A lot of entrepreneurs and businesses like the idea of e-mail marketing because of it’s effectiveness. They want to build their list and be able to sell to thousands of people with the click of a button.
Then again, many businesses shy away from e-mail marketing because of other associations they have with it. Maybe you conjured a vision of your own overflowing Inbox and the emotions you feel about it and you don’t want to be “annoying” or “invasive.”
The truth is that neither of these is a complete picture.
In fact, you can’t look at e-mail marketing as if it is a separate thing at all. It’s not.
E-mail marketing is an integral part of a complete Content Marketing strategy. You can’t have one without the other.
If you don’t do it right, it can be a source of frustration. But if you understand how it works and are willing to create the content you need to do it effectively, it can be one of your business’s biggest assets.
Are you ready to embrace it?
The Set Up
I am working with a client right now to set up her opt-in campaign. We created a couple of free gifts. Then we built the e-mail marketing pieces like the opt-in form, confirmation e-mails, and thank you pages. Finally, we wrote a series of e-mails that will be sent to her new subscribers to deliver what they requested, share additional value, build a trusting relationship and eventually sell her products and services.
That’s a lot of stuff to create!
And it’s just the beginning.
Setting up your e-mail marketing system is the first step. You have given your people a reason to check you out and gotten the relationship off on the right foot. But e-mail marketing is a long-term tool, not a quick fix.
Once you have people on your list, you have to communicate with them consistently.
The Relationship
This is the part that often scares businesses off. Effective e-mail marketing requires that you send e-mails to people on a regular basis.
That may seem obvious, but too many people have a list that they never communicate with!
The challenge is that they aren’t always sure what to send, and they don’t want to be annoying. (There’s that word again!)
Sending greetings for every single holiday without any value related to your business – that’s annoying. Sending repetitive sales messages pushing the same thing over and over – definitely annoying. So what do you do?
This is where having a full Content Marketing plan in place makes all the difference.
What do you send in your e-mails? Your content!
If you aren’t creating content like articles or videos on a regular basis, then no wonder you aren’t sure what to send to your list.
This might seem harsh, but if you can’t keep up with a blog, then you shouldn’t be doing e-mail marketing.
Then you are missing out on one of the most effective marketing tools for your business.
Of course, the better way to look at it is to ask “How can I embrace Content Marketing and e-mail marketing for my business?”
There is also a third piece to the e-mail marketing puzzle where you convert your leads into clients using – you guessed it – more content!
What do you think? Are you using e-mail marketing effectively right now? What challenges do you face with it? Leave a comment below.
I teach my Content Marketing strategy (including the conversion step) in the course “Beyond Blogging: An Entrepreneurs Guide To Content Marketing.” It’s short and to-the-point, and a great place to start.
If you’d like more help with a Content Marketing plan specifically for your business, I’d be happy talk to you about it. [email protected]
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