Like a blog or social media, email marketing is another form of content marketing. It’s one of the most effective content methods to help you book more sales calls, fill your workshops and make bank when you release new products. Email marketing is useful for both products and service-based businesses.
Here’s the scoop …
What is email marketing and how does it work?
If you’re a service professional, your website alone won’t help you sell a pricey service deal with a cold prospect. After all, people need time to warm up and trust you.
There’s also a thing called the Buyer’s Cycle. Not everyone will be ready to buy. You see, first people will have a challenge or problem. They might not even be fully aware of the cause. Once they are aware of it, they’ll start to research. As they research, the solutions they need will become clear. At that point, they’ll look for a good fit solution in the form of a service or product.
A customer can find you at any stage of the Buyer’s Cycle. So to earn their business, you’ll need to stay in touch and offer answers along their buying journey.
That’s where email marketing comes in. Email subscribers are leads. They’ve joined your list because they have a need for the solutions you offer.
The emails you send should inform, educate and build relationships with your new leads. Be sure to send regular communications to stay top of mind. And focus your emails toward helping people through each stage of the Buyer’s Cycle. That way, when someone is finally ready to purchase, they’ll think of you.
How to send email marketing blasts
Sometimes novice email marketers send BCC emails from their personal email accounts. [email protected] looks amatuer and doesn’t inspire a whole lot of confidence. It also limits your marketing efforts. Email clients like Gmail and Yahoo don’t have the tools to help you fine tune your marketing efforts.
What you’ll want to do instead is use an email marketing platform like MailChimp, Aweber or Constant Contact. These are just a few of the many available options out there. Check out my blog article that helps you Choose the Right Email Marketing Platform for Your Business.
How email marketing platforms save you time
Email marketing software also has automated aspects that save you time. You don’t have to manually add 30, 60 or 100 names to your Gmail. With the click of a button, email marketing software automatically sends emails to your list of chosen recipients. You won’t have to manually add or remove names from your list either. People can unsubscribe anytime, and your software will automatically remove them from the list.
Email software also gives you access to reports. These let you know who opens your emails, who’s clicking on links and which links get the most action. In this way, reports can tell you a lot about your audience’s interests. The information helps you to plan future emails, products and services they’ll be hungry for.
How people subscribe and what happens next
You can design branded “opt-in” forms with your email marketing software. This is the box on a website where someone can join your email list or “subscribe”. You or your web developer can add forms to any page on your website. When you get a new email subscriber, your list will automatically update and retain subscribers’ contact information. In your account settings, you can choose to get “new subscriber” notifications in your regular email inbox. It can take time to build your email list. But keep at it. With consistent and strategic effort, the business building benefits are worth it.
