If you really want to see your business grow, you need an email blast marketing campaign. Here’s your guide to why you need it and how to get started.
Is your business taking advantage of the power of email marketing?
Dollar for dollar, email marketing is one of the most powerful digital marketing channels out there. Its ROI is staggering.
The great thing about email is
- It’s not that hard to get started
- The results are easy to track and quantify
If your business isn’t taking full advantage of email, you’re missing out. Keep reading for an in-depth look at how to start using email blast marketing to grow your business.
What Is Email Marketing?
Like the name implies, email marketing is the use of email to market your products or services to both potential and current customers.
The catch with email is that you can’t blast your message out to just anyone. With social media or website content, you’re essentially putting your message out there for all to see and hoping some viewers will be interested in what you’ve got to say.
No so with email. Subscribers have chosen to receive emails from your brand, so you know they at least have some interest in you and your message.
The Value of Email
The fact that email recipients have chosen to receive messages from you is a big part of what makes email marketing so valuable and powerful. The fact that email is still so widely used–even after all these years–is hard to deny too.
What could you achieve with a list of potential customers that want to hear from?
That’s what makes email so powerful.
Like I pointed out above, email has a very high ROI. Many marketers are seeing returns of 38 to 1 with email blasts. No other marketing channel stands a chance next to numbers like those.
Another valuable aspect of email is that you own the list. Unlike social media where you’re operating in someone else’s space, you own the names on your email list and can do what you want with them.
How to Get Started With Email Blast Marketing
Email marketing isn’t hard to do. Once you have your processes set up and running, it’s just a matter of maintaining your subscriber list and sending emails when appropriate.
If you want, you can even automate most of your email sends.
Growing Your List
Before you send your first email, you’ll need someone to send to.
While buying a list might once have been an option, it’s not a good idea and could place you in direct violation of some country’s rules about data collection and communication.
A better way to grow your list is to offer potential subscribers something of value in exchange for their email address.
Retailers or e-commerce stores could give a discount or even a free product to subscribers. Bloggers or news and information outlets could give away some premium content or training. What you should give away will depend largely on what your business sells and what might be most attractive to potential customers.
This type of offer is often referred to as a lead magnet and can be very effective when done right.
Picking a Provider
Before you start collecting email addresses, you’ll need to pick an email service provider.
There are a ton of options out there. Some email service providers are great for smaller businesses, and some are much better suited to big organizations with large lists and a high email volume.
For businesses just getting into email marketing, it’s hard to go wrong with the simplicity and value of a provider like MailChimp. Another great option is Sendgrid. You can integrate your email software into an automation platform like Tray and grow your business even further
When shopping for an email provider, be sure to keep your needs in mind and be aware of how you’ll use the platform.
Automate It
Once you have a provider and have started to build a list, it’s time to begin automating your email marketing. You can start by setting up a simple sequence that will send your lead magnet to new subscribers.
When you’ve got a little more experience under your belt, try moving on to more complex sequences that trigger based on buying behavior or interaction with other emails you’ve sent.
Segmentation
After you’ve added a few people to your list, it’s time to start segmenting. It costs money and takes time to send emails, so it doesn’t really make sense to send every message to your entire list.
Try using the tools built into your email service provider to send to only a portion of your list–also known as a segment. This allows you to better target subscribers who you know are more likely to buy a particular product or appreciate a specific offer.
Segmentation helps you make email blasts more personal, something that will really resonate with subscribers.
Tracking Your Results
One of the really cool things about email is how easily you can track and monitor results.
Anytime you send an email, take a look at how many people are opening and what they’re clicking on. It’s also important to track whether or not subscribers make it all the way through the buying process–if you’re promoting a product or service.
If no one is opening or clicking on your emails, you’ve got a problem. But, if there’s something that lots of subscribers opened or interacted with, you know you’re onto something.
Putting It All Together
Email blast marketing is a truly powerful tool.
Whatever industry you’re in, it’s hard to go wrong with email. The ROI is incredible and the control you have is tough to beat. But, it’s the personal nature and ubiquity of email that truly makes email marketing powerful.
Want to learn more about the power of digital marketing? Check out more of our marketing articles.
