Great email marketing campaigns aren’t created in 5 minutes, it takes time and planning to mold the perfect journey for your contact to think “This is worth my time”. Wasting time by going off topic is a crime so many people commit when writing an email campaign. Taking the time to plan exactly what it is you are looking to achieve will not only save your time but will help keep the reader engaged.
There are a few things you should always have in mind when creating an email campaign, and we have summarised them in our 3 Top Tips for Planning an Email Marketing Campaign.
Tip #1 Sales or Education?
We’ve found that most campaign goals will fall under the heading of Sales or Education. Being able to see what “genre” of email you are sending out helps you to craft a suitable series of effective emails.
Sales – If you are sending out an email campaign with the intent of the contact making a purchase, you need a campaign that is going to build interest, confidence and help them see how they will benefit from your product or service. Crafting a clear message through excellent sales copywriting for your target market is essential to a sales oriented campaign. Remember you are not only selling the benefits of your product or service, but you are also selling your company and most importantly, the solution to their problem.
Education – ‘Content Marketing’ has become increasingly popular, for the very good reason of building rapport with your contacts. When creating a campaign with the intent to educate, you should question two things:
- Is my content valuable?
- Is this targeted to my audience?
The content you are sending needs to be of real value to your contact, otherwise you will quickly lose their interest. Your content should be split into digestible chunks – not too short, but definitely not too long. Ideally, aim to create a series of emails which keep your contacts engaged and interested in your selected topic.
Tip #2 Know your audience
For your campaign to be successful, you want your contacts to read and engage with your content. They are much more likely to do this if you have segmented your contact database, found out what they are interested in and have created a client avatar of the people who would benefit from your campaign. Having a Contact Relationship Management (CRM) system can really help in creating a clear record of information associated with a particular contact so you can group these into target segments.
Tip #3 Have a clear End Goal?
You wouldn’t start packing a bag unless you knew where you were going- would you? So you should have this same logic when you are writing an email campaign. Throughout writing content, and creating the campaign you should always ask yourself “Is this relevant to my end goal?”. Try not to lose track of what you are actually trying to achieve, and stick to one goal per campaign. Keep it short, punchy and to the point.
The question to ask yourself when determining your Campaign Goal is “what is your ideal outcome from this activity?” For example, it could be, to make an appointment, make a purchase or signing up to some free contents. Whatever is it, make sure to keep it the main focus throughout the email.
No harm comes from being over-prepared, especially when you are sending out communications to your contacts. Spend more time in the beginning and you will save time in fixing easily avoidable mistakes later. When you find yourself getting ready to dive into a new email campaign, always remember to ask yourself:
- What “Genre” of email marketing campaign are you trying to create?
- Who is your target audience, and what will they respond to?
- What do you want to achieve at the end?
