03 Apr 3 Ways to Create a Successful Email Marketing Campaign

Email marketing is like door-knocking. It’s hard. It takes certain understanding and skills to have someone’s door opened to you and being allowed in.

Written by Daniela Cavalletti

4 min read

Have you ever had someone knock on your door trying to sell you something? Perhaps a product, maybe a subscription, or even an idea. While the days of the door-to-door lexicon-seller are over (as far as I know, anyway), pollsters, Jehovah Witnesses, your local sports club or scouts may still knock on your door these days. Wanting part of your time or your money.

How does that make you feel? And whom do you lend your ear, or even open your wallet for?

Why Should Anyone Listen to You?

When it comes to the art of email marketing, you (as the business using email marketing to connect to your potential and current clients) are those guys; the door-knocking salespeople. Why would anyone let you in and engage with you?

Think about whom you actually happily talked to when they did a door-knock at your home. What set them apart? Some people were just rude, annoying or pushy – they weeded themselves out. What made you talk to some – but not all – of the rest?

How do you get your customers to open their door and then interact with you now?

Effective Email Marketing is All About Trust

When you built your subscriber base for your email marketing organically, you likely already have some low level of engagement, and a better chance for your readers to actually open each email marketing missive.

But you still need them to open the email’s links, actually read your content. And trust you a little bit more each time they hear from you, to then, eventually, take action and buy from you.

It takes time and perceptiveness to build that kind of trust.

How to Be Someone People Love to Hear From

Any email marketing campaign needs to be given a solid run before you can expect prospects to open the door each time and engage directly with you at their doorstep. Time is a very valuable commodity to all of us, including your reader. If you sincerely show them that you value them, they will pay you back in goodwill.

#1. Be a Respectful Friend 

• Inboxes are busy and rather personal places; we interact with them daily and in depth. Ensure your tone, style and format are personal, and address your reader individually by name.
• Keep your email marketing text short in the actual message – and link to your longer offer landing page, article, white paper, ebook, etc. via a hyperlink. Don’t overwhelm your reader with very long emails. Your linked-to post can be a long one, don’t worry, just keep the marketing email short and snappy. And easily digestible.
• Don’t just talk at them – open an avenue to hear your reader’s opinions on a topic. Start a conversation and make it easy to reach you. Be it by “Hit Reply” links or opening up your blog articles for comments. Just ensure you will always and speedily reply to either.
• Say thank you when you can. Be it in a specific interaction, for a comment maybe, or by offering a discount to loyal readers.

#2. Understand Their Needs

• As with all good marketing content, it’s not about you, it’s about them. Know and address your clients’ needs. Talk about benefits to them, not features of your product or service.
• When do they want to hear from you? Is there an especially good or bad time you can send or avoid sending your email marketing messages out at?
• Get to know your target market well; spend some time understanding what makes them tick. Happy, annoyed, scared, supported, understood and wanted.
• What kind of email marketing and promotions would they love to receive? 
• How do they like to be spoken to – is your target market quite relaxed, or rather conservative?

#3. Give Them Something of Value

• Once you know what your readers need, ensure you’ll offer them something of real value. Something that actually helps answer a concern or need of theirs.
• A golden rule: if you can’t offer anything of value, don’t waste their time. Instead, wait to write your next email marketing message until you have something meaningful and useful to share or offer.
• Images, videos and layout are important parts of your email marketing. No point in writing the most wonderful text, just to be let down by boring stock images or confusing layout.
• Give your readers information that does at least one of these things: entertain, educate, intrigue and inform.

Being mindful of all of the above will go a long way towards standing out from the crowd and engaging your (potential) clients with your email marketing content.

Add Some Email Marketing Fairy Dust

There is one secret ingredient without which your most thought-through email marketing campaign will feel a bit flat and listless: authenticity.

Bring your own flair and personality into your email marketing writing. Borrow great ideas from others, but ensure you – and your writing – will stay true to yourself. Your values, style and brand personality.

Do you have a question about creating successful email marketing content? Just leave me a comment, and we’ll chat! Or email me at daniela@cavacom.biz.