Over the past few decades, technology has providentially leveled the playing field for business owners with small budgets and narrow profit margins and who are in search of affordable marketing options to spread their brand’s message. The far-reaching — and inexpensive — arm of e-mail is a perfect example. To date, it's one of the simplest and most effective marketing tools available to anyone with a computer. If implemented correctly, a sharp and well-executed e-mail marketing campaign could be one of the keys to driving lead conversions for your business.
However, it’s not easy to shine through the clutter in your customers' inboxes these days. If you want to reach your audience with your small-business emails, you’ve got to offer clear value. Successful emails promise specific good things in a catchy but descriptive title, and then follow through with an email that measures up to the promise.
Small-business emails that get opened include:
1. Problem-solving emails: These are the irresistible emails that offer you 5 ways to improve your life right now — more specific titles are better, but you get the idea. Think of the biggest problem your customers are having today, this season or leading up to a big life event. Package your solution into an attractive title and divide it into easy steps within your email. Segment email lists as much as possible. The more specific, personalized and on target you are, the better your open rate will be.
2. Money-saving emails: Be especially careful in this category. Avoid titles that get you filtered as spam. Using "Free Free Free" and lots of exclamation points is a bad idea. That said, daily deal emails (think Groupon) succeed for a reason. Curiosity and anticipation increase the appeal.
3. Information packed emails: Emails that aggregate and filter news and information are understandably popular, once you become a trusted source. If you share my taste or business interests, for example, I’ll gladly allow you to be my "reader," curating only the best content for me to read. It’s a great shortcut and time-saver, with someone else doing the legwork. Stats and examples equal valuable information, so include them when you can.
4. Entertaining emails: People respond to and share entertaining images and videos included in your small-business emails. Add a clickable video still, images from your Pinterest or Instagram feed or staff photos. Got a cat or dog in your office? Pets make for unexpected, guaranteed-fun photos/videos.
Contact the content creators at SocialTract for more information on this subject.
Chris Vaughn is the Content Marketing Director for DigitalSherpa, the world's largest content marketing provider for small businesses. With the recent acquisition of SocialTract, DigitalSherpa is thrilled to welcome the HVAC community in to our client family. Learn more about content marketing and check out our free e-books and whitepapers at http://digitalsherpa.com. Connect with Chris and the DigitalSherpa team on Facebook and Twitter or e-mail Chris directly at [email protected].