When we hear from our clients that some marketing information needs some input, we often record a live video. (Check out S+Marketing LIVE's "3 Marketing Things" Series). Our latest Marketing Roundup includes advice from all of our super talented team members on the topic of email. Yes, email still has value!
Email Marketing can bring you CRAZY success both for customer acquisition and retention. During the COVID pandemic, email has drastically increased as one of the best available methods for small businesses to reach their customers.
Here are some top Email Marketing Do's and Don'ts from the Story Collaborative Marketing Team!
From David Mills, Chief Growth Officer
DON'T ignore or fail to pay attention to your email list building. It is an asset that will pay off.
DO use video in our email. It will increase open rates, increase impact, and response rates.
From Amy Alexander, Creative Director
DON'T forget people. In email marketing, it’s so easy to forget that real, live people are reading your subject lines and opening (we hope!) your emails. Use email marketing to build your trust relationship with people. And, don’t start those conversations with a hard sale. An out-of-the-gate ask will only lead to being ignored.
DO include a P.S. at the bottom. By offering valuable information and advice in an email series — about 3-5 emails is a good start — you’re building a relationship with people. These first few emails should offer great content to serves your audience. At the bottom, below your signature, include a P.S. It’s here that you can include a call to action around a more sales-oriented item. Keep the language conversational, but take the opportunity to elicit a stronger commitment from your audience if they’re ready to take the plunge.
From Jennifer Bailey, Web Strategist
DON'T be dishonest in your email subject lines just to get clicks - you will get reported as SPAM and your unsubscribes will increase! Not to mention, you won't be trusted.
DO try to use 7 words in your email subject lines. Emails with 7 words statistically get more opens.
From Chad Alexander, Video Director
DON'T underestimate the power of being lazy. Let us explain. If you have really good content already written, and you feel like you are repeating yourself, just send the email anyway. 9 times out of 10 people won't realize that you're copying and pasting, but more importantly, they'll see that you are conveying to them the same message. As humans, we are conditioned to find out patterns and seek out structure. And if you repeat the messaging over and over again, it may finally click for some people. Remember, it takes about 9 touches for a person to become a sale. Additionally, like the old adage goes, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it!"
DO yourself a favor and showcase your passion. Your email can ignore all of the rules or guidelines we can give you if it conveys passion. We like to use the example of Mondo because they do the exact opposite of what we preach. They have long-winded emails. They sell multiple things in their emails (we prefer a singular CTA just for clarity). Yet they put some much passion into their writing that they bring you into this world that they are selling you. From vinyl records to board games to collectibles, you want the thing they are talking about- even if you have no clue what it's about!
Top Recommended Email Marketing Software
Here at Story we use HubSpot for our automations and workflows, including email nurturing - but we realize that not every small business is ready for the leap to Hubspot. So, we also recommend MailChimp for this purpose (which, also happens to work nicely with Hubspot accounts). Larry Kim has a great list of email software which includes MobileMonkey and others.
If you have any questions about Email Marketing, make a free appointment to see how you can maximize email with your entire marketing strategy.
