From 300 to 15.5k in six months: how to deliver email marketing success organically
It is not unusual to receive 40+ marketing emails per day which, naturally, can be a source of irritation especially if you are someone like me who can’t bear to leave unread message notifications showing. As a consumer of such emails it can be really hard to cut through the barrage of messages to find content that you value. It is for this reason that many companies dread having an email strategy and having to create email marketing messages, quite apart from the time and effort involved.
So why is email marketing important as part of your marketing strategy?
You can achieve several messages in one newsletter
You can be very targeted with a bulletin that is specific to its recipient
Your marketing strategy is only effective if delivered across multiple touchpoints, with consistency, to consolidate your presence in people’s consciousness
The metrics can be measured
It is cost-effective
You can use it to drive traffic directly to your website, where you are in control of your brand message and identity
It works across several devices
It is easy to conduct A/B testing with different messages
It can be scheduled in advance
A number of years ago we took on the UK email marketing for Zespri, alongside its annual marketing activities. When we took on the newsletter it had 300 recipients, and recipient interaction was poor. In just six months we had built the mailing list to 15.5k, without ‘buying’ recipients. It was all about having a good content structure, mailing with consistency and good design/development practice, and using smart ways to get people to sign up to the mailing list.
There are many different types of email marketing, of course, depending on what sort of business you are and what your purpose is. If you are an online retailer you will undoubtedly have lots of bulletin-style messages as well as special offers, abandoned basket prompts, receipts, vouchers, etc. If you are an accountancy firm you might issue newsletters with financial updates, tax deadline reminders and financial planning tips.
There are some tips that work across most scenarios, which we will outline below. We are going to focus on content rather than compliance and deliverability (although these are extremely important areas that could constitute a post of their own).
Know your audience
What do your customers engage with, in life? Make a list of relevant lifestyle extensions to your brand where your expertise would be respected.
Example: bike shop
What do your customers like?
Cycling
Therefore they might also like:
Bikes
Adventure
Keeping fit
Exploring new places
Nutrition (healthy)
Other exercises that help them with their cycling (e.g. stretches, yoga, work-out routines)
Nature
Finding new routes
Cycling clothing and accessories
Static bikes
Bike races
Famous cyclists
Cafés
Real life stories
Competitions and giveaways!
You can start to construct your content plan around these areas.
Selling should be secondary to great content
This is less relevant if you are a supermarket, a printer, an online clothes store or somewhere that is selling to people very frequently and simply sending out offers. If you are sending a newsletter, you should work more on becoming something that people find helpful, useful and enjoyable. You will become a trusted authority and your content will be read.
Make the most out of your content
If time is in limited supply then you can be really smart about how you plan your emails. With one set of content you can populate your blog, have articles to share with relevant trade journals, build your emails and also have content for social media.
Start with a plan for what your emails might include. Front-load your blog with content that you can simply summarise in the email. In our bike shop example we are going to set the following format:
1. Attention-grabbing headline article: 200 water bottles to give away if you answer this survey
Benefits:
You can get some free consumer research
You can repeat the competition on social media asking people to sign up to your newsletter for the chance to win
You can post the offer across different competition websites
Everyone loves a freebie
200 people end up cycling around with a water bottle with your name on, for a low cost
2. Secondary article: A day in the saddle with John Doe, three times British Cycling champion
Benefits:
You or John might be riding a bike that you sell, where you happened to talk about the bike in the article
Content that is enjoyable and interesting
John might also share this content to his own, larger network
People searching for John Doe will now also find you
3. Three small articles:
Café of the month (coffee and cake ratings - invite your audience to submit their own places with photos and reviews)
Recipe for energy balls
5 good stretches to do after a ride
Benefits:
You are providing interesting and useful content that makes people refer back to the email or to your website.
You could collaborate with others who have larger networks to produce this content and share it
4. Two medium articles
Upcoming races: A link to a page on your website with upcoming events for people to sign up to
Our favourite products for cycling events: Links to products that you sell, with helpful information about why they are useful and a package deal
Benefits:
Useful content
Selling with purpose in a way that is useful
You might even be able to collaborate with events organisers to get a booking discount through your site. They might then reward you for promoting their event with a free item in a goodie bag at their event, a stand, or sharing your content
5. Follow us on social media, check out our website. Close the loop in the marketing circle with this sign-off.
There is no great secret to growing your audience. It is all about finding strategic ways to increase your network, and this is most often achieved by tapping into larger networks than your own. Tag people, create content using people and products with influence, appeal to the lifestyle of your target audience rather than just selling them your product. Give them a brand to align with.
