Need to run a simple email marketing campaign yourself? THE 3 BIG THINGS YOU SHOULD DO!

Email marketing is one of the cheapest and most powerful forms of advertising currently available to businesses.   But exactly how do you create an effective email marketing campaign?

1.  Get the database

The information you collect from potential and existing customers is what allows you to tailor your promotions and customise your offers so you get the best possible return from your eMarketing effort.  You really want to concentrate on quality rather than quantity.  It is far better to send a campaign to 500 people who know about your company than to a database of 10,000 people who you''ve sourced off the internet.

Also, the more information you can collect about each customer (i.e. who they are, what they like) will allow you to target your promotions a lot more effectively.  For example, if a customer has bought a particular brand or product from you, they are obviously comfortable with this brand and so it would be good to send emails to them highlighting complimentary products and updates for this brand.

2. Build the campaign

People get a huge amount of email marketing material these days.  To stand out and be noticed your email campaign needs to be:

Sharp and to the point
Don't make it too long.  People won't scroll to the bottom of a very long email so make it short and snappy.  Simply highlight what you're offering and what's in it for them.  If you need to give more detail, start with short punchy paragraphs, with a decent photo and include links to detailed information on your website. (This is exactly what we do with our eNewsletter - URL).

Three things to remember:

1. Visually Impressive
   A professional presentation that appeals to your customer, without being overwhelming, is essential to a successful campaign.
2. Call to action
   When the customer likes what you have to say, give them something they can do. Is there something they can click through to read more / get in contact / buy online?
3. Track the campaign
   If you are not using a professional / cloud based email marketing solution such as Vision 6 or Mail Chimp (e.g you sending emails from within Outlook).  You need to serious reassess your strategy.

Key statistics you should track with every campaign are:

• How many people opened your email
• How many emails bounced back
• What people are attracted to and clicking on (this is critical! if half of your database is clicking on a particular link about a particular product you obviously should be concentrating on this product!)

How do you make this happen?

The short version is you cannot achieve all of the above using an email program such as Outlook.

So where to from here?

If you have the time to create and track your own campaigns you can use a self managed marketing tool (we've got a great one you can trial for 14 days).  You can also check out other options by Googling "email marketing".

If you want something a bit more professional, but don't have the time to put your campaigns together, get an agency such as ourselves to handle your email marketing campaigns.