Abby Alwan, with EMMA (myemma.com), a web-based email marketing service, shares case studies of how her company's more than 40,000 customers create, send and track email newsletters as part of their content marketing mix.
@AbbyAlwan [email protected]myemma.com Email (content) Marketing 1 Content Marketing always seemed like a silly phrase- Marketing has always been the process of portraying collateral/design...content to connect your brand w/your consumers. So isn’t all marketing content marketing? The main things I was able to connect w/ when first learning of content marketing is that it’s the CREATION of and process of SHARING that content with your brand followers and potential customers. With so many channels and types of content to portray, it’s no wonder people are buzzing about content marketing, not just marketing anymore. My favorite thing to talk about with Emma partners is how to tell your brand story to connect with your audience. Email is the perfect way to tell your story, so to me email and content marketing really go hand in hand.
Content Marketing always seemed like a silly phrase- Marketing has always been the process of portraying collateral/design...content to connect your brand w/your consumers. So isn’t all marketing content marketing?The main things I was able to connect w/ when first learning of content marketing is that it’s the CREATION of and process of SHARING that content with your brand followers and potential customers. With so many channels and types of content to portray, it’s no wonder people are buzzing about content marketing, not just marketing anymore.My favorite thing to talk about with Emma partners is how to tell your brand story to connect with your audience. Email is the perfect way to tell your story, so to me email and content marketing really go hand in hand.
63% of mobile users check email 1x day or more (Merkle 2011)
74% of all online adults prefer email in commercial communication (Merkle 2011)
90% of consumers have been using email since ’05 (2010 Digital Marketing Fact Book)
$42.08 ROI of every dollar spent on email marketing (DMI 2010)
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Here’s what we know about email: it’s personal, direct, it’s database driven, design & brand focused. It’s segment-able & it’s measurable. Social Media channels like T & FB are great additional tools to your overall marketing strategy, they especially play nicely with email. Emma loves SM, we take the stance of making it very easy to connect all the channels. for you AND your audience.They aren’t however, tools to use on their own w/out a solid channel like email done really well first.Posts and Tweets can be tracked to an extent, but not the way email can. Who saw it, what they clicked on, where they went and what they did once they got there (thanks google analytics). Email shows you the who behind the action.All of this considered, where is your audience? Look at who they are, and be where they are.
So you wanna incorporate email marketing into your strategy. First things first...
Get people on your list. Sign up forms should live where your audience is. Online, at store/front desk, fish bowl.
Segment - whether it be event invites vs. newsletter, where they live, what products they are specifically interested in. Groups & email activity
Sure you could send the message to everyone, but a study showed that 39% of people saw an increase in open rates and 28% saw a decrease in opt outs once they segmented their audience base.
Welcome note: set up a trigger, engage them right awayNewsletter: What they can learn to expect from youPromotion: New items in store, new collaboration to announce, any announcement you’ve gotEngagement: asking them to get involvedSurveyHolidayEvent. Another trigger. Tell your email platform they’re attending a particular event, set up triggers to remind them once they’ve clicked the RSVP link, then another after the event as a wrap upNotification: It’s raining but the event is covered, we’re still on. We’re closed due to an impromptu all-staff game of ping pong
YMCA. They utilize the color of their design to draw your eyes to key components. Brand recognition is a big part of grabbing attention in that 9 seconds. Having great looking emails (including branded, well designed headers/top 1/3rd of the email) is an important way to engage someone that has opted into your brand.
Using bold images and consistent font, it’s a great read & accomplishes all of that. Logo links to site, Donate Now call to action links to donation page. Informative, tells their story,
Greenlights in Austin. A nice thank you with great call to action. Love their Kickstarter-style donation buttons. They utilize their content on their website to save the email real estate for the call to action & why. Again with the stand-out link in blue. I maybe would have used Green, but it looks good.
Sweet Leaf. They continue to build their brand with engagement and activity. Not calling for SALES, BUY ME, SPEND YOUR MONEY HERE. But really solidifying their relationship with the audience through activity. Bigger picture strategy, the sales ultimately come. Driving traffic to social media and site.
Catbird. More of an announcement or sales driven email/announcement. Highlighting what’s new and linking each image to that part of the online store. They get where they want to go. Also drive them right into the store when they get that email at 4pm on a Tues. Keeps things concise, you don’t have to scroll far to see what’s in, you can open, look, click, get to where you want to be.
Tip here: Each image is linked to approp item. Use the knowledge of their attraction to that item for future targeting, trigger another email on more products like it.
Jumplinks/anchors. Use links when you can and when it fits. You want to drive them to the original content. However, not EVERY audience wants to see short and sweet. When you have an audience that enjoys those longer emails, or you don’t have that content on your site or blog to drive them elsewhere and your email is where it’s at, let them choose what’s important with these quick links. They take them to the portion of the email that will give them more info.
If I see the list of topics up top and one interests me, I’m definitely jumping down to read it. But if I scan the entire email to see what’s interesting to me, I could miss something with all that text and content.
Another Y Example (we love us some YMCA), The content in the email reminds them of savings they can take advantage of, and the links up top show them each action/item they want to take/learn more about. Images connect you with the program, and the real estate in the email highlights the best parts about summer camp.
More engagement here. Utilize your channels together.
Kodak announced a social media image contest via email. Used email to engage the activity, as well as see who was interested in it. Building their brand loyal consumers, and those who participate feel like they’re part of the Kodak community.
Birds, awesome ATX barbershop. What a great thank you note from the owners, their image is so personal, building + thanking their brand loyal followers- with the call to action for engagement and sharing with your friends to vote.
Test a few out to see what works best for your audience. A/B Split testing makes that easy.
Test length. Sometimes short subject lines destroy long ones, sometimes they don’t
Pay close attention to what is working for your audience in a style of subject line as well as from name. Is info@, or abby@ more effective to use?
Big pet peeve of mine is noreply@, but that may work for your brand identity or client. I invited you to my inbox, at least tell me there’s a human behind it!
9 Seconds? Major value and call to action at the top
Utilize jump-links, drive traffic
Use stand-out design, colors for links and calls to action.
Watch engagement, be where audience wants you to be
Make sure you're gathering -- and using -- information about your subscribers to send more relevant emails.
Know what the best practices are, but don't always assume they'll work. Bravely experiment
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I’ll leave you with a few final thoughts.
9 secs: Are your emails designed to maximize that?links: drive traffic to more contentCreate the content in the email so the important points stand outWhere aud wants you to be: put your emails in social media channels so everyone can see your messagesend follow-up notes to people who've clicked or openedMaybe a really long email will outperform a to-the-point one. Or a weekend send time will engage a whole new group of readers. Everything is different for everyone’s brand, so it’s important to TEST what’s right for yours.
