What Is Email Marketing & Why Its a Must for Your Blogging Business!

If you landed on this page, you are probably wanting to know what email marketing is all about and what it can do for your business?

I don’t like to assume, but let’s say for argument sake, you went the extra mile to create top-quality products or offer an excellent service, but now you’re wondering, how can I market my business?

With over 4.65 billion social media users, you didn’t miss out on the chance to find your ideal customers and join social channels for marketing purposes.

But these contemporary business practices shouldn’t divert you from investing in an old-school, effective marketing strategy that is still alive today and stronger than ever – emails.

So, what is email marketing, and how does it work? Is it worth implementing into my business?

Stick around, because we’ll be discussing how email marketing is the new and improved digital form of direct marketing. We’ll provide you with email marketing tips, discuss marketing automation, along with the types of email marketing software used by blogging pros.

We’ll also provide you with email marketing solutions and what you need to look for in email service providers.

Let’s begin…

What Is Email Marketing and How Does It Work?

Email marketing refers to forwarding promotional emails to a list of contacts – you do not get to pick them; instead, they permit you to send emails to them.

You can use this business tactic for various purposes, from informing your contacts about something new, to building a community and boosting sales.

Previously, most email marketing tools were limited to one-size-fits-all mailings. Today, it has switched to personalization and email segmentation. The more personalization you offer your customers, the more valued they feel – a win-win for you.

Perhaps this explains why email marketers who prioritize segmented campaigns see an increase in their revenue.

Besides, marketing automation has brought revolutionary changes in email marketing – you get to send various emails to numerous contacts with a click or a tap.

Undoubtedly, most customers exist on social media, but you’d be intrigued to learn that over 4 billion people use emails worldwide. What’s more, this number is predicted to hit 4.6 billion by 2025.

So, email marketing has the potential to take your business to new heights, but only if you know how to go about it.

Types of Email Marketing Campaigns

Emails come in varying formats. But how can you determine the appropriate one for your marketing goals? To know this, you must familiarize yourself with different types of emails

The Welcome Email

Gaining a subscriber sounds enticing, but that doesn’t mean they’ll contribute to your business growth. So, how can you ensure they do? A welcome email is an answer.

Studies unveil that 50% of qualified leads are not yet ready to purchase a product. Even more, 25% are not even qualified.

A welcome email is your chance to nurture your leads and inspire them to complete a purchase. However, don’t introduce your products or services in the very first email. Instead, focus on building a connection with them.

You can go for a minimal, “Thanks for subscribing!” or get more specific to depict your brand’s tone. For instance, something like, “Oh hi gorgeous! Thanks for registering. Welcome to XYZ” would do for a cosmetic business.

You can always browse the internet to draw inspiration from the top brands in your niche.

Thank You Email

A Thank You email allows you to strengthen your bond with your customers. Also, it humanizes your relationship with them – as long as you personalize the email.

You can send a thank you email to your loyal customers, newsletter subscribers, or customers on their birthdays.

Avoid getting into their inbox with a bland, “Thank you!” 

Instead, try something more creative like, “Thank you for placing your trust in us; we value it!” 

Product Announcement

Product announcement emails are the most popular category of emails. They allow you to inform your customers about the latest launch, educate them about its features, and ensure it reaches a broader audience.

The aim is to convince your customers to take action and buy the product before it sells. Over 333.2 billion emails are sent and received daily. As such, it isn’t easy for you to get noticed.

Again, you need to be strategic when drafting a product announcement email. It must be engaging enough to grasp the audience’s attention. A few creative examples include:

• Something big is coming!
• New-season and our new product launch
• Product launch alert!

Newsletters

Newsletters offer an excellent way to enlighten customers about your brand. It generally includes your past projects, employee profiles, and related information.

However, regardless of the visual appeal your newsletter offers, it is beneficial for the existing customers – not the prospects.

Anyone would rarely be interested to learn about your brand unless you offer something tempting – consider a promotional offer.

But newsletters provide value to your current customers; they love to read your top stories and view attention-grabbing graphics.

Promotions and Offers

Promotional emails boost brand awareness, increase revenue, and target your ideal customers. Research shows that 49% of customers like receiving weekly promotional emails from their favorite brands.

So, if you didn’t consider one, now is the right time. Customers out there are looking for you; you only need to unleash your critical thinking skills and creativity to craft enticing emails – and present irresistible offers.

Here are a few examples to drive inspiration from.

• Tarte: “6 HOUR FLASH” 
• Everlane: “Today Only: Free 2-Day Shipping.”
• OUAI: “DON’T MISS OUT: 20% OFF SITEWIDE” 

Such emails drive urgency and grab customers’ attention. However, make sure you keep your tone brand-specific.

Benefits of Email Marketing

While social media platforms work great to target your ideal audience, emails can complement your marketing efforts. Here are a few pros that might encourage you to take action.

• Increase customer engagement. Different email types offer various ways to engage with your customers, boosting customer loyalty. Plus, there is a lot of room for thinking out of the box. The more exciting your email, the more interested customers will be in your brand.
• Boost sales. You can implement numerous promotional techniques to bring your products and services to the forefront, from offering free shipping to discounts.
• Generate traffic. If you’re unable to drive traffic to your website, emails offer an excellent way to direct your customers to your blog. For instance, you can share snippets of your articles and redirect interested readers to your blog post.
• Grow brand awareness. Emails help spread the word about your services, products, and business. It also allows you to share valuable content and educate your subscribers about your brand.
• Collect valuable data. Feedback forms and email surveys help you gather valuable customer data. This helps you know more about their behavior, allowing you to alter your email marketing strategy accordingly.

How to Create Successful Email Campaigns?

Your email marketing strategy won’t work unless you know how to create a rewarding email marketing campaign.

Note that various practices can help you achieve your goal. However, more options create more confusion. So, before you get overwhelmed when dipping your toes in email marketing, here is what a basic email marketing campaign entails.

Choosing an Email Service Provider

To begin with, you need to choose the right email service provider for sending and managing your email campaigns. Choosing the right one will also help you implement automated email marketing campaigns.

However, you cannot pick any email marketing platform and expect to achieve the desired results. You’re investing your money, and you certainly don’t want to flush it down the drain.

An email marketing software like HubSpot offers the primary functions to run efficient email marketing campaigns, but Mailchimp doesn’t disappoint either.

If you dig further, you’ll find plenty of options that will boggle your mind. So, here are a few things to consider before choosing an email marketing service provider.

• There are free email marketing services, and there are email service providers that’ll burn a hole in your pocket. What’s your ideal budget?
• Does the email marketing software offer fundamental functions like tracking, templates, marketing automation, and mobility?
• Do you have certain key performance indicators (KPIs) and goals to achieve? If yes, go for email service providers (ESP) with resourceful service teams, your email marketing success will depend on it.
• Go for an ESP that gives an average email automation delivery rate of 97% or more.

Drip, ConvertKit, ActiveCampaign, Reach Mail, and Campaign Monitor are a few popular email marketing tools that allow you to craft and send email campaigns seamlessly.

Build Your Email List

You cannot send emails unless you have the contacts. Now is the time to build an email list of engaging email subscribers.

To build a email list requires you to collect email addresses from your blog visitors. This boosts your subscriber database and allows for communication between your existing and potential customers.

However, you need a solid email marketing strategy to encourage your visitors to sign up for your email list. A bland-looking, unattractive signup email won’t work.

You’ll want to engage subscribers by gaining their attention through exit-intent pop-ups using lead magnets, which can offer free ebooks, free PDF download, product discounts and more.

Make sure you follow the ethics of email marketing best practices. Your subscribers are trusting you with their email addresses. Avoid bombarding their inbox with unnecessary emails – it won’t get you anywhere.

Remember, you’re a guest in their inbox; behave like one.

Define Your Email Marketing Campaign Goal

What are you willing to achieve with your email marketing campaign? Make sure you clarify your goal before setting up an email marketing strategy.

For instance, you might want to:

• Offer a discount to gain customer loyalty
• Promote your new product
• Update your subscribers regarding the latest brand news
• Encourage customers to download free ebooks.

These goals can be specific or general. However, as long as they offer value and align with your brand, your efforts will bear fruit.

Make Your Email Copy

When you’re clear about your goal and the target audience, it’s time to craft your email copies. It’s a text pre-written for a specific sales or marketing purpose.

Simply put, you may send an email copy to inform your subscribers about an impending sale. Make sure it offers value and includes topics that intrigue your customers.

It must also harmonize with your brand’s tone.

Consider this when crafting an email copy:

• Think about what your audience needs from you and what you can do to help them
• When you write your copy, act like you’re writing to one of your friends
• Keep your tone conversational and use active voice sentences to sound bold and authoritative
• Be concise and avoid writing long eBook style emails. Keep your message to the point, so readers do not lose interest.
• Pique their curiosity through captivating subject lines
• Keep paragraphs short and to the point – use bullets where possible.

Optimize Your Email Conversions, Open Rates, and Clicks

Keeping track of email conversions, open rates, and clicks is a must to determine the success of your marketing campaign. Thankfully, there are ways to increase your email open and conversion rate.

• Include your brand name in the email address to gain recognition and reinforce reliability and credibility.
• Keep your email subject line intriguing; it’s the first thing viewers see when they open their emails.
• Optimize your email preview text and make sure it aligns with the subject line to create a story.

Test Your Email Marketing Campaigns and Monitor Your Results

You could have worked your fingers to the bone to craft an attractive email, but typos or grammatical mistakes can be a huge turn-off for your customers.

They hurt your brand image and might confuse the customers. Therefore, make sure you keep your eyes open for typos, formatting mistakes, incorrect links, and more.

You can always ask your team members to proofread the text for you.

Monitor your results to see where you email campaign is heading. Email marketing tools offer an analytics dashboard with general metrics.

• Open Rate – The number of people who opened your email is divided by the total number of receivers.
• Click-Through Rate -The number of people who opened or clicked on a link in your email.
• Unsubscribe Rate – people who unsubscribed from your mailing list
• Bounce Rate – undelivered emails vs. the total number of emails sent.

Watching these metrics will help you assess how your email marketing efforts are working and what you need to work on to make it more successful.

Conclusion

Perhaps now you know the benefits of email marketing and how email marketing campaigns can benefit your business.

With today’s email marketing platforms, you can excel in business. With some effort, you can outpace your competitors and drive more sales if you make the most out of it.

The digital world is progressing by leaps and bounds, and where it presents business opportunities, it follows up with numerous challenges.

With more brands online, you need to optimize your marketing practices with an effective email marketing campaign.

Don’t forget to take advantage of dependable email marketing technologies; they’ll surely help you out.

Good luck!