THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO EMAIL MARKETING

[Pages:43]?

THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO EMAIL MARKETING

EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET STARTED.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Welcome

1

01. Email Marketing 101

2

02. Plan an Email Strategy

5

03. Grow Your Email List

7

04. Write Engaging Email Content

15

05. Design Beautiful Emails

22

06. Schedule and Send Emails

26

07. Advanced Email Automation

29

08. Analyze and Improve Emails

31

Conclusion

40

WELCOME

Email marketing doesn't have to be intimidating. You just have to know how to do it right. This guide covers everything from planning an email marketing strategy to growing your email list to optimizing your emails for success. If you're brand new to email marketing (or just looking to give your campaigns a boost), this guide will help you get started and attain the results you actually want. We've tapped into real-world examples to give you inspiration and even asked our industry friends to share their tips for email marketing success. Create real connections with your community through email and grow your business in the process with The Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing.

1

EMAIL MARKETING 101

When you sign up to receive email newsletters from your favorite blog or email updates from your favorite store, you're giving that person or business permission to send you emails. And it's the email sender's responsibility to give you what you signed up for; whether it's an email newsletter or a limited-time sale.

As you receive those emails, you might notice that you grow more attached to the brand, engage with their content and maybe buy a product or two.

When all of that happens ? relationship building, customer nurturing and business growing ? that's email marketing.

?It's not about sending spammy messages or buying email lists. And it's more than simply sending commercial emails to others. Email marketing is about making real connections with people who want to hear from you. It's about communicating with multiple people at one time (in a way that feels like a 1:1 conversation), building relationships and growing your brand as a result.

Grow your business with email

For many small business owners, bloggers and entrepreneurs, managing the daily operations of a brand is a full-time, borderline

2

24/7 job. While you may try playing the Jack of all Trades, you've probably encountered a few (or many) times where it's felt like there's never enough time to do it all.

Juggling all of those responsibilities often causes certain things to fall to the wayside, like marketing or building an audience. You're already struggling with managing the "essential" tasks, how could you possibly add another thing to your to-do list?

With email marketing, however, promoting your business and connecting with your audience becomes a whole lot easier ? and that's only a snapshot of the bigger email marketing picture.

Now, you may have heard that email was declared "dead" just a few years ago.

With the rise of social media, many assumed it had become irrelevant ? and therefore ready to join the resting places of hasbeen marketing tactics like phone books and telemarketing.

But we were proved wrong. As creating educational content to engage and build relationships with customers became the cornerstone for every blogger and business, email evolved with it.

Today, email marketing is one of the most effective ways to not only communicate with an audience, but to build your brand as well.

Just look at the benefits.

Email marketing delivers a return of 4,300 percent (!). Plus, it's more cost-effective than other forms of marketing. And it frees up your time so you can get back to running your business. Best of all?

3

Consumers love it.

The stats don't lie:

?Almost a third of consumers prefer to receive communication from brands via email. ?66 percent of consumers have made a purchase online as a result of an email marketing message. ?138 percent more is spent by consumers who receive email offers than those who don't

Aside from the opportunities to grow your business, email marketing can also help build a community of loyal customers.

Imagine this scenario for a moment: A bright eyed-individual is exploring your website. She looks around a few pages, but leaves with an empty shopping cart when she doesn't see a sweater in her favorite color. Maybe she'll return and consider making a purchase, but the chances are slim.

Now imagine if there was a way for her to hear from you again; a chance to sign up to your email list and guarantee future interactions ? future interactions that might lead to a satisfied customer who found a sweater in the perfect shade of teal.

Email becomes so much more than just another way to advertise your brand. It's a way to make real connections with those who are truly interested in your business.

Considering that most people prefer to communicate with brands through the inbox, email marketing is a no-brainer.

4

PLAN AN EMAIL STRATEGY

Before you can begin collecting email subscribers or importing them into your list, you should first take some time to think about your email marketing strategy ? which starts with identifying your expectations and goals.

Set goals

As you think about what you hope to achieve through email marketing, it will be helpful to ask yourself:

?How do you want your emails to help your business? ?Do you want to increase sales for your product? ?Do you want to build relationships with subscribers? ?Who is the ideal subscriber for your email list? ?How will it fit with your overall marketing strategy?

While these goals may change or evolve over time, it's important to consider the purpose of your emails and set goals that are both measurable and attainable.

For those just starting out with email marketing, you might want to focus your goal on growing subscribers.

5

In this case, your goal might look like the following: I plan to collect 500 email subscribers over the next 12 months by leveraging online and offline opportunities to attract sign ups. By including a numeric value, a due date and a general idea of how you plan on meeting that number, you'll have a clear target to work towards. It can even provide guidance for executing tactics that'll help you achieve your end goal. As you plan your tactics, also consider the target audience you hope to reach. For example, a fitness trainer with a focus on health and wellness might target people who are just getting started with exercising and changing their diet. Understanding your ideal customers will help you determine the best ways to connect and communicate with them.

Take Action! Take 15 minutes to answer the questions above and identify goals for your email marketing strategy. To help you craft a more thorough plan, use the email strategy template you downloaded along with this PDF.

6

 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download