They keep saying email marketing is dead, but it’s still with us. And it gets better open/read rates than social media posts too. So here are some key tips to keep you in touch with your audience:
- Email regularly. Decide what works for you and your contacts – start slowly if you want, and then send more often. I saw a poll recently where people were asked how often they email their contacts. Some said daily, some weekly, some monthly and some said never! Don’t wait to write the perfect message – send a less than perfect one. People may not pay much attention to the emails you send, but I guarantee they will pay no attention at all to the emails you don’t send!
- Have a call to action – try a new product, sign up for a webinar, download a freebie, but don’t make it one long sales pitch. Give value – a tip, a joke, something people will want to receive.
- In fact, don’t make it too long at all. How much do you want to read in an email? Most people are probably just like you. A screenful is plenty. More than that and – lucky you, you now have enough content for two emails.
- Keep it simple. Simple language and simple layout. By all means, use your brand colours, maybe even your font. But don’t mix lots of fonts. capitals, bold, italic and masses of exclamations marks. It looks cheesy, salesy, and it’s hard to read.
- Proof read it carefully. I know. Boring. But you will lose some of your audience straight away if you have mistakes. And you will lose all credibility if your messages are littered with simple mistakes and typos. It looks sloppy, they’re harder to read, so people won’t bother. Why should they?
What makes you open an email and read it? Not everyone will be like you, but it’s a start.
