"Isn't email dead?" Time and time again marketers hear this, but what's dead is the old way of email marketing, where you pop up in audiences' inboxes with a mediocre discount code once a month. The future is email newsletters — not just for conversions, but to help build a community around your brand that will act as your own team of evangelists.
Here are my three tried and true methods of creating the perfect email newsletter:
Keep Them Short, Stuffed and Sent Out Daily.
One thing I never worry about is annoying the audience. We live in the swipe-able age — anything they don't want to see they can easily ignore.
So forget about being annoying. Digital marketers have to work twice as hard for their content pieces to break through to a disengaged and easily distracted audience. My suggestion: Send out emails every weekday and don't look back.
Now, a few things to remember: First, this strategy is a drip, not a spray. Do not barrage your audience's inbox with multiple emails every day, as that will annoy them enough to unsubscribe. Send your newsletter every day at, say, 10 a.m., and make that your only email. Consistency, not aggression, is what penetrates unreceptive audiences.
However, just because you're scaling up your efforts doesn't mean you need to scale up your workload. Daily emails should be bite-sized, containing only the most valuable information of the day. What I do is pick one headline a day that I have something insightful to say about, write up a few quick paragraphs about it and then send it on. The key to success is value. People can read the news anywhere. They ended up on your list because they want to hear your perspective.
Remember Your "Omnichannel" Approach.
Your email marketing strategy isn't something you put together for your own pleasure — it needs to serve a purpose in your broader digital marketing initiative.
This is where I encourage people to think of email (and all components of their digital strategy, honestly) from an "omnichannel" view. How are you using your email presence as one more point of conversion contact for your audience? Are you missing out on valuable opportunities to tie it back to the other prongs of your campaign?
When we think of the word "omnichannel," typically we're thinking about the various touchpoints customers have to interact with and purchase your products. But the term works just as well for all the points where the customer interacts with your brand. Your newsletter might not be "salesy," but that doesn't mean it can't impact your sales. Everything should tie together in an intricate spiderweb that all leads to the digital checkout line. Don't pass up opportunities to provide links to your social media, your landing pages or even product pages in your newsletter.
Get the Audience Involved.
The result of your omni point of view shouldn't just be to drive customers to conversion. That is important, but more and more, success in digital marketing is defined by how well you meet what I call the "two Cs": conversion and community.
Pose questions in your newsletter that readers will want to respond to. When your audience on social media reacts well to a post, put that in your upcoming email to show subscribers what they might be missing out on. Encourage as much of a dialogue as you can between the audience and your brand.
Community, not advertising dollars, builds loyalty. Without it, you're just dumping money into a house with no foundation. Your community aren't just people who have converted; they're people with friends and family to recommend, potential brand ambassadors and more.
This is why I encourage a content-forward approach to digital marketing. It creates value, which is what brings in loyal buyers. A newsletter is essential not just as a doorway for your customers into your brand, but as a portal through which you can both find out more about each other.
