While content is king and social is the new platform, nothing replaces your email list for online marketing revenue. How do you take advantage of this essential marketing ingredient? Here’s the simple recipe for email marketing success.
First, create an irresistible lead magnet. Study your audience carefully. Consider your personas. Get to know your community. What are their biggest concerns? What do they wonder? What makes them feel successful? Take those answers and create a simple one-page tool, resource, or cheat-sheet that solves their problem. That is your lead magnet.
To be most effective, use your lead magnet to pre-qualify your opt-ins. Make it on a subject or action related to your service or industry. Successful lead magnets are fast to make (it should cost you little to publish) and easy to use (it makes the consumer feel successful or more knowledgeable immediately). And if it seems like valuable information, your consumer is more likely to share it, growing your community.
Next, create a simple landing page. This is where your audience will opt-in to your email list and obtain your lead magnet. As the one place you use to grow your email list, this is one of the most important pages you’ll create on your website. Make it clean with clear, simple text describing what you are offering and why they need it. Eliminate any other distractions to your reader – there should be no sidebars, advertisements, or secondary calls to action. You want the bold button to compel the reader to subscribe now.
Create interest in your lead magnet often. You should publicize this landing page and special offer every chance you get. Put a graphic on your website’s sidebar. Talk about it on social media. Advertise it on Facebook and Google AdWords. Mention it at the bottom of blog posts. Don’t stop mentioning this special offer and using it to grow your email list.
Now that you are growing your list, it is time to create your email marketing strategy. Keep your audience happy and minimize unsubscribes with high-quality email campaigns. The majority of your emails should provide information and special offers of value to your audience so they eagerly anticipate your next email. Daily requests to buy now are tedious and lead to the spam folder or unsubscribe link. Avoid this with regular tips, compelling content, and special offers just for subscribers. This keeps your emails valuable to your audience.
For each email, create a compelling marketing tool. First, consider your email subject line. Is it bold, compelling, and unique? Use the word “you” to personalize the message at first glance. Make the subject line so closely tied with your audience’s concerns and goals that they can’t help but open your email to read more.
Inside the email, design the message around one clear call to action. What do you want the reader to do with this email? Possible actions could be share the email content with a friend, post the email article on social media, download a free report, or purchase a product. Make sure you are clear on your desired outcome, then design from there.
Keep your email simple. Today’s busy consumer wants to scan the email for just a second and immediately understand what you are saying. Use a bold image, large headings, and simple sentences to quickly communicate your message. Don’t bog the reader down with a lot of text – keep it short and simple.
Above all, create a consistent tone for your email campaign. When your readers see your email address in their inbox, do they immediately know what to expect? By strategizing carefully around your email marketing campaigns and taking care in each email construction, you build a relationship of trust with your readers. Later, when you call on your audience to purchase, then, they will be ready to take you at your word.
Finally, continue to reevaluate your email marketing strategy. Create more lead magnets and landing pages to appeal to different segments of your market. Study the responsiveness of your past emails to uncover patterns in your users and what motivates them most. Split test landing pages and emails to find your community’s preferences in wording, style, and color. And always keep a close eye out for email marketing mistakes that may creep into your campaigns.
Ready to take your email marketing to the next level? Need help instituting an email marketing strategy that converts? We’re here to help. Let Zen Media’s email marketing experts work for you today.
