Benefits of Email Marketing

Benefits of Email Marketing

Small businesses have lots of options when it comes to marketing strategies. However, those options are not all created equal. Some may be more expensive or time-consuming than others, and some may have higher ROI. The type of business you own will largely determine the different marketing strategies you employ, but there is one that is effective across industries:

Email marketing.

There are many benefits of email marketing as a marketing strategy. And did you know that email marketing is one of the most well-received forms of marketing with consistent ROI?

Many people spend a considerable amount of their day looking at emails, especially on smartphones. A recent survey from Statista found that almost 50% of smartphone users prefer to receive communications from businesses via email.  And those communications are usually successful in converting to sales. Another survey found that 50% of people buy from marketing emails at least once a month. This leads to an impressive average ROI for email marketing, earning approximately $36 for every $1 spent.

Numbers, however, aren’t the only incentive to work email marketing into your marketing strategy. Read on for the top 7 benefits of email marketing that you can take advantage of for your business.

Personalized Marketing

Email marketing is easy to personalize, which can make it more effective at converting leads and earning sales. Personalization options for email marketing are endless, but there are two common strategies.

The first involves simply including the recipient’s name in the subject line or body copy of the email. It seems simple, but this strategy is incredibly effective in increasing email open rates. Emails with personalized subject lines have a 26% higher open rate than generic subject lines. Most email marketing platforms include easy-to-use codes to include the recipient’s name, so it’s easier than ever to personalize your email marketing strategy.

Segmentation is the second personalization strategy for email marketing. Segmentation is when you divide your email list into categories and send different communications to each category. For example, you could have one email go out to first-time customers, and a different one sent to repeat customers. If your business markets multiple products or services, you can also utilize CRM software to tag your email list based on the services your contacts are interested in. Then you can opt to only send emails about certain services to those contacts. This ensures that your messages are relevant and interesting, instead of being viewed as spam.

Measurable Results

Another one of the benefits of email marketing is how easy it is to see measurable results. Email platforms often have built-in statistics that detail bounce rates, open rates, click-through rates, and more. You can see how quickly a contact opened an email after it was sent, or how many recipients clicked on a link in the email. This data is invaluable for future email marketing initiatives. Use the data to determine what works and what doesn’t, and you can refine future emails using those strategies.

Increased Site Traffic

Improved SEO is another benefit of email marketing. Including links to your website in your email communications encourages recipients to go to your website to check out your products and services. Backlinks to your website via email will improve your website’s SEO ranking overall. Emails with links to your website also can generate more traffic by word-of-mouth. Recipients can forward an interesting email to their other contacts, which could lead to more customers checking out your site who may not have otherwise.

Increased Sales

60% of consumers in a survey reported that they have made a purchase because of a marketing email they received. This statistic is particularly noteworthy for small businesses with an e-commerce site. Emails detailing promotions, sales, or product highlights can generate interest and encourage customers to purchase to take advantage of a deal. You can even develop email-only promotions or deliver your contacts a special coupon code to further entice them.

Cost-Effective

With a high ROI, email marketing is more cost-effective than other forms of marketing. Sending printed mailers, producing radio or television ads, or hiring more marketing personnel are all costly marketing strategies that may be difficult for small businesses. Email is an easy way to reach thousands or hundreds of thousands of people in minutes, at little cost to you. Many CRMs make it easy to send emails directly from their software to your contacts, so you can manage your customers and your emails all in one place for one price.

Timesaving

As a small business owner, you know that time is invaluable. In addition to being cost-effective, another benefit of email marketing is how much time it will save you compared to other forms of marketing. Traditional marketing campaigns, like television, radio, or print, can take weeks or months to produce and implement. Email marketing is easier and faster to put together, which means that your emails can be more timely or topical depending on what is going on in your business and the world at large. Emails don’t have to be fancy, either! A simple text-based email can be composed quickly and sent out even within a single day.

Improves Recognition

Finally, another benefit of email marketing is it can help improve your brand recognition. Email communications, like other written brand communications, will often be composed in your brand voice, or showcase your brand colors, style, or logos. Showing off your brand’s personality in your emails and providing your email list with something of value may even generate excitement for your weekly or monthly newsletters. You can research your audience and even do surveys to determine what kind of content they’d like to see in their inboxes. Then, when you deliver, it will improve your brand recognition and brand image overall.

Develop Killer Email Marketing with Killerspots

When done right, the benefits of email marketing are vast and rewarding. The first step to drafting a killer email campaign, however, is with killer written content. If you need help crafting emails for your small business, Killerspots’ team of talented writers can help create emails that engage and convert. Get in touch with us today to speak with our writing and marketing teams.

Why Your Business Needs an Inbound Marketing Strategy

Seo

Let’s bring it in! Inbound marketing (also known as content marketing) allows you to increase traffic to your company’s website. Once you attract visitors, you can engage and delight them with your content.

When done right, an inbound marketing strategy allows you to turn website visitors into paying customers.

Better yet, you can encourage those customers to come back for more through brand loyalty. 

In fact, inbound marketing through content costs 62% less than outbound marketing and produces three times as many leads.

Still on the fence? Keep reading to learn the six benefits of developing your inbound marketing strategy.

1. Inbound is More Effective Than Outbound

Outbound marketing strategies such as flyers and billboards aren’t going anywhere. While they can help you increase brand awareness, these tactics aren’t always effective.

Think about it. Flyers go out to anyone within a certain location. That means you’re not targeting your ideal customer. 

Then, you have to hope the message sinks in. Even with a strong call-to-action (CTA), there’s no guarantee people take action. If they do, how do you know that lead came from that flyer?

Sometimes, outbound marketing strategies come off as interruptive and annoying.

Think about the last time you watched Hulu or a show on TV. The commercials distract from the show you’re watching, just to make a sale. 

Since you can’t always match an outbound campaign to the right audience, some of the ads end up irrelevant to the people who see them. 

An inbound marketing strategy, on the other hand, allows you to choose a more effective route.

Instead of interrupting someone’s experience, inbound marketing strives to help make the consumer’s life easier. By creating content your audience wants and needs, you’re showing customers you’re an informative resource. This also creates a more authentic experience for your customers. 

The precise targeting also ensures companies avoid wasting their marketing budget. 

Instead, you can find your ideal customer and show them your expertise through your inbound marketing strategy.  

2. Target Throughout the Buyer’s Journey

The buyer’s journey moves from awareness to consideration to decision. Before your website visitors becoming paying customers, they go through all three steps of this journey. 

With an inbound marketing strategy, you can guide people along their buyer’s journey. 

With a billboard, you only have one chance (and a few seconds) to make an impact. With inbound marketing, you can target potential customers along every stage of their journey. 

For example, let’s say someone visits your website. Maybe they put an item in their cart, then leave. With remarketing, you can show them digital ads of that same product.

Then, you can remind them to return to your website to complete their purchase.

In this example, the prospect starts with awareness—they know about your product. They consider buying your product, but instead abandon their cart. With remarketing, you can spark awareness again, then help the consumer to the decision-making step.

If you don’t have an e-commerce site, the useful content on your website can also guide site visitors along the buyer’s journey. Blog posts and case studies can answer questions, inform consumers, and direct them toward the decision to call your company.

Either way, you’re directing a site visitor straight towards a sale. 

3. Continuously Build Your Audience

With inbound marketing, the goal is to attract prospects and convert them into leads. Once they’re interested, you want to close the sale and turn a lead into a customer. Finally, you want to delight customers so they help promote your product. 

Inbound marketing uses a number of tactics to help you build this audience. 

During the “Attract” stage, you can use blogging, search engine optimization (SEO), social media, and advertising. 

Then, you can use a form or chatbot on your landing page to convert visitors.

Email marketing and CRM integration can Close the deal. Then, surveys and referral programs can Delight customers into becoming promoters. 

4. Personalization Pays Off

34% of consumers are more likely to make an unplanned purchase if a brand personalizes content.

With an inbound marketing strategy, you can split your audience into buyer personas. These personas make it easier for you to personalize content per their interests.

Traditional marketing uses a “one message fits all” approach. With inbound marketing, you can focus on customers at a more personal level. This makes it easier for you to build trust with your prospects and turn them into customers.

5. Save Time and Money

Don’t waste time with leads that don’t have any interest in your business.

With an inbound marketing strategy, you can focus on the people already searching for your product or service online. These are people who want to buy already.

Inbound marketing allows you to attract these prospects to your website.

Instead of wasting time pushing a product or service they don’t need, you can attract people who already want what you offer. This makes it easier for you to attract qualified leads using content that aligns with your audience’s needs.

Inbound marketing also uses automation. You can automate tasks to save yourself time and money. These tasks include email marketing, social media posts, monitoring, and reporting. 

When you save time and money marketing, you can spend more time and money on what matters: your business. As a result, you’re able to increase your ROI and compete with bigger companies in the industry. 

6. Measure the Success

You can’t accurately measure a flyer or billboard’s success to boost brand awareness.

With inbound marketing tactics, however, all the data you need is a click away. You can generate reports and measure the success of your campaigns. Then, you can make informed decisions for improving campaigns in the future.

With inbound marketing, you can also set goals and milestones. If you’re falling short, you have the data in hand to show you want needs improving. 

Bring It In: 6 Reasons You Need an Inbound Marketing Strategy

It’s time to bring in new business. With an inbound marketing strategy, you can attract, convert, and delight your customers. Then, you can optimize your campaigns for continuous success. 

Stand out from the competition. Contact us today to grow your company using an inbound marketing strategy!

Tips for Killer Emails

emails

In today’s market, emails are one of the most effective ways to pique the interest of consumers.

But how do you make sure that your emails are effective? Here are some of our favorite tips for increasing the effectiveness of your email marketing.

1. Think About The Format

All your emails should be optimized for mobile. No matter the device someone reads your email on it should automatically adjust itself to fit their screen.

Luckily, optimizing for mobile is easier than ever before. The majority of emailing list providers automatically provide you with optimized mailing campaigns.

2. A Great Subject Line Equals A Great Open Rate

That fancy template you chose and great copy you wrote won’t matter one bit if people don’t open the message. Increase your open rates by writing intriguing yet concise and direct subject lines. You want to let your audience know what to expect in the email plus entice them to actually open it.

3. Clear CTA

The aim of most email marketing campaigns is to increase traffic to a site, sometimes a specific landing page. No clicks mean no customers, it’s that simple. Always try to include visually striking buttons with text that give readers more than one opportunity to interact with your content.

4. Watch Your Language

If your email is caught in a spam filter, your messages will never reach potential customers. You should avoid any sales-oriented language, using all caps, too many exclamation marks, and hyperbolic phrases like “BUY NOW!”. Poorly formatted HTML in your emails can also hurt how they’re handled. Every spam filter is different, so an email might pass through one filter but get flagged by another. The best way to keep your email out of the spam folder is to test it by sending it to yourself on different email accounts.

5. Add a Personal Touch

Personalization goes a long way. What a lot of marketers fail to grasp is that customers don’t want to be seen as a nameless face. They want to be acknowledged as unique human beings. This is relatively easy to do because all you have to do is indulge in some personalization.

Rather than sending out the same emails to everyone, use the feedback you’re getting to segment your email list. That way you can make sure customers feel like you’re reading their minds. Some people choose to invest in systems that will allow you to add people’s names to the subject line and body of the messages, but this approach is not for everybody. You can segment your mailing list, for example, by geography, age or purchase history and then send messages written specifically for each group.

6. Send Clean Emails

When sending your emails, you need to make your content is visually clean. To increase their readability and deliverability they need to be free from spelling errors, broken links, images, and aesthetically pleasing to your audience.

You should also use shorter paragraphs and ensuring that keywords and phrases relevant to your readers stand out. Including bullet points to help people skim the content and take in the vital points is a great idea to present your content in a clean and concise way. When using images within your email, be sure that they are relevant to your content and they have the correct keywords in their alt-text.

Have any questions about email marketing? Contact us here! 

5 Ways to Make Your Email Marketing Strategy a Success

email marketing strategy

Not only does email marketing build credibility and strengthen customer relationships, but it is unique from other marketing strategies. Here’s why: it’s either very inexpensive or free, meaning you have nothing to lose if it fails. On top of that, studies have shown that a successful email marketing campaign can produce up to 4,300 percent return on investment.

Sadly, not all email marketing approaches are effective. People find them to be annoying, due to excessive floods of emails, cheesy wording, and the possibility of spam. However, there are ways to change attitudes regarding an email marketing strategy. Here’s a list of tactics that will pique your consumers’ interest as well as keep them engaged in the content.

1. Directly address the consumer’s name at the start of the email

Even using an automated system that includes each person’s name at the beginning of the message makes it more likely for people to open an email. When a message is personalized, people feel special. This also helps strengthen customer relationships, because they feel valued as a client.

2. Don’t flood your consumers’ inboxes

When targeting a specific audience, take into consideration how large or small it is. The larger the audience, the more emails you might have to send to get your message across. If it’s a smaller population you want to reach, send fewer emails. Better yet, give your customers the option of how often they want to receive emails.

3. Make the “unsubscribe” button clearly visible

How many times have you not been able to figure out how to unsubscribe to an unwanted email? Many times, companies trap their email recipients into receiving excessive messages. Making sure you implement a large, clear “unsubscribe” button in your message builds trust with your customers.

4. Keep your email marketing strategy content simple

The more words and visuals your message contains, the more distracting it is. Simply including just two or three sentences makes it more likely for consumers to be interested in the message. Another tip is to avoid stock photos. Instead, use original images that people have never seen before.

5. Scrap the “click here” option

To put it simply, people associate sketchy links with spam. A “click here” option will turn people off if they think it will lead to a virus. Rather, what you should do is use a different phrase. Make them an offer they can’t resist by using persuasive language. Like “sign up now” or “learn more here” and direct them to your website. 

Since email marketing is a great way to build rapport with your clients for free, make sure you do it the right way. If you have questions regarding email marketing tips or software, contact us!

Why You Should Use Email Marketing and How to Do So

email marketing

In today’s market, email marketing is one of the most effective ways to pique the interest of consumers.

How?

Not only does email marketing build credibility and strengthen customer relationships, but it also gets them to comply with your message. Whether it be purchasing a product, attending an event, or donating to a specific cause.

A fast and efficient option for reaching consumers, email marketing is actually the most effective channel of communication with retailers, according to millennials.

So, how should you get started?

Finding the right software for your business is the first step. One reputable software system is Infusionsoft.

Infusionsoft also reviews what you write to make sure that the email doesn’t go into the spam folder. Also, the software uses a calculation to determine the best times to send out mass emails. In other words, they tell you when people are most likely to open emails and click on the links.

Overall, email marketing gives businesses the potential to increase sales, customer satisfaction, and build relationships.

With current technology is at its peak, utilizing email to market products is the best way to get people to pay attention and go to your website.

If you have any questions you can contact us here.

Visual Content Marketing Facts

visual content

Visual Content Marketing

Discover why you need a better visual content marketing strategy

Content is everywhere. From viewing street signs to reading articles on the internet, content is a major part of our day-to-day lives. Anyone can start a blog and create content, but great content marketing is about creating stellar content with a purpose and strategy. This past year, we’ve seen the importance of visual content emphasized by the changes that occurred across almost every major social network. Including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Pinterest. At the same time, both video and infographics have become powerful tools for brands looking to communicate more easily with their readers with visual content marketing.

Social Media Stats

Tweets with images received 150% more retweets than tweets without images.

On Instagram, photos showing faces get 38% more likes than photos not showing faces

Facebook posts with images see 2.3x more engagement than those without images

57% of teens use Instagram, and nearly as many as (41%) use Snapchat.

46% of marketers say photography is critical to their marketing and storytelling strategies.

34% of marketers selected visual assets as their most important content

73% of content creators plan to prioritize creating more in 2016

Have any questions about visual content marketing? Contact us today! 

6 Reasons You Need To Switch to Inbound Marketing

inbound marketing

Today now more than ever, Inbound Marketing is important for any business.

Inbound marketing is the process of earning a forefront place in your customer’s mind rather than spamming them with paid advertisements.

Here are 6 reasons your business needs to switch to the inbound methodology.

1. Inbound Plays the Long Game

With outbound, as soon as you stop paying, you stop seeing results. With inbound, your content is always there and if you’re in the right business, so is the need.

Leads are drawn over time, and the longer your article gets traffic, the higher it will rank, making it even more likely to gain traffic. That’s why blog content creation is the number 1 priority for a majority of marketers.

It’s a gift that keeps on giving.

2. You Can Learn More About Your Audience

Inbound marketing is all about communication and dialogue. By engaging in content and social conversations, you can learn useful things about your audience that will help you convert.

This will enable you to ask the right questions on your landing page forms. Social media listening will enable you to pick up trends and anticipate what content you should be producing.

Actively listening to your customers is a huge key to success in inbound marketing.

3. Outbound is A Dying Practice

A few years ago, it was easy to create a piece of content or an outbound message and grab the attention of your target audience.

In 2017, white space is GONE. People are bombarded with advertising everywhere, on every device, at home, and at work.

Consumers have become incredibly skilled at narrowing their attention to focus only on what they want to see.

4. Inbound Focuses on Growth

Inbound marketing takes time. You can grow sustainably, instead of perpetuating the boom and bust culture that has caused so many problems in the world economy.

As the inbound marketing snowball gets bigger, in turn bringing in more leads. It should pay for itself, and always deliver more than it costs. Content will gather momentum with less and less energy required from you for it to grow. It will grow itself.

5. Inbound Can Save You Time AND Money

Time spent on inbound is time spent on strong leads. Time spent spamming emails to hundreds of people who don’t know or care what you offer is time wasted.

Inbound allows you to focus your time effectively. Which means less time on marketing and more on building your business.

6. Inbound Builds Trust

Inbound Marketing is like building a friendship with your audience. What are the qualities you want in a friend? Trustworthiness, reliability, a sense of humor, basic competence, and a unique perspective.

When customers see that you are creating useful content, that you’re professional, that you’re knowledgeable in your field, they can’t help but have more respect and trust for you.

If someone trusts you, of course, they are more likely to buy from you. This is the essence of inbound marketing. If you remember nothing else from this article, remember this.

Have questions or want to learn more about inbound marketing? Don’t hesitate to contact us here.