Email Marketing 101 For Small Businesses
Email marketing has been a tried and true method of connecting potential and existing customers. Email marketing is a powerful way to push your business forward and should be a staple in any business plan. Setting up an auto-responder campaign and clicking “send” is easy, but a lot goes into crafting a successful email marketing campaign. Using our email marketing guide can help you understand the true power email brings to customer acquisition.
What is Email Marketing?
If you’re unfamiliar with it, email marketing uses email to build loyalty and drive sales. In addition, email marketing services can help you send your customers better content more effectively.
In essence, it’s a way for businesses to communicate with their customers or potential customers through email.
- Email marketing services like commercials can help you ensure that the messages you send are sent at the right time and reach the right people to be as effective as possible.
- Email marketing allows businesses to keep in touch with their customers regularly, and it’s an incredibly effective way to develop a rapport with them over time.
- It also allows businesses to send promotions and coupons to encourage more people to purchase their products or services.
Why Do Small Businesses Need Email Marketing Services?
Maybe you’re a small business with a storefront in a mall. You sell trendy clothes, or perhaps an ice cream shop everyone loves. You have a big store and many resources, but you’re still struggling to keep up with your competitors.
You’ve tried everything: coupons, social media posts, celebrity tie-ins—but nothing seems to work for you. You need to find a way to make the most out of your existing customer base and grow it to include new ones, but where do you start?
We can help! Table Rock is an email marketing company helping small businesses reach more customers with less work and fewer resources. We know what it’s like to be surrounded by companies doing the same thing you are—and we also know how important it is to stand out from the crowd. That’s why we’ve spent years developing our techniques and strategies for delivering maximum results with minimum effort.
How Does It Work, And What Does It Cost?
We’re here to help you make more money by getting more customers. It’s just that simple.
Email marketing works. It’s how brands get customers to take action. And we can help you do it for your small business, whether you need a little guidance or a full-service solution.
The first step is to look at your current email marketing efforts and see what’s working and what isn’t. Then, we help you create new email campaigns and manage them for you, from writing your emails to segmenting your contacts to testing your subject lines to analyzing the results of your campaigns. You get instant access to our team of experts, who then become an extension of yours—and that means maximum ROI for minimum effort on your part.
Email marketing services come with different price tags. Some are free, and others are expensive. In addition, some models have different pricing models, such as a fixed monthly fee. Here are the most common pricing models for email marketing services:
Pay-as-you-go email marketing services: These offer pay-as-you-go pricing. These services won’t cost you any money until you send an email to your list, at which point you’ll typically be charged a certain amount per recipient for that email. These services include MailChimp and Benchmark Email.
Free email marketing services: You can send emails to your list for free with these options, but they typically include ads or links back to the company’s website in your emails and limit how many messages you can send per month. Examples include MailerLite and Sendinblue.
Fixed monthly fee email marketing services: You pay a fixed rate per month or year regardless of how often you send emails to these providers. Some providers will also give you additional features if you’re willing to pay more each month. Examples include Campaign Monitor and ConvertKit.
Have us send out one campaign per month, monitor its progress, and report back on what’s working (and what isn’t). You’ll get all the benefits of email marketing without doing any work yourself. This option is perfect if you want to test our services or if your team is short-staffed but can still handle it.
Features of a Good Email Marketing Service
We’ve put together this list of features every good email marketing service should have so that you can be sure that when you invest in this type of service, it’s money well spent.
Use an Actually Strategy: A good email marketing strategy starts with a good email marketing plan. You need to benchmark where you are now, set goals for the future, and decide how you’ll get there. It’s not just about sending emails but also about ensuring they are delivered, opened, and read. Analytics tell you what happened with your email campaigns, so you can plan better ones in the future.
Build a Customer List: The first step to successful email marketing is building a list of customer email addresses. Your email service provider (ESP) should make it easy to import your list or integrate it with your website’s signup form.
Once you begin collecting subscriber data, you must decide what email type you want to send and how often. If you’re new to email marketing, starting with simple messages like new product announcements and weekly sales updates is wise. Ensure customers can opt-out anytime and use the unsubscribe links in every message.
Crafty Email Subject Lines: When launching a new product or service, getting the word out is essential. Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to get a message in front of your customers. But first, you have to get them to open the email — and that means crafting an attention-grabbing subject line.
Use Branded Templates: One of the most important aspects of any email marketing service is its ability to customize campaign templates. Without this feature, your emails will look generic and won’t help you stand out from other businesses in your industry. So keep a close eye out for this feature when shopping around for a provider!
Create Targeted Email Content: The best way to achieve high open rates is by sending emails containing content relevant to the people receiving it. There are various ways to break down your lists and segment them. For example, if you’re an e-commerce company that sells products for men, women, teens, and children, you should have separate email lists for each group so you can send them targeted promotions.
Consistently Send Newsletters: Consistent email newsletters are essential for several reasons. They show that you’re dependable and trustworthy; they increase brand awareness and customer loyalty and give your customers something to look forward to from you.
Use Good Landing Pages: Another feature essential to any good email marketing service is the ability to create custom landing pages. This feature allows you to promote products or services in your emails and then send customers directly to pages where they can learn more. Like customizable templates, landing pages help convert subscribers into paying customers—so make sure they’re part of your provider.
Summing It All Up
Email marketing is an essential part of your overall marketing strategy. As you can see, there are many reasons why creating an email marketing plan and campaign can provide you with a great return on investment.
Read our Email Marketing 101 blog series to learn more about email marketing. We’ll explore how to create a compelling subject line, how to craft the perfect call-to-action, what it takes to build an effective email list and much more!
If you’re ready to grow your business through email marketing, Table Rock specializes in helping small businesses reach their goals and succeed. Contact us today to get started!