Refreshing Your Monthly Email Blast
A new year is here, and each calendar change brings new opportunities and challenges for small business owners.
Email campaigns, blasts, and newsletters have been a tried-and-true staple in small business marketing for the last decade. While social media platforms change in popularity and website features evolve, email blasts have been a reasonably steady yet crucial component of a small company's awareness strategy.
Not only do these campaigns send the latest news and helpful resources to your clients and customers, but they keep your brand top of mind through a steady drip of engaging and educational content. While that person may not need your services at that exact moment, you will be the first one they remember and reach out to when they do.
While email blasts offer a consistent way to engage with customers and prospects, they shouldn't stagnate on default.
Let's discuss some ways you can refresh your email blasts this year.
Refresh Your Template Designs
Many people associate email blasts with text first over graphics. Bright colors and fancy graphics are for social media and advertisements.
Not necessarily.
Your audience likely receives hundreds of emails a day. If you want yours to stand out, prioritize aesthetically pleasing graphics or engaging photos surrounding your message.
That said, if your email template or other media is too busy, you may lose sight of your message. Start this year by examining your current email templates/graphics and looking at sample designs for ideas that will be refreshing without being overwhelming.
Create and Assess Automations
Automations are an excellent way to level up your email campaigns and online interactions for your small business.
An automation is a "rule" you create so that when customers complete (x) action, they will receive (y) automated email. For instance, if they sign up to join the email list, the system will automatically send them a "welcome" email that you craft. Most email platforms make setting up automation simple and seamless, with little to no coding experience needed.
Another example is when customers purchase from your online store; they will automatically receive an email with a tracking number for their order.
Do you have automation set up through your website and an email platform? If not, make this year the year you get them set up. If you already have automation set up, ensure that the messages are up to date and consider adding additional graphics or details to them as a refresh.
As a bonus tip, you could include special offers or coupon codes to incentivize signing up (depending on your business). For example, we have a client who will send a 10% coupon code on both the initial signup automation and the monthly email blasts, and they have seen great success through this.
Incorporate Testimonials
Testimonials and customer success stories hold enormous value for small businesses.
When a customer has a great experience with your product or service and chooses to share their story with you, run with it. Prospective or returning customers may be inspired by the story in the testimonial and encouraged to continue supporting your business.
Even if incorporating testimonials into your email blasts doesn't see an initial spike in sales, it will help to build your company's reputation over time.
Where can you incorporate testimonials into an email blast? If your email blast serves more as a newsletter, you can add a short section and include a review or testimonial from a recent customer.
Additionally, always consider ways to redirect the reader to your website, where they have more chances to click on a CTA (call to action). Regarding email testimonials, grab the reader's attention with a tagline about the story and then include a button that links to the testimonial on the website.
Adding Educational Content
Do you ever feel like you can't escape the constant inundation of advertisements anymore?
Chances are, you're not alone. While our digital world offers many benefits, advertising fatigue is valid. Adding educational content is one way to combat this and help your email blasts stand out. Not every email communication from your business needs to be a sales pitch.
If you have a blog on your website that posts educational pieces or industry news, you can summarize the blog in the email and point readers to the blog to read more.
You could also include links to videos, product demos, community events, or third-party industry news sources (with permission when needed).
Adding educational content shows that your small business is well-rounded and wants to do more than sell to your customers.
Don't Forget About Humor and Emotion
Business emails may be more formal than personal ones, but that doesn't mean they must be dry.
The best marketers know that a touch of humor and emotion can go a long way. Gather your team and brainstorm some puns, jokes, or playful memes that you can incorporate into future email blasts (when appropriate).
Consider how you can play into your audience's emotions as well. Anything from quick anecdotes tugging your heartstrings to celebrating your small business and community can make an impact.
Consider Email Frequency
You can incorporate these ideas into your email blasts, but frequency is crucial in successful email campaigns.
Each small business must decide how often to send email blasts. There's no one golden rule since many factors can contribute to email campaigns.
The nature of your business, target audience demographics, budget, seasonality, and even staff time all influence the decision.
If you only send out email blasts once a quarter, you could challenge your team to switch to once a month. If you send out email blasts monthly, you could experiment with biweekly emails. However, if you have a high frequency of email blasts and sales emails, you can also focus on quality over quantity and see how this affects your open and click-through rates.
The biggest thing is not to send too many email blasts. The last thing you want is to annoy your clientele and have them unsubscribe or, much worse, report them as spam. In our experience, weekly emails are the most you can get away with, although it primarily depends on business and industry.
Work With Cole-Dalton Marketing Services
Our Cole-Dalton Marketing Services team aims to help small businesses succeed. We focus on marketing management services so you can focus on your business's core.
Need help setting up or managing your online portfolio? Check out our capabilities and marketing systems here, and let's get in touch to take your business to the next level!
