Although social networks and blogs can be ideal for brands, the truth is that newsletters are still an effective and functional communication channel when the database is real. In order not to get confused, I want to start the post by clarifying the differences between a newsletter, a mailing and email marketing.
The newsletter (bulletin) is a rather informative digital publication that is distributed via email with a certain periodicity (daily, weekly, monthly, bi-monthly or quarterly). They usually contain articles of interest about the brand and the area in which it operates. Those who receive this type of communication are subscribers who have previously shown interest in the brand and have requested to receive information by mail.
Mailing is one more advertising format used mostly to promote a brand's services and products. It is usually sent to massive databases not owned by the brand.
Email-marketing is a technique used by brands to contact their target audience through email. This marketing technique includes newsletters and mailing and above all a good strategy that supports the actions that are carried out.
Email is huge so lets go over some important Marketing aspects:
Main advantages of a newsletter
The public that receives, really cares about your content since they have decided to receive it in their email instead of accessing through your website. They willingly gave you their email.
Although it is not a direct sales tool, you can indirectly influence your subscribers.
It does not require a large economic investment, only some time a dedication. It can be done by anyone, personal and SMBs.
If its for a personal substack or a business newsletter, the timing, content and structure can be adapted to your needs and capabilities.
It can become the largest source of traffic to your website or blog
It is an ideal channel to retain customers
It is one of the best channels to sell, if you have a good strategy you can have more conversions than in other channels
Why should a brand implement Newsletters?
Let's be honest, social networks have arrived and they will stay with us for a long time but they change, mix, stop working and like Facebook, they might destroy organic traffic, basically forcing businesses to pay for their own followers to see new publications.
That's why, focusing all efforts on getting followers on social networks could be a problem in the future. However, if brands also focus on creating and growing their database in the future, they will not suffer losses when Facebook or Twitter have to close their doors or lose importance.
It is no secret that currently a registered user or a subscriber is worth a lot more than any fan on Facebook or follower on Twitter and it makes perfect sense. This is partly due to the conversion rate. So, we should consider building a database and an email relationship a priority, an investment for the future.
The importance of an Email Marketing Strategy
First of all, Yes. You need a strategy. It is important.
You can mass-send the same message to your entire contact base without any strategy at all. But by doing this, there is a high probability that your emails will have low open rates and the next ones might go directly to the spam folder.
Think of all the email marketing campaigns that flood our inboxes on a daily basis. Most of them are not even registered, just deleted. What are you going to do to make your emails stand out in an already cluttered inbox?
Remember: your contacts have accepted your emails because they expect to receive some kind of value from you. For your emails to deliver value, they must be personalized and tailored to the individual needs of the recipient.
To achieve higher open and click rates, you need to think carefully about how to connect with your contacts. This is where your email marketing strategy comes into play.
A strategy will define the "how", the "when" and the "why" behind your marketing efforts. Once established, this will give you the best chance of increasing conversions and reaching your business goals.
Steps for an optimal Email Marketing strategy
If you want to execute an Email Marketing strategy based on the interests of your audience and that engages with them, you must take into account the following:
1. Be clear about what objectives do you want to meet
Planning is one of the most important stages and not to be taken lightly if you want to be able to carry out each of the steps of your Email Marketing strategies. This way, it will be much easier to execute and analyze. Basically, preparing will set you up for a successfull email marketing campaign.
2. Partner with the most effective Email Marketing tools
Tools like Substack, Sendgrid, SendinBlue, MailChimp or Constant Contact, among others. Many of them have pre-designed templates to make your work easier, as well as an intuitive interface that will help you quickly design your campaign and measure the scope of each action.
3. Study your audience well
Email Marketing strategies should be aimed at your consumer audience. From this in-depth analysis, you will have the basic information to include in your emailing strategy from informative content or the organization of contests among your subscribers, depending on the objectives pursued with each sending.
4. Take care of your database
A subscriber list is measured by its quality and not so much by its quantity. The more quality contacts and the greater reach you have, the more you will be able to spread your messages in the desired way, getting progressively more subscribers to become clients.
5. Define the day and time for your newsletter to be sent
This measure will help you plan and correctly implement the marked Email Marketing strategy. While generally the best time to ship is 11 a.m., favorable days range from Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. However, it is recommended to do tests and assess the results to determine the most favorable day in your area target and purpose.
6. Landing Page for Newsletter signups
For your message to arrive the way you want it, you need to find the right channels. By linking your pages to a proper landing page on your website, it is possible to expand the database faster since landing pages are the perfect pages to record user data. For example, the "sign up and download" button that offers an e-book in exchange for our data.
Mistakes to avoid in Email Marketing
The best is to learn from other peoples mistakes, and that's what we do any chance we get. Here are a few things we've seen from inexperienced marketers:
Make false promises: This is one of the most common mistakes that many small businesses make at the beginning of their Email Marketing strategies. This mistake will affect the prestige and trust towards the company. Once the customer has been disappointed, they will never look back.
Not responding to customer concerns: You must listen to each client as if he were the only one that received the email and try to satisfy his needs immediately.
Do not create uninteresting promotions: You must design attractive promotions in which your client is integrated and feels like a participant.
Hire inexperienced staff: Either put in the time, read and learn or hire professionals specialized in Email Marketing (like Us : ). The amount of knowledge you put into the campaign will be reflected on each of the steps your company takes and customers will be the first to perceive it. Do it well or don't do it.
Don't Send emails to thousands of unknown people who don't know you or have shown interest in your Newsletter. People feel uneasy and can get annoyed when they receive what can only be consider SPAM. Hence, the importance of taking care of your database and creating Email Marketing strategies aimed at expanding the number of subscribers who are truly interested in receiving communications from your company.
Disregard filters: Email accounts generally filter to prevent spam. Its never good to land on the spam folder and its hard to get out.
Get the right partner for your Email Marketing
On this blog post we tried to go over the basics of Email Marketing, the structure and some useful information on Newsletters. But if your planning to use Email Marketing or Newsletter campaigns and want the best results, consider having a partner that can guide you and work with your team in achieving the goals.
Creating and managing a Email Marketing and Strategy, should include conversion tracking, constant optimization, correct attribution and a dedicated people that will walks with you all the way.
At BausLabs we proud ourselves in becoming part of your team, by understanding your business, your team, structure and objectives, we can provide the best services that will get you where you want to go from Barcelona, Tel Aviv and Zurich to the world.
Get in touch! We'll audit your campaign and analytics and advice you for free on a zoom call.
Have a great day,
Cheers!