that is compelling enough to peak the interest of your mailing list. It should be clear why people would want to open up your email and see what you have to offer.
A strong email subject line is what often inspires people to open or delete an email. For this reason, put some time and thought into what you want the subject of your email to say. Remember to keep it brief and to the point. Avoid using too many filler words that aren’t necessary. To help your email stand out, consider adding a visual element to your subject line by including emojis or special punctuation such as an explanation mark. Since email marketing is a prominent strategy that many businesses use, our inboxes are often inundated with messages so adding these types of special characters along with a catchy subject line should help increase the chances of your email being opened.
3. Keep it Short and Simple
Sure, email marketing is definitely effective. But if you send an email with too much content, too many links or images, it can be counterproductive. Because we’re surrounded with information in every aspect of our lives, the reality is that many people won’t read your entire email.
The length of an email campaign will vary depending on your industry and target audience. For most business professionals, a standard email is between 150-250 words. You want to keep your emails short, sweet and to the point so that readers don’t feel overwhelmed by your content and can gather the important points within a few seconds of opening the email.
When crafting email marketing campaigns, try using the following to format your messages:
Using this format will help ensure your emails aren't overstuffed with information and that readers take away what they need from it without feeling bogged down by a lot of content that doesn't have much meaning to them.
4. Provide Useful Content
In order for your email marketing campaign to be successful, it needs to grab the attention of your audience and work as hard as possible to keep it once opened. To support this effort, you want your content to be meaningful and relevant to your reader. If you are sending out a marketing email, you need to have a carefully crafted message that fits into your overall marketing strategy. It needs to provide value for your customers and drive them to take action on it. Give them information that will persuade them that they need or want what you are offering. And, keep in mind to put relevant and timely details in the “prime real estate” section of your emails.
When you’re marketing to different audiences, you have to craft messages with that group in mind. Email campaigns could have a completely different or similar theme that is tailored for a specific target market. For instance, everyone loves a good deal. So when creating email campaigns to promote your directory website business, you may develop an email campaign that features coupons and deals of your advertisers that you send to your list of local consumers. On the other hand, you may want to send out an email about a promotion you’re running to local business owners to get them to purchase a business listing or advertising space on your site. In both instances, the information is beneficial to the respective audiences.
5. Personalize Your Messages
It’s easy to get comfortable and stick to one email template or format, but this could get stale and predictable which could play into the effectiveness of your email campaigns. Instead, try to use a combination of different layouts, images, gifs, and text to get your point across. Play off of your brand and the personality of your business to take some chances with super visual and fun emails. Not only that, you can also personalize messages to further prompt readers to open the campaigns you send.
In one University of California study, individualized emails doubled the likelihood that a recipient would read and act on the message—that’s huge! So instead of sending out marketing emails to anyone who might be interested in your products or services, start targeting messages at specific individuals. Once you have their email address, personalize your message by addressing the recipient by their first name and showing them why they should be interested in what you have to say. If someone is already engaged with your business (like if they’ve already purchased from you), use targeted messages to get them excited about a new promotion, product or service you’re offering.
6. Include a Call to Action
An important thing to remember when creating a campaign is that you should always include a call to action (CTA). After all, you’re using marketing emails to engage current and prospective customers, so it’s vital that your message has a clear objective.
The stronger and more powerful your call to action, the better chance you have of getting people to act. When crafting an email marketing campaign, think carefully about what it is you want readers to do. Marketers will use different words depending on how they want their audience to respond, but usually calls-to-action fall into two categories: conversion and engagement.
Phrases such as “sign up,” “save now”, “learn more,” or “get started” are trigger words that indicate an action you want the reader to take. Upon taking action, the next step in the process should be clear and they should know what to expect such as, they are brought to a landing page on your directory website or prompted to fill out information to be added to your mailing list. In addition to providing value through your content and ending with a call to action, don’t forget that tone is key—your goal is not just getting someone to act but also building relationships in which they will trust you enough to listen when you do need their business.
7. Test and Review Engagement
As a general rule of thumb, take time to test emails for effectiveness. Ultimately you are sending emails to drive people to whatever goal you have (such as driving traffic to your directory website or prompting local business owners to buy a business listing). Make sure your emails get results by asking yourself after each campaign if they got what you wanted them to.
Many email marketing platforms such as MailChimp, Constant Contact, and Drip provide detailed reports following the distribution of an email campaign. It tracks how your database engaged with the email and the actions they took from opens to click rates. The more you can analyze and understand this type of data, the better you’ll be at crafting email marketing campaigns that will get noticed and opened.
Make Email Marketing Campaigns Work For Your Business Directory Website
Overall, well-designed marketing emails can increase sales, drive web traffic and build brand awareness. In order for your email marketing campaign to be effective, it needs to grab and keep the attention of your audience once opened. If you want your email marketing campaigns to be impactful, take these seven things into consideration and you’ll put yourself ahead of most small businesses in terms of effective digital marketing strategies!
If you’re interested in starting your own business, email marketing is just one of the many exciting and creative elements of running a directory business. Learn how to start a business directory website for your town or city with Ideal Directories. Let’s get started!
There are many ways to market your business online, but one of the most powerful and direct channels for promoting your products and services is through an email marketing campaign. Email marketing campaigns allow you to reach thousands of people at once, and typically don’t require a lot of time to put together although, the design and messaging are critical components that play a significant role in their success.
When you start a business directory and coupon website with Ideal Directories, you’re provided with a variety of sample marketing materials that you can use within your marketing strategy. But, it is up to you to determine what outlets you want to use to spread the word about your business directory website. If you’re currently using email marketing or are interested in including this method into your marketing plan, there are a few key email features that can help you maximize their effectiveness.
In this article, we’ll review seven proven tips that will help you craft the perfect email marketing campaign to boost your sales, build your brand, and help you stand out from the competition.
1. Identify Your Audience
Before you begin crafting your email marketing campaign, you have to first identify the recipients of your email. Depending on the business, you may have one or more audiences that you want to reach. For email marketing campaigns, it's important to gear your messaging towards your intended audience.
For example, if you’re running a directory website, you may use email marketing to reach both local consumers and small business owners. When using email marketing to communicate with local consumers your focus will likely be on driving traffic to your site to get more exposure for your advertisers. However, if you are using email to reach potential advertisers, your message should be focused on highlighting the benefits of a directory listing and push them to the sign up page.
Once you’ve figured out who you want to connect with, consider some of the following elements when crafting your email marketing campaign.
2. Craft an Engaging Subject Line
With any marketing technique, it's important to understand your audience and the type of content they might want to receive. Furthermore, you want to select a subject line that is compelling enough to peak the interest of your mailing list. It should be clear why people would want to open up your email and see what you have to offer.
A strong email subject line is what often inspires people to open or delete an email. For this reason, put some time and thought into what you want the subject of your email to say. Remember to keep it brief and to the point. Avoid using too many filler words that aren’t necessary. To help your email stand out, consider adding a visual element to your subject line by including emojis or special punctuation such as an explanation mark. Since email marketing is a prominent strategy that many businesses use, our inboxes are often inundated with messages so adding these types of special characters along with a catchy subject line should help increase the chances of your email being opened.
3. Keep it Short and Simple
Sure, email marketing is definitely effective. But if you send an email with too much content, too many links or images, it can be counterproductive. Because we’re surrounded with information in every aspect of our lives, the reality is that many people won’t read your entire email.
The length of an email campaign will vary depending on your industry and target audience. For most business professionals, a standard email is between 150-250 words. You want to keep your emails short, sweet and to the point so that readers don’t feel overwhelmed by your content and can gather the important points within a few seconds of opening the email.
When crafting email marketing campaigns, try using the following to format your messages:
- 1-2 calls to action - Include a button or link for viewers to easily click on.
- 2-3 key pieces of information - Clearly state the main points of your message.
- 3-4 links or photos - People often respond well and have an easier time remembering information with visual cues or links to reference.
Using this format will help ensure your emails aren't overstuffed with information and that readers take away what they need from it without feeling bogged down by a lot of content that doesn't have much meaning to them.
4. Provide Useful Content
In order for your email marketing campaign to be successful, it needs to grab the attention of your audience and work as hard as possible to keep it once opened. To support this effort, you want your content to be meaningful and relevant to your reader. If you are sending out a marketing email, you need to have a carefully crafted message that fits into your overall marketing strategy. It needs to provide value for your customers and drive them to take action on it. Give them information that will persuade them that they need or want what you are offering. And, keep in mind to put relevant and timely details in the “prime real estate” section of your emails.
When you’re marketing to different audiences, you have to craft messages with that group in mind. Email campaigns could have a completely different or similar theme that is tailored for a specific target market. For instance, everyone loves a good deal. So when creating email campaigns to promote your directory website business, you may develop an email campaign that features coupons and deals of your advertisers that you send to your list of local consumers. On the other hand, you may want to send out an email about a promotion you’re running to local business owners to get them to purchase a business listing or advertising space on your site. In both instances, the information is beneficial to the respective audiences.
5. Personalize Your Messages
It’s easy to get comfortable and stick to one email template or format, but this could get stale and predictable which could play into the effectiveness of your email campaigns. Instead, try to use a combination of different layouts, images, gifs, and text to get your point across. Play off of your brand and the personality of your business to take some chances with super visual and fun emails. Not only that, you can also personalize messages to further prompt readers to open the campaigns you send.
In one University of California study, individualized emails doubled the likelihood that a recipient would read and act on the message—that’s huge! So instead of sending out marketing emails to anyone who might be interested in your products or services, start targeting messages at specific individuals. Once you have their email address, personalize your message by addressing the recipient by their first name and showing them why they should be interested in what you have to say. If someone is already engaged with your business (like if they’ve already purchased from you), use targeted messages to get them excited about a new promotion, product or service you’re offering.
6. Include a Call to Action
An important thing to remember when creating a campaign is that you should always include a call to action (CTA). After all, you’re using marketing emails to engage current and prospective customers, so it’s vital that your message has a clear objective.
The stronger and more powerful your call to action, the better chance you have of getting people to act. When crafting an email marketing campaign, think carefully about what it is you want readers to do. Marketers will use different words depending on how they want their audience to respond, but usually calls-to-action fall into two categories: conversion and engagement.
Phrases such as “sign up,” “save now”, “learn more,” or “get started” are trigger words that indicate an action you want the reader to take. Upon taking action, the next step in the process should be clear and they should know what to expect such as, they are brought to a landing page on your directory website or prompted to fill out information to be added to your mailing list. In addition to providing value through your content and ending with a call to action, don’t forget that tone is key—your goal is not just getting someone to act but also building relationships in which they will trust you enough to listen when you do need their business.
7. Test and Review Engagement
As a general rule of thumb, take time to test emails for effectiveness. Ultimately you are sending emails to drive people to whatever goal you have (such as driving traffic to your directory website or prompting local business owners to buy a business listing). Make sure your emails get results by asking yourself after each campaign if they got what you wanted them to.
Many email marketing platforms such as MailChimp, Constant Contact, and Drip provide detailed reports following the distribution of an email campaign. It tracks how your database engaged with the email and the actions they took from opens to click rates. The more you can analyze and understand this type of data, the better you’ll be at crafting email marketing campaigns that will get noticed and opened.
Make Email Marketing Campaigns Work For Your Business Directory Website
Overall, well-designed marketing emails can increase sales, drive web traffic and build brand awareness. In order for your email marketing campaign to be effective, it needs to grab and keep the attention of your audience once opened. If you want your email marketing campaigns to be impactful, take these seven things into consideration and you’ll put yourself ahead of most small businesses in terms of effective digital marketing strategies!
If you’re interested in starting your own business, email marketing is just one of the many exciting and creative elements of running a directory business. Learn how to start a business directory website for your town or city with Ideal Directories. Let’s get started!
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