Leverage Email To Build Your Brand

Your email list is one of your biggest assets as a business. Email marketing gives you a direct line to your audience, without worrying about pesky algorithms or advertising fees. Unlike social media platforms, you own your list, which means that it grows with your business. As such, your email list is a valuable tool and can be leveraged to increase your sales and improve your brand identity.

That said, it’s important to follow email marketing best practices to make the most of your list. Spam-filled emails that don’t follow best practices are quickly deleted, lose subscribers, and could even be blacklisted. It’s not difficult to build an email marketing strategy based on best practices; it simply requires following a few simple rules.

Focus on quality, not quantity

It can be easy to get caught up in list growth as a primary tactic for building your business. It is, after all, important to expand your brand and reach new potential customers. However, a large list with little engagement is worth far less than a small list with massive engagement. To effectively use your list, you should add to its numbers while also creating compelling email campaigns for current subscribers.

There are many ways to do this. The most popular way to build your list is by offering something in exchange for an email address. This could be a discount, a free download, a video series, etc. By providing value up front, you’re initiating a relationship with your new subscriber based on value and quality. Carrying this on into the emails that follow, remember that your subscriber is an actual person. Ask questions within your emails and engage in a dialogue. Instead of sending the initial promised value and ghosting, make sure you send regular emails so your subscriber can expect to see you in their inbox.

Provide value when using Email Marketing

These days, email inboxes are overrun. Most people are inundated with sales emails, and most of these make their way to the trash bin (or worse, the spam box) quickly. To avoid this, focus on a combination of value and sales topics within your email. Create content that is intriguing and eye-opening, rather than simply pushing a product or service onto your subscriber.

Not sure what content to create? Your audience (the same people who are subscribed to your list) is a vast resource. Use them to conduct market research, so you can create content and paid products/services that line up with what they need most. In doing this, you make your audience feel as though they are part of the process, not just an observer being bombarded with content.

Always have a CTA within your emails

A CTA, or call-to-action, tells your subscriber what to do with the information in your email. It may be to purchase a product, to respond to the sender, to visit a website or view a video, etc. There are endless options. Try to focus on providing your audience with a single CTA per email, and base your CTA around the action you most want your subscriber to take. This will help you streamline the message of your email, and make it easy for the subscriber to act.

Don’t be spammy to your subscribers

Your subscribers gave you their email address for a reason. There’s a good chance it wasn’t to be bombarded with emails constantly, especially emails that are only selling. Think about your own inbox and which emails you look forward to receiving. Respect the emails you have, and never sell them, distribute them, or abuse them.

Keep your audience in mind

When someone opts into your list, they typically do so through a generic sign-up form or to receive a free download, discount, or some other introductory offer (often referred to as an “opt-in” or a “lead magnet”). By taking the time to understand your audience’s frustrations, needs, and desires, as well as what encouraged them to sign up in the first place, you can tailor content to their specific needs.

As mentioned previously, you can use your subscribers to conduct market research. Paying attention to how they respond to your emails is a great way to keep your finger on the pulse of their needs. Over time, their frustrations and desires may shift, and you can shift your content accordingly. If you don’t have a particularly active list, it’s worth spending some time re-engaging them with high quality content and plenty of questions.

Be vigilant: Email marketing is a long game

As you implement these best practices, remember to be vigilant. Email marketing is not a bringer of overnight success. Rather, it’s a strategy that allows you to build sustainable over a period of time. In following these best practices you’ll build a loyal audience who is more than willing to buy your product or service. Email Marketing is an important factor when building a successful digital marketing campaign.