Email Marketing Best Practices For A Wildly Successful Email Newsletter

email marketing

If you’re including email marketing as part of your communications mix, you’ll know that 8 out of 10 emails you receive are utter rubbish! This article explains how to craft one of the 2 out 10 emails that people actually want to open, read and share. The secret is to obsess on your audience, not your sales. That’s like 50% of the recipe for successful emails. What about the other 50% of the recipe?

Deliver on your promise.

What does the audience you’re trying to attract want? Figure it out and give it to them. Keep in mind that people sign up wanting specific information you’ve promised. Deliver on that promise. It’s tempting to wander into random topics when you’re sending 52+ emails every year. Avoid the temptation and stick to your promised topic. Doing so will position you to be known for something specific (an expert, specialist, leader, part of a passionate community, lover of something, or whatever position is fitting).

Write emails like a human.

Your audience is full of real people. This is true even if you’re targeting Fortune 100 B2B companies. Humans are on the other end of your email and they don’t want to read boring jargon or a barrage of sales copy any more than you. Write like you’re having a conversation with these people. I’m a major advocate of the idea that email should be casual if you want to build a relationship with the people on the other end.

Send the best damn email in the world.

Writing in a casual and approachable style doesn’t mean you’re not providing value. On the contrary, being approachable should help you be more entertaining which leads to deeper engagement. Your goal is to deliver the best email your audience receives about your subject of expertise or focus. I’m not kidding. This is your actual goal.

My email list is growing and I get business from people on my list because I obsess on providing value every single week. I don’t have to sell. I don’t have to beg for work. I showcase my expertise and genuinely want to help people on my list. I promise that if you obsess on value you will see a huge return from your email efforts.

But when and how often should you send your email newsletter?

This aspect of email marketing varies for the person or brand. Some like varying the send frequency and day of sending but I find scheduling a day and keeping to that deadline to work best for me to get that email out. And through helping a lot of companies launch and execute email marketing programs, I’ve found most people and brands are like me. They need accountability to ensure execution. If you’re in this boat, decide when you’ll send your email, tell everyone on your acquisition page when to expect it, and force yourself to live up to the promise.

The verdict, do what works for you. Start with a scheduled day to force yourself into a habit and then adapt as you get comfortable. The one universal truth is that you must send an email every week. I don’t believe it’s possible to build consumption habits on a bi-weekly, monthly, or quarterly email. You have to become more involved with your community if you want your email to be truly valued.

You can’t experience email marketing fame and fortune until you start sending emails.

There are many reasons to not get started with email marketing. From thinking being too busy to worrying about talking to an empty room. I’m now 100’s of emails into my marketing of the Drakensberg and I realize just how valuable the time spent crafting emails is for my business. Not to mention, I love it.

Conclusion

I won’t lie, getting your email marketing up and running will require work. You’ll be fighting small list syndrome while trying to find your voice. The good news is that it’s well worth the effort and early frustrations. Keep showing up every single week with value for your little corner of the world and it will pay off for your business. Happy emailing.

Comments

Leave a Reply

You might also enjoy