Okay, let’s get this out of the way; we’re not talking about spam. No one is saying that you should go out and email every address that you can find telling them about your business. Readers of sites like bizop.org know this already, but it’s important to make a note of it.
What is email marketing?
Usually, email marketing is referred to as running your own email list. You probably subscribe to several email lists right now without even realizing it. Sometimes, you subscribe to something called a newsletter, or the person just says subscribe to my list, and I’ll send you something valuable in your inbox. Sometimes, businesses will send their subscribers a message every day, every week, or just whenever they feel like it.
How to get people to sign up to your email list
You might think that it’s difficult to get people to join your email list or newsletter, but it really isn’t. What you want to do is offer the person something valuable for free. You can offer them a free ebook, video course, or even a discount on whatever you’re selling. Whatever you offer, the person needs to be something really good so that they feel like if they don’t give you their email address, they’re going to miss out.
Some businesses are super aggressive when it comes to getting people to join their list, and they might have popups all over the place and subscription boxes everywhere on their website. Sometimes businesses will be really relaxed about it and just have a box in the sidebar of their website asking people to join. You should try several approaches to see which works best for your business. As a rule of thumb, you don’t want to bother the person to the point that they hit the back button and leave your site.
Turning subscribers into customers
The whole point of running an email list is to turn your subscribers into customers. It might take weeks or maybe months before the person decides to buy something from you. Don’t be surprised if not all of your subscribers’ become customers because that’s normal. Sometimes, people only want the valuable information that you have to offer and really don’t want to buy anything at all. Those people aren’t useless to your business because if people are opening up your emails, it’s a good sign to the email providers, and more of your messages will end up in subscribers’ inboxes.
The way you turn your subscribers into customers is by not flooding them with advertisements. Some marketers apply the 80/20 rule, which states that 80 percent of emails should contain information while 20 percent should be marketing. If you own a service-based business, it’s easier to sneak in a word or two about your services if you do it delicately in the email. If you’re selling products, be a little more cautious, as you don’t want to scare people away.
The best marketers are those who are in it for the long haul. They don’t care if a subscriber buys today, what they care about more than anything is if a subscriber opens their emails. If people are opening up their emails, it’s more likely that somewhere down the line they will eventually become a customer. You’ll never sell a single thing if no one opens your emails, so the most important step beyond getting the person to subscribe, is to get them to read your messages.
Consistency is vital to email marketing success
If you say you’re going to email your list once a week, do just that. Imagine for a minute if you signed up for a newsletter and you haven’t heard from them for six months. You’re going to forget that you joined the newsletter. You’re not going to open the newsletter, and it will probably go directly into your spam folder.
Don’t tell people that you’re going to send them a message every day if you can’t deliver. Make sure that you’re able to do what you claim when the person joins your email list. It’s a good idea to have at least a few emails already written. That way, you can take a week off if needed if you’re sending a weekly newsletter. You can create your newsletters or emails months in advance or hire someone to do them for you. If you schedule everything in advance, you could be months or years ahead of the game, and then you can spend all of your efforts getting new subscribers.
Email marketing will never die
Every year, people on YouTube say that email marketing is dead. It’s not dead. It’s all about constantly getting new subscribers so that you have a larger audience to make money off of. Even in the age of social media, people still check their email daily. Some of you might even check your email hourly, and if you do, you already know the power that marketing to an inbox can have.
Matthew is a seasoned researcher and writer with over five years of experience creating engaging SEO content. He is passionate about exploring new ideas and sharing his knowledge through writing. Matthew has a keen eye for detail and takes pride in producing content that is not only informative but also visually appealing. He constantly expands his skill set and stays up-to-date with the latest SEO trends to ensure that his content always performs well in search rankings. Matthew can be found reading, surfing, or experimenting with new recipes in the kitchen when he’s not writing.