Email Marketing Basics and Using it in 2021
What is Email Marketing?
Start Collecting Emails
Are you someone who is looking to send professional emails? Do you want more people to know about your business and what you do? If you said yes to both these questions, then keep scrolling down because we are going to teach you how to choose the best email provider.
In a professional set up, you need to be mindful of the language you are using along with the email provider that you choose to send that message through. The reason is quite obvious that you are not sending this email to a friend or a family member.
If you are a yoga instructor and are using your personal Gmail account to send messages to your students, then you are breaking the rules of marketing. Yes, you read that correctly. By using your account, you are automatically limiting your growth because no one will be able to sign up through your personal Gmail account. Do not worry too much because signing up for an email marketing provider is free and you can do it whenever you like.
If you do your research, you will come up with many options that are easily available online. However, some of the best options that are out there, and people recommend are ConvertKit and Mailchimp. If you sign up with Mailchimp, you will get a free subscription for around 2,000 subscribers, just during the trial period. Is that not amazing?
You can later move on to ConvertKit when you plan on expanding your subscription list even further. It is quite easy to use and has a bonus for you to keep growing when you sign up to use it. You can use it for free for 14 days and then make your own decision later.
Select an Email Provider
Here is a list of reasons why you should use it as an email marketing provider:
- It is well designed
- Comes in quite handy
- Has a powerful tagging option
- Comes with different segmentation features
- Easily approachable customer service
- Your emails reach the required destination safely
Once you figure out which provider you are going to sign up with, here is how you can set up the account:
Opt-in form
The first step that you need to take, once you are clear about choosing a platform is to make sure that people can sign up using that email provider. For this particular purpose, you need to create an opt-in form for your site. If we particularly talk about Mailchimp and ConvertKit then both these email providers have an opt-in form option to let your subscribers sign up to your website. This way, they are easily added to your WordPress site.
In the opt-in form option, you would be required to add a few lines, describing the purpose of your business, something that would motivate people to sign up with your business. You can be as creative as you want. Just do not get too straight and in the face.
Here is what you can do to encourage people to sign up with your website:
Write the newsletter
Do not just start talking about random things, thinking that it will engage your users. No, do not do that. You need to first come up with a strategy to go about the newsletter and what you are going to put in it.
You can take notes from the following when you start writing the newsletter:
When will you send it?
The first and foremost thing that you should consider when sending out a newsletter is how often will you be sending it out. Yes, you read that correctly. When making a schedule for sending out the newsletter, make sure that you choose quality over quantity. This means that if you do not have something that might interest your subscribers, do not send that newsletter at all.
What to write in the Newsletter?
It is always a good idea to plan before sending out a newsletter. This way, even your subscribers would be aware of what to expect in that email from you. Rather than disappointing them with unwanted surprises, try knowing about their preferences and something that they would look forward to reading.
What would you like them to do next?
Make sure that you never forget to add a call to action (CTA) in the newsletter. Be clear about your end goal and mention it in the newsletter.
What writing style to follow?
Make sure that the content of the newsletter is following a conversational tone. This way, the reader will feel that you are talking to them personally instead of just distributing a newsletter that you have sent out to almost 2,000 other subscribers. Try building a connection with them through the newsletter you plan on sending.
Send a welcome text
The welcome message is an essential part of building a long-term relationship with your subscribers. This is the first email that they will receive from your business. So, make sure that you welcome them with open arms, making them feel wanted and important. It is important that you plan out your welcome message and put in some effort before just sending it out to your new subscribers. Always remember: The first impression is the last. Make sure you give your best shot.
In the first message, you should focus on being grateful to the subscriber for choosing you over others in the business. Acknowledge the time and effort it took them to sign up with you and that you appreciate it. Make sure that you are not making promises that you won’t be able to keep later.
After you have thanked them, shift the focus of your message towards informing them about the many features of your business and what you have to offer them.
Announce a giveaway
Let us be honest, who does not like freebies? A giveaway is a nice surprise that you can offer your new subscribers to quickly bond with you and become loyal customers of your business. You can offer this giveaway as a welcome present to the new subscribers for trusting you.
Here are a few giveaway ideas that you can offer your new subscribers:
- Discount coupon
- Cheat sheets
- Online courses
- Wishlist
- Online tutorials
These are a few ideas. However, you can come up with many more interesting ideas based on the niche of your brand and how well you want to treat your new subscribers. There is no limit and you can go as far as you want. The whole point of announcing a giveaway is to give the user an impression of how generous you are and how much you care about them.
You can ask yourself the following questions if you are still unsure of what you would like to offer the new subscribers:
- How can I help my customers?
- What would they like?
- How am I different from other businesses?
Make a page
Now that you have sent out your welcome message and offered a giveaway to your new subscribers, you would want to move ahead with promoting your business and engaging more customers. For this particular reason, you must create a landing page for your business. The truth is no matter how great of a brand you are and what amazing things you have to offer to your customers, if you are not promoting yourself the correct way and reaching out to the masses then you won’t go too far. That is exactly why you need to create a landing page. It will be your space where you can promote yourself as much as possible, howeveryou like. You can start by talking about the giveaway and what people will get once they start interacting with your business. Make sure that new people are signing up through this marketing tactic. Ask them to like, share and comment as much as possible.
Have a content strategy
You can have the most expensive giveaway announcement, but it won’t get you too far if you do not have a content plan. The key to having an amazing content strategy is to be consistent in what you do. Do not deviate from what you had initially promised your customers. You can keep trying new things to gather more audiences but make sure that you stick to one content plan to grow significantly.
To have a fail-proof strategy, you need to keep brainstorming and look at things that your competitors are doing. This way you will have a better sense of whatever is going in the market and how you can improve your current strategies. You need to plan ahead of time. Everything cannot be done at the last minute. Your newsletters, your daily engagement posts for the landing page, should all be planned before you want to post them or send them out to customers.
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