Email marketing hits your prospects right where it counts – right in their inbox. With an effective email marketing campaign you can accomplish several different goals all at once. You can:
Find new prospects
Show off your expertise.
Develop trust.
Introduce them to new resources.
Become a friendly expert in their corner.
And of course… sell products and services.
Although most marketers are focused on the last bullet point, all of the other goals of email marketing feed into your ultimate level of sales. It’s important to use email marketing in the right way so you can reach all of these goals and more.
Here are seven steps you can follow to master email marketing and make it an essential tool for your business.
Choose the right autoresponder program.
Your email marketing is only as strong as the technology that supports it. I highly recommend GetResponse for their reliable service and outstanding results. With GetResponse you can use a number of professional looking templates, training and other resources to help you make the most of email marketing.
Identify who you are.
People are more likely to open emails from names that they recognize, so it’s important to use the right identification in your messages. Even if you’ve established your business with a name like “USA Sports Equipment” your messages should be coming from an individual person and use a unique voice. People want to receive email from other people – not faceless businesses.
Use a valuable freebie.
You won’t get any opt ins to your list unless you have something to give away. Make sure that your giveaway is something that your audience will take interest in – and something that they’ll be willing to give their email addresses away for. You can give away an information rich white paper, a demo of the software you’re selling or an ecourse that covers topics that are important to your audience.
Engage your audience with a follow up sequence.
The biggest mistake that entrepreneurs make when they build a list is getting people to sign up and then disappearing until they have something to sell. It’s important that you keep engaged with your audience regularly. Send them a sequence of five to seven messages in order to stay involved, educate them further and be a regular part of their inbox.
Send a monthly newsletter.
Once you’ve sent out a follow up sequence, you can stay in touch with your list members regularly by sending out a newsletter. The newsletter should highlight the latest news from your blog, share insider tips that you want your list members to know and remind them of special offers that are coming up.
Sell only after you’ve offered value.
Your sales offers are going to be more well received when you have established a relationship with your list members and they know that you offer quality. You should hold off on “hard selling” your list members until they’ve at least been through your follow up sequence. You’ll see much higher conversion rates this way.
Create a follow up sequence after the sale.
People who have made a purchase from you should be segmented into a different list so you can approach them in a different way. This follow up sequence can go over some of the benefits of your list, can upsell them on similar products and make them feel comfortable with their purchase so they are more likely to buy from you in the future.