With the rapidly evolving world of social media taking the headlines by storm, the cost-efficient realm of e-mail marketing has somewhat fallen to the wayside.  Fortunately for you, we have not forgotten or discounted the effectiveness of e-mail marketing.  In fact, because of the influence social media marketing has had on companies, you have the opportunity to experience a greater ROI for your e-mail marketing campaign as well.  Take a quick look at the 5 e-mail marketing tips for 2011.

Integration is Key

Just to reiterate (or if you have been in a bunker for the past year or so), social media has taken the online marketing campaigns by storm which has caused e-mail marketing to become the red-headed step-child of marketing.  However, contrary to popular actions throughout the business world, you don’t have to choose one or the other.  In fact, social media marketing and e-mail marketing could and should be integrated to maximize their impact on your bottom line.

Overall, to realize the power of a combined marketing effort between e-mail and social media, you need to find ways to successfully and influentially merge the two.  For example:

  • Placement of your social media links at the top of your e-mail marketing template.
  • Incorporation of your e-mail marketing throughout your social media updates.
  • Inclusion of Facebook comments or Twitter updates within your e-mail campaign.
  • E-mail registration invitations throughout your social media profiles.

Engaging is Influencing

The first thing that hits your audience…the subject line.  You need to make sure that the subject line in powerful enough to get people to commit the first conversion (unread to opened).  To help, try encouraging them with a contest, question, or promotion.

Now that they have opened the e-mail, it is up to you to create unique content that engages the reader to the point that they want to contact you for more information or send to their friends who might be interested in your content.  Some of the best was to do this are to:

  • Include traceable coupon codes within your e-mail.
  • Allow for e-mail-only printable coupons or promotions.
  • Forward to a friend program that are measurable.

Focus with Brief Content

In recent studies, research and the respective findings have shown that the majority of people don’t read anymore.  Instead, they are browsing headlines and only read content that is led by influential headlines that cause an emotional response.  To further those results, even if the headlines are influential and engaging, the reader will only go through the supporting content for a total of 30 seconds to 2 minutes.

So, you need to capitalize on and adapt to the change in the audience and create supporting content that is powerful yet brief and led by an outstanding headline.  If you are able to successfully accomplish creating that best-in-class quality headline and support it with engaging and influential content, you are on right track to experience an extraordinary return on investment.

Planning Equals Conversions

Failing to plan…

is…

Planning to fail.

It is that simple and, yet, that hard.  To be successful at planning your e-mail marketing campaign:

  • Plan 6 months to a year in advance.
  • Brainstorm headline and/or topic ideas a little over 1 month prior to publication.
  • Select and write headlines and supporting content 1 month ahead of publication.
  • Choose a content layout and edit 2 weeks prior to publication.
  • Conduct a final edit 1 week prior to publication.

React to Measurements

To be blatantly honest, the most effective way to improve your e-mail marketing campaign for the remainder of 2011 is to measure and react to the results.  If you take the time to read through an e-mail marketing report (around 5 minutes or so), you’ll be able to get an in-depth look at the popularity and success rate of your content.  In other words, you will know if the content you are sending out is actually working or if you need to alter what you are doing to experience better results.  So, here is a list of things to measure:

  • Open rate
  • Click-through rate
  • Bounce rate
  • Unsubscribe rate
  • Referral rate
  • Net subscribers
  • Subscriber retention
  • Web site actions
  • Conversion rate (if you have a direct-buy link, etc)

To summarize, the importance of e-mail marketing has (contrary to current practices) not diminished.  In fact, it is extraordinarily important to integrate the e-mail marketing efforts with those of your social media marketing.  However, you also want to ensure that your content is engaging from start to finish, the supporting content is powerful and led by an influential headline, that you plan out your e-mail marketing efforts, and (finally) that you research the results and react to them accordingly.  Overall, if you are able to accomplish all of those above techniques for your e-mail marketing campaign in the remainder of 2011, you will realize the true efficiency and efficacy of e-mail marketing.

*Should you need assistance with your e-mail marketing or social media marketing campaign (or successfully merging the two), don’t hesitate to contact us today*

Need Help?

If e-mail marketing is something that you are interested in but don’t know how to get started, contact us today to schedule your free marketing analysis.

Sources:
“The Essential Step-by-Step Guide to Internet Marketing”-E-Book
SlideShare.net
Image Source: HubSpot, “The 2011 State of Inbound Marketing”, E-Marketer.com