Member Article

Why hasn’t email marketing disappeared?

With the growth of social media, you’d think email marketing would disappear. E-newsletters are still hugely popular with B2C and B2B companies. We’ve also seen growth in customer surveys over the last year, according to the DMA.

It’s not about bombarding potential customers with a catch-all generic message. By having targeted lists and campaigns, with good relevant content for your segmented subscribers, you’ll achieve success.

1. Be front of mind With a lot of our our clients, their target audience are not always ready to buy, unless they have a specific need. By sending a regular monthly enews, our clients are kept at their customers’ and prospects’ front of mind. It’s also a great way of keeping your contacts in the loop on new products and services.

2. Choose relevant, interesting content When we first start working with clients, a common gripe is that they are stuck with content. By segmenting their customer data further, we can help them by suggesting and developing stories and news relevant for a particular type of customer. For example, an MD of an IT company might not be interested in a start-up small business course on finance. As a business you might have content you’re happy to share with customers, but not with prospects. So, think carefully about what you write and your target audience. Ask your customers what they’d like to read and apply this to your content strategy. Using a survey is a good way of achieving this.

3. Have a plan, with clear goals and follow it through Have a 6-12 month plan of what you’re going to promote, what you’re going to write and when you’re going to send it out. Have a goal of X amount of blog posts a week/month and stick to it, but be prepared to adapt the plan along the way. Use other people to write guest blog content for you to add to your site. It looks a bit naff if you’ve been sending a regular communication to your customers, then all of a sudden all communication dries up. If you’re struggling, hire someone to do it for you.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Vicki Stone .