Email Marketing has gotten a bad rap over the last couple of years; I’ve even heard people say that email marketing is dead! People are being overwhelmed and overloaded with their email inboxes with tons of spam and unwanted email, so I can see how people may not like email marketing or may feel that the strategy of using email marketing to grow your business is dead.

However, that is so far from the truth, email marketing is still the best way to reach, connect, and sell to your customers and prospects online.  Email Marketing still offers the best ROI of all online marketing channels (including social media), so whether you have been using email marketing for years, or you are just thinking about using it for your business, I will be sharing four types of email marketing strategies you can use to grow your business:

1. E-Newsletter

   The oldest and most common form of email marketing is an Email Newsletter (E-Newsletter), an email created in a newsletter format and emailed to a list of your email contacts who have opted-in to receive information from you on a consistent basis (daily, weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, etc.).
   There are many variations of e-newsletters including plain text e-newsletters or HTML e-newsletters.  The look and feel of your e-newsletter is up to you, but it should be consistent with your brand.  Here are key components you can include in an e-newsletter.

   • Intro–An introduction from the company or person who publishes the newsletter.  The intro is the lead into the email and usually, includes a brief update and then leads into the rest of the newsletter
   • Article/Blog Post Preview–Many e-newsletters link to the company’s recent blog post which covers the topic in more detail, so the first few sentences or paragraph of the blog is placed in the e-newsletter and the reader would have to click on a link in the email to read the entire article or blog post
   • Event Announcement–Many companies choose to include any announcements of upcoming events in the e-newsletter.  These events could be live in-person events including conferences, seminars, workshops, etc. or online events like webinars or teleseminars.  This will be included in the e-newsletter with a link to the event page where people can register for the event.
   • Special Promotions–This could be promotions from your company of promotions from partner companies.  The promotion offer is listed and the reader can click on the banner or link to get additional information.  The link usually takes the reader to a sales/promotional page to get more information regarding the special offer
   • Inspirational Quotes–These are popular and many companies like to include them in their e-newsletter, and some companies are now using the strategy of encouraging people to share the quote either in text or graphic form on their social media platforms.
   • Testimonials–Many companies like to showcase testimonials in their newsletters because it is a great way to show your audience why people love your product or service and people tend to look favorably on testimonials.
   • Videos–A link to a video is great to include in an e-newsletter.  If you have a company video or a video that your audience would find useful, you can include the video image and link to the actual video in the e-newsletter.

         E-Newsletter Tips:

1. • Be sure that the content in your e-newsletter is 80% educational/entertaining and 20% promotional.
   • Limit the information to no more than four topics for each newsletter.
   • Keep the e-newsletter clear and concise and make sure that the information does not appear cluttered to the reader.
   • Have a strong call to action at the end of each section (i.e. “click here to read more…”  “click here for more information”  “sign-up today” etc. )

2. Promotional Emails

   The specific purpose of this email is to promote ONE thing.  This could be an event, a special company promotion, etc.  You want the information to stand out, so you create a specific email dedicated to just this one topic.  This is also known as a stand-alone email.  This type of email is great to use if you have one topic or you want your audience to focus on one thing.  The one thing could have several parts, but the email itself focuses on only one topic.  For example, if you are having a special sale and you want to focus your readers’ attention on the special sale, although you may have several items on sale, the focus of the email is the one topic of the sale.
   
   Promotional Email Tips:

   • Be sure to focus on only one topic
   • Have a strong call to action at the end of the email (i.e. “buy now” “limited time”  “click here for more information”  “sign-up today” etc. )
   • Make sure you are clear on what you want your reader to do

3. Autoresponder

   An Autoresponder campaign is a series of emails that is sent to a person when they sign-up for something. This could be when they sign-up to join your email list, when they sign-up to get a free download, when they sign-up for a webinar etc. The action of signing up and therefore opting into the list creates an automatic response (or autoresponder) that is a series of emails that are sent to the individual over a period of time. Autoresponders are great because you can set it and forget it. Once you create the series whenever someone opts into that particular list, he or she will receive the emails automatically and you only had to create it once.

        AutoResponder Tips:

1. • Make each email in the series timely and relevant.
   • Provide valuable information before you promote your product or service.
   • In a series of 4 emails, 3 should be informative and educational and the 4th one can be a promotion (always provide value first).

2. Drip Campaigns

   Drip campaigns are very similar to autoresponders in that they are a series of emails.The difference is that a drip campaign does not have to be initiated by a person opting in.  You can create a campaign for a specific group of people already on your email list and drip them information over a period of time.  Drip campaigns are great to promote an event or a special company promotion to your entire list or a portion of your email list.  Similar to the autoresponders, once you create the emails you just set it and forget it as the series of emails will be dripped out to your list over a period of time

   Drip Campaign Tips:

• • • Make each email in the series timely and relevant
    • Make sure each email has a strong call to action

Are you using any of these email strategies?  If not, what other email marketing strategies are you using? Share your opinion in the comments below.

Nadine Mullings

Nadine Mullings is known as The B.E.S.T. Marketing Strategist™. She is passionate about assisting small business owners to market and promote their businesses both online and offline using the four core marketing strategies in the B.E.S.T. Marketing System™.
With over 15 years of experience in marketing and an MBA with an Ecommerce specialization, Nadine uses her experience and education to assist entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants, and independent business owners to attract new clients, get repeat business, and build a strong social network.