Email marketing tips for small business is a topic that can’t be talked about enough, in our opinion here at UnderstandingMarketing.com. Email marketing is still one of the most common forms of customer communications and outreach. And while other forms of outreach have piqued the small business owner’s interest, such as social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, email marketing is still central to the larger integrated marketing approach.
Lisa Barone, co-founder of Outspoken Media, recently wrote a list of several best practices for email marketing for the Small Business Trends blog. Naturally, we loved it. We’d like to review what Lisa said and add a few email marketing tips for small business that are just as critical to entrepreneurs.
Be Personal: Although some would think email marketing is all about one-way communication, it’s actually a great two-way communication tool. It’s important to design and send emails that speak directly to your customers in a way that truly resonates with their interests.
Know Your Distribution Timing: When it comes to email marketing, yes, there is a science to it. Lisa rightly points out that few companies should send an email at 6 p.m. on a Friday, and it’s important to test different distribution times during the week to see what works best for you and your customers.
Subject Line: If we’ve said this once, we’ve said it a million times. The subject line is everything in email marketing. A catchy subject line can make your email campaign while a dull or spammy one can break you.
Preview Emails: Lots of people use their preview panes on their email programs. When designing your emails, it’s important to keep this in mind so that your important messages, branding and call to action are all accessible in the preview pane.
Measurement: Clearly, why spend lots of time designing and implementing an email marketing campaign if you’re not going to take the time to measure its success. Test, test, and test some more to find the right mix of messages, call to action and design that hits on all cylinders.
No Spam: By all means, cut the spam. Only send emails that are relevant to people who have opted in to your email list.
But here are a few more email marketing tips for small business that are critical to entrepreneurs:
Develop Your Email List With Care: You have 100,000 people on your email list. Great. But if only 15 percent of them are qualified customers, you are wasting your time. Always spend the time to refine your list so that everyone is a good and qualified lead. Remove people that are dead weight and not relevant to your messages.
Integrate With Other Marketing: Use your existing online properties and social media together. Include website pages, Twitter and Facebook URLs in your email marketing so people know how to connect with all your online properties. Be sure to do this with any direct mails you send, too.
Don’t Be Too Salesy: Of course, it’s important to turn your email marketing into sales. But don’t be too pushy in your email marketing or else everyone on your list will opt out. Walk a fine line between sales, promotion, information and entertainment.
Make It Professional, Not Flashy: It doesn’t matter if you once saw a website or an email with every bell and whistle possible. Always be true to your brand and stay professional with the design of your emails.
Important Phrases of the Year: You want to avoid certain phrases or words in your subject line that will send your email directly to the spam folder (like FREE and TRIAL), but you also want to get people’s attention depending on the time of year. Phrases like Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Back-To-School are important.
Ready For Success? All entrepreneurs, small business owners and franchisees should be ready for the best-case scenario. There’s nothing worse than sending out that killer email and having a fantastic response, only to not be able to fulfill and stay true to your word. Be ready for an overwhelming response so that you can under promise and over-deliver to your customers.
Chrisanne Sternal has been designing email marketing strategies for companies of every size for more than 15 years. She is the founder of UnderstandingMarketing.com and the president of Sternal Consulting.
What other email marketing tips for small business can you think of?
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