Here are the do's and don'ts for using email to promote and grow your business.
It seems like every time I turn on the radio, there's an ad for an email marketing automation tool. Constant Contact, Mailchimp, Emma, iContact and even Salesforce make it pretty easy for small and mid-size businesses to automate beautiful emails. Or for larger organizations, there are offerings like Marketo, Adobe Marketing Cloud and Eloqua.
But while the ads make it sound like these campaigns write themselves, they don't.
Email marketing is a delicate business. On one hand, you don't want to be an evil spammer. On the other, email is an efficient way to stay in touch with potential and existing customers.
I've been involved in many email campaigns through the years. Here's what I've learned:
1. Choose an email automation tool that fits the size of your marketing team.
Many of the more robust products really need a staff person at the reins. If you can't afford someone in that position, then turn your attention toward simpler software that requires little overhead.
2. Use a third party tool instead of Outlook.
You really need an unsubscribe button to give recipients the opportunity to opt out, and Outlook doesn't have that.
In some countries you might otherwise be breaking the law, such as the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation.
It seems like every time I turn on the radio, there's an ad for an email marketing automation tool. Constant Contact, Mailchimp, Emma, iContact and even Salesforce make it pretty easy for small and mid-size businesses to automate beautiful emails. Or for larger organizations, there are offerings like Marketo, Adobe Marketing Cloud and Eloqua.
But while the ads make it sound like these campaigns write themselves, they don't.
Email marketing is a delicate business. On one hand, you don't want to be an evil spammer. On the other, email is an efficient way to stay in touch with potential and existing customers.
I've been involved in many email campaigns through the years. Here's what I've learned:
1. Choose an email automation tool that fits the size of your marketing team.
Many of the more robust products really need a staff person at the reins. If you can't afford someone in that position, then turn your attention toward simpler software that requires little overhead.
2. Use a third party tool instead of Outlook.
You really need an unsubscribe button to give recipients the opportunity to opt out, and Outlook doesn't have that.
In some countries you might otherwise be breaking the law, such as the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation.
3. Protect personally identifiable information.
Use strong passwords with the service you use and never sell that information unless your privacy policy explicitly states you can (and even then it's still probably a bad idea).
4. Don't take yourself too seriously.
Boring, dry emails get old fast and people will almost invariably unsubscribe (except your competitors).
Be yourself, be conversational and feel free to poke fun at yourself every now and then. This makes your organization a little more human. And it makes your job more fun.
5. Automate syncing contacts with your CRM.
Loading or syncing your contacts from your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool can be labor intensive and can cause technical misfires that end up adding people who have unsubscribed back in, or sending people duplicate emails.
Instead, whenever possible, choose a tool that has a plug-in or integration with existing tools you use at your organization.
Read Full Article Here: 10 Tips for a Wildly Successful Email Marketing Campaign
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