Making Digital Marketing Work for your Business | WSInetMarketing

Marketing activity over Christmas is usually slow but you can boost your marketing strategy productively by using an email marketing campaign.

Being asked to be put on your mailing list means that they want to receive information, so you can boost your Christmas sales by keeping everyone on the mailing list up to date. Follow these 5 tips:

1. Create Relevant Content
Send out only useful and informative emails. Use genuine special deals only available to email subscribers as an incentive.

2. Send Codes Through Email
Special discount codes are always welcome, in fact statistics report that 44 percent of online shoppers receive codes via email. Offer regular discounts to email subscribers and they will show loyalty. As a bonus, creating unique codes helps you monitor your marketing campaign more clearly.

3. Spend Money in the Right Places
Make your emails worth reading. Hire a professional writer or an artist to make your emails stand out.

4. It’s Christmas
Inject the Christmas spirit into emails, in the form of seasonal graphics or offering to donate to charity through each sale. Make emails seasonally appealing.

5. Put Some Measures In Place
Measure the success of your email marketing campaign through email and website analytics. Identify what works and learn lessons for next year.

Email is strong as a marketing medium so if you would like help planning a successful email marketing campaign, call 0845 658 1812

Christmas is nearly upon us and as well as ordering the turkey, shrewd internet marketers should now be putting the finishing touches to their seasonal killer email campaign. With the prediction of £6.4 billion to be spent online this December, (up on the £5.5 billion spent over the same period last year according to IMRG and Capgemini), the picking, they say is ripe! With regards to your company’s email newsletter, you need to hone your email marketing techniques in order to snag those online buyers.

Check Your Calendar
Keep your eyes out for key dates, either historic or local. For example, Ireland traditionally sets aside 8^th December for shopping. Check out any other regional variances which will appeal to your target audience. Research into what periods were the busiest last year and target your email around those dates.  

Subject Line
Catch your reader’s eye with your email’s subject line. Make it eye catching enough for them to open it, not trash it. Remember, first impressions count.

• Use relevant product names
• Make it urgent
• Include a unique proposition or incentive
• Use specific imaginative headings.

Less Is More
Don’t offer too much, instead focus on one well-thought through offer. If it appears to be a genuinely attractive promotion, maybe over a period of time, it is of more value to the reader than a cheap one-off deal.

Conversions
You can bring a horse to water, they say. The whole idea is to convert prospects into buyers. Make your call to action clearly defined – double check the ‘customer journey’ to ensure that the entire route from shopping cart to payment is easily navigable.

How Much Is Too Much?
Don’t be suddenly aggressive with your email marketing. Warn customers, build up some excitement with the promise of a unique offer to subscribers. Use a sequence of emails to arouse curiosity. 

Any business worth its salt wants to harness the increasing value of online shoppers. Make your Christmas email marketing campaigns an effective resource for your customers and if you need help call 0845 658 1812.

Be aware that however good your email marketing campaign is, there is always room for improvement, simply because of constantly changing trends. Steal a march on your competitors and regularly review your strategies. It will pay dividends.

Email newsletter marketing still plays a vital role in reaching customers and cutting marketing costs.  By combining it with social media and cross-platform marketing, the role of your newsletter can be key in co-ordinating online promotion. Maximise its potential by following these few simple tips.

Perception of Value
Always remind your subscribers who you are. You may have got their email address from them at some point in the past, but don’t assume that these people still remember, or even care, who you are. Remind your readers of the reason why they signed up in the first place by using the newsletter to reiterate your unique value proposition.

Look at the Bigger Picture
Let’s face it, in marketing an email is rarely simply an email. It represents part of your overall customer experience. Don’t see email marketing as a sterile environment, instead consolidate it with the rest of your marketing. Use it to reinforce your brand and your image, and remember, be consistent in your message.

Use your resources
Check your data is correct. Don’t just keep your email lists up to date, make sure that any user preferences are recognised. How often do they want to receive messages, do they want further information on specific subjects? Listen to what your customer wants – it’s an important part of the customer service package you are offering. 

Carrot and Stick
Don’t fall into the trap of complacency. If you want subscribers, then give them an incentive. Offer a sample or a promotional offer. This will raise interest and result in a more receptive readership. 

Chunk Down
Realistically, you can’t be all things to all people. The content of your newsletter will not appeal to everyone but if you are clever, then you can reach wider. Use the email ‘mini-series’ to widen your content. An easy example of this is choosing relevant topic such as New Year’s resolutions or the 7 deadly sins. These are subjects that are already familiar to readers: now it’s up to you to add fresh and stimulating copy, which places your message and which will engage your readers. 

Experiment with your newsletter and learn from the results!

If you want assistance in evaluating how effective your email marketing activities are, call 0845 658 1812.

As with all media platforms, internet behaviour has evolved and email marketing is one medium that has to current in order to remain successful. How can you ensure that your company’s email newsletter and other email practices remain effective? Read this blog and you will find how to optimise your marketing channels and increase conversions.

First, regular check the effectiveness of your email marketing and make sure it is in line with your overall marketing plan. Then you are ready to begin.

It’s Good To Talk
You have to communicate with your clients. Auto-responders and do-not-reply mail addresses are ineffective as a marketing tool as today’s climate demands interaction. Look at it from your client’s viewpoint – if they feel you don’t show an interest in what they say, then why should they show an interest in your opinion?

• Engage your audience
• Ask for feedback and opinions
• Use interaction.

Set Your Own Targets
Monitor your own marketing strategies by what works for you. Instead of using generic benchmarks such as click-through-rates (CTR) or average open rates, define your own parameters. Make sure these include relevant data to your success, such as past success and failure rates and demographics.  This will help you to assess the success of your own particular strategies.

Social Media
RSS, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn link – Social Media is everywhere and is the new era in marketing.  However, if you want to harness this power for limitless expansion, use your marketing carefully.

• Provide compelling content
• Use video content
• Try out different content and placement
• Include regular offers as incentives.

Less is More
7 is the magic number! You have 7 seconds to grab your readers’ attention before they either delete your email or respond to it. So you have to make it compelling.

• Make your headline engaging yet brief
• Make your point in a promotional email in no more than a few lines
• Leave them curious to know more
• Visually engage the recipient by arranging content in such as way that it will catch their eye
• Test different layouts.

Keep It Relevant
A flashy exterior is no substitute for proper, relevant substance. Make the words work for you: don’t assume your audience will fall for pretty pictures when the message isn’t clear. Understand what their needs are, why they need it and when. Then hit them with what they want in your email.

Learn more about email marketing techniques that work for you. Simply call 0845 658 1812.