Email marketing is a key element of a thorough local marketing strategy, and holds more value now than ever before, especially for small business owners. It is the most affordable means of establishing a relationship with your targeted demographic in a personalized way, generating more leads, and increasing sales.
Check out these tips to make sure your email marketing is leaving a lasting impression with your contacts
1. Your contacts are not a list.
While you likely have several different lists of influencers that are receiving your email marketing, one of the biggest mistakes you could make is addressing these contacts as if they were one of many. Your messaging should be created as though you were emailing only one person. This will result in more personal messaging, which will result in increased customer engagement and lower bounce rates.
2. As an organization, your messaging should be helpful and trustworthy.
Every time you press “send” on an email blast, both you and your company’s reputation are on the line. With that in mind, it is important that you consider the long-term relationship you’d like to establish with these contacts when creating content.
When addressing these contacts, make it a point to be friendly and honest to establish trust amongst you and your audience. Lastly, be sure you’re not contacting your audience solely when you need something; this is an easy way to get your emails deleted before they are ever opened.
3. Try not to spook your contacts with repetitive personalization.
“Hey John, I hope this finds you well. How is your day going John? Have a great evening John!” … In your opinion, did this come off as engaging content, or down-right creepy? Be careful not to abuse personalization when creating your messaging. Repeating the contact’s name too often will put you at risk of being considered spam.
4. Incentives can take your messaging a long way.
Why should anyone read your emails? What could a member of your contact list stand to benefit? Now you don’t have to offer free samples of products, or anything that would cost your organization financially. Place the value in your messaging. Popular ways to place incentive within your email marketing include sharing a useful tip at the end of your messaging, or sending messaging that could inspire readers.
5. Statistics aren’t everything.
While doing research into optimizing your local marketing strategy is never a bad idea, it’s important that you don’t rely too heavily on statistics. What works “best” for others may not necessarily work best for your brand or organization, as no “average reader” actually exists.
It is more important that your brand cultivate a genuine relationship with your contacts by creating content that is engaging and personalized as possible. Trust me, if you publish quality content on a consistent basis then your audience will anticipate receiving emails from your organization.
Just as media and technology have continued to evolve, so has email marketing. Email marketing tools now have the functionality to create more personal and engaging messaging than ever before, further enabling your local marketing strategy.
For more help with establishing your local marketing strategy, check out 3 Tips to Create More Authentic Local Marketing in 2018.
