#12 in Our 20 for 20 Series
How to Create Effective Email Marketing Content
What makes great content in email marketing?
Welcome to 20 for 20, where we share our 20 best tips for email marketing and business to celebrate our 20th anniversary.
Today we’re going to talk about what makes for great content.
Let’s start here: You want to send an email to your current and prospective customers, but what are you going to tell them? Is it what they really want or need to hear? And most importantly, will your content keep them coming back for more, email after email?
The first step in evaluating your email marketing content strategy is to define your overall email marketing objectives. Are you trying to sell more products? Establish your brand or company as an industry leader or authority? Knowing your end goal will help you create a content strategy for an entire year or longer.
The next step is to really understand your audience. What resonates with them? What relationship do they have with your brand and products? How often do they need your product or service? Let’s say, for example, that your audience only buys on average every two years. In this case, providing valuable content in between purchases is going to keep them engaged—over continuously asking them to make a purchase when they don’t yet need your product/service. If you have a value add strategy, it will keep your brand top of mind. If you don’t, you’re going to suffer from unsubscribes.
At Email Broadcast, we believe in the power of give, give, ask with our messaging. If you’re always asking for a sale, you’ll lose your audience. But if you give them valuable information twice as often as you’re asking them to buy, you’re more likely to increase conversion rates in the long run. Don’t be short sighted—think long term.
What does this value-adding content look like? Our 20 for 20 campaign is a perfect example. We’re giving you our 20 best email marketing and business tips. For FREE. Think about who your audience is and what they want in life from you…and give them something of value. Educate them. Entertain them. Give them a behind-the-scenes look. Get creative.
Of course, we do believe in the power of promotional marketing, which is especially important to our retail and ecommerce clients. Even in these cases, however, it’s important to provide valuable information and “give” to these customers. If you’re thinking, “Hey, a sale is offering value,” think again. Really it’s value for you, not for your audience. This isn’t always the case, but if you’re constantly having sales, you’re really not adding value. However, if you’ve been “give, give, giving” and then you finally have that half-yearly sale, you can expect a great response because your audience engagement is already HIGH. Plus, you’ve been very generous with your content and the audience will look to reciprocate with a purchase.
One of the ways we like to add value is to give something away for every 20 for 20, and today’s winner is Oleg. Congratulations Oleg, you just won a sweet Crank Radio so you can get valuable content even during emergencies and power outages. Contact us to claim your prize.
If you’re interested in discussing how we can help you create a content strategy that will help drive big results, the first step is to book a free 20-minute consultation to see if we might be a good fit for you.
Be sure to stay tuned for next time when we answer this question: Is it possible to have an outstanding, profitable email marketing campaign that runs 24/7 without you?
In the meantime, be sure to sign up for our 20 for 20 campaign if you haven’t done so already.
