Creating an appropriate email marketing strategy is an easy task, but if what we are looking for is a strategy with very clear objectives and goals, things get complicated. Above all, because a well-defined strategy with clear objectives entails the measurement of parameters and results.
In our article today, and inspired by a tutorial made by the Digital Marketing expert, Vilma Núñez, we are going to teach you how to create, step by step, an Email Marketing strategy in an appropriate manner and with almost imminent success.
Email Marketing strategy: the first thing you need to be clear about
First of all, we would like you to be clear about the components that make up an Email Marketing strategy when we want to ensure that it is adequate. All of them, of course, must always revolve around the general objectives of the company, and they are the following:
1.- Objectives
2.- Strategy
3.- Email Marketing Tool
4.- Subscriber acquisition
5.- Newsletter creation
6.- Metrics and data analysis
Thanks to all these factors, constantly interconnected, we manage to make the Email Marketing machinery work.
Let's look at them now, one by one, to properly understand what role they play in the Email Marketing strategy.
The components of the Email Marketing strategy gear
1.- Objectives
When we talk about objectives, we are referring to the purpose of the Email Marketing campaign you are about to carry out. This objective, of course, is the goal of the campaign, but it must always revolve around joint company objectives.
Furthermore, if once you have defined the objective, you also set a forecast or goal, it will be much easier for you to reach it.
Let's take the following situation as an example: our company's objective at this specific moment is to increase the overall level of sales by obtaining greater profitability. Therefore, the objective of our Email Marketing campaign, on this occasion, will be to increase sales derived from the newsletter, and our goal will be to achieve that increase of 20% or more in the next 12 months.
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This way, you can keep your focus constantly on this objective and the goal to achieve it, avoiding getting distracted or deviating from the point.
2.- Strategy
You can only get to this second point when you have clearly defined the objective of the campaign. So, following the previous example – and considering as your objective to increase the number of sales from your newsletter –, you must define (now yes!) the Email Marketing strategy that you are going to follow , which will involve focusing and planning exclusive contests and raffles for our brand subscribers in which, in exchange for a minimum purchase, they will be eligible for a prize. In addition, we will place promotional banners in the newsletter, encouraging the user to buy a certain product. Finally, also with the aim of encouraging the purchase, we will offer a certain cluster of customers (for example, the one most in tune with product X) to receive free product samples at home so that they can personally try it out at their leisure. In return, we hope that – if the product has been optimal for them – they will make the purchase.
This is just an example of a (simple and quick) strategy that we could apply in our company, if we follow a set objective. As you can see, it is much simpler having a reference base point.
Finally, we would like to tell you that -at the time you are defining your strategy-, it is necessary that you also answer a series of other questions that you must clearly define in your Email Marketing strategy:
Types of content : we must define whether we are going to send newsletters with videos, photos, reviews, banners, etc.
Content frequency: as we always say, don't overdo it with sending content too regularly, because you'll only make your subscribers start to feel suspicious of your brand.
Content “grid”: create, in collaboration with your company’s Social Media Strategist , a content grid or calendar where you indicate, divided by day, what content you are going to launch at each moment, and stick to that calendar. It is quite convenient and useful, especially when you work in a team and you want everyone to follow the same strategy and be clear about what to apply at each moment.
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3.- Email Marketing Tool
Once the Email Marketing strategy is clearly defined, and you are clear about what, how and when to launch your content, it is time for you to – after creating the content itself – send the newsletter or informative bulletin.
To do this, you need an Email Marketing tool through which you can launch the content.
Our advice is to read the following article so that you have a clear idea of what a company should demand from an Email Marketing tool according to its conditions and needs. The most important thing: 24/7 assistance, exclusivity in sending (your sendings should not share an IP with the sendings of other clients) and that it offers highly detailed metrics.
We give you complete freedom to select the one that best vp technical email lists fits your brand, but don't forget that Mittum is a great option
4.- Subscriber acquisition
Well, one topic that we haven't discussed (yet) in the previous point is that, when you create the content of the newsletter, taking into account (of course) your objectives and what your company needs, you should stop for a few seconds to think about whether you want to include some type of questionnaire in your design.
Oh! And don't be fooled by the myths that are out there about Email Marketing , because I assure you that forms are not as negative as people think. It is true that users have so little free time in their daily lives that the last thing they want to do is stop and fill out a questionnaire. However, you can also give it a twist and, for example, add a small incentive in exchange for the user filling out the data.
Remember that, as we always tell you, information is power , and even more so in Email Marketing: the more information you have about your clients, the better you will be able to carry out segmented Email Marketing shipments later on.
