Blog

According to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing yields an estimated 4300 percent ROI, says entrepreneur.com.  

Most new bloggers are slow to adopt email marketing because they think it is a slow and time-consuming process. Most would change their mind if they knew email marketing was the best way to connect with, and retain, customers. You get to land directly in your reader’s inbox and no other channel can get your business more visibility. People may not check their social media sites every day but they will certainly check their emails. With the prevalence of smart phones, people tend to check their emails several times a day. In fact, it is likely the first thing every person checks in the morning.

When you post on social media sites, you have to compete with other content to be seen. Moreover, social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest can change their algorithm any time, which might limit your reach.

For example, Neil Patel mentions on his site (neilpatel.com) that on June 2016, the Organic Reach of a Facebook Page fell to a mere 2%. My friend’s DIY blog was hit severely by this update and her traffic plummeted overnight. Her Facebook page with 500K followers would reach only 10,000 people each time she made a post and only 200 of them clicked through to her blog. That is when she started to focus more on building an email list. She now has a list that is 50K strong. Every time she sends out an email, 30% of the people open it and 15% of them click through to her website. For example, just one email she sent out brought 6300 visits to her Crochet Baby Blanket Roundup post and earned her $150 in ad revenue in just one day. The bigger your list, the more revenue you can generate from it.

The saying “never put all your eggs in one basket” is not just true for your finances, but for your business marketing as well. Your email list is the only audience you will never lose to changes in ranking systems, which can plunge your traffic overnight on other channels.

How to Build an Engaged List

Your email marketing efforts will fall flat if you don’t have an engaged list. You have to warm your list and form a connection with them. The best way to do this is to write on a personal level. Start every email with a personal story but keep it short. People are more likely to buy from someone they know and trust. Be that person. For example, I have been sharing my struggles during this pandemic with my audience and that has really helped strengthen my bond with them. Write to them like a friend and not a salesperson. Do not sell in every email. Only 20% of your emails should be sales emails and the rest 80% should provide value to your readers.

Another way to engage your audience is to ask a question. I asked my audience what their biggest struggle was with managing money. If people respond to your emails it can increase your open rate and your emails are less likely to end up in their spam folders.

You can also ask questions that help you plan content for your blog. Ask them what they would like to see on your blog. The responses can give you valuable insights for future blog posts. When you publish the content they requested, it will help foster an even greater bond with your readers.

Formatting your emails properly is also key to the success of any email campaign. Make your links big, bold and easily clickable. Most people check their emails on mobile devices and a tiny font can make it harder for them to click. When you link to your new article, link to no more than 3 related articles. Stuffing your email with links is not a good marketing practice.

Email marketing is one of the best strategies you can use for growing a profitable blog.

A list of names and email addresses of people who signed up to receive updates and promotional emails from you is called an Email List. As a blogger, you will be collecting emails using opt-in forms on your blog. When you use email to promote your blog and services to your email list, it is called email marketing.

Email marketing is an effective way for bloggers to connect with their audience, build relationships, and drive traffic to their blog. Here are some tips for bloggers to use email marketing effectively:

1. Build an email list: The first step is to build an email list by offering a valuable incentive to readers who subscribe. This could be a free eBook, a discount code, or access to exclusive content.
2. Segment your list: Segment your email list based on subscriber interests, location, and other relevant factors. This will allow you to send targeted messages that resonate with each segment.
3. Use a catchy subject line: Use a catchy subject line that grabs the reader’s attention and entices them to open the email. Avoid spammy or clickbaity subject lines that may turn off readers.
4. Provide valuable content: Provide valuable content that informs, educates, or entertains your subscribers. This will help build trust and credibility with your audience.
5. Use visuals: Use visuals such as images, videos, and infographics to make your emails more engaging and visually appealing.
6. Include a call to action: Include a clear call to action in your emails that encourages readers to visit your blog, read your latest post, or take another desired action.
7. Test and refine: Test different elements of your email marketing campaigns, such as subject lines, content, and calls to action. Use the results to refine your approach and improve your results.

By following these tips, bloggers can use email marketing to grow their audience, drive traffic to their blog, and build long-term relationships with their subscribers.

Marketing has changed at a rapid pace over the past decade alone, particularly with the growth of the internet.

Today, there are more than 3.5 billion searches conducted on Google every single day. That’s the equivalent of half the world’s population making one search on a daily basis.

With it, more and more businesses are going online and putting more of their budget towards advertising and marketing on the internet.

It’s never been more important for your business to be online and to better understand digital marketing trends. Here’s a quick guide to help make sure your business is effectively marketing online:

Search Engine Optimisation

With the enormous popularity of Google it’s important that your business compete highly for searches your prospects are conducting. Whether this be for national searches or local, there is plenty of traffic out there to sell your products or services too. Ranking your website in Google is known as Search Engine Optimisation, or SEO.

Unless you have a background in marketing then this may seem overwhelming to you. There are thousands of professionals out there who know how to get the job done so it is well worth investing in a digital marketing agency to assist you.

An agency can take care of every aspect for you – from optimising your website itself to encourage users to convert, to getting you the relevant and intent traffic from Google and other search engines themself.

Content Marketing

On aspect of SEO is Content Marketing. This is the approach of creating and distributing valuable content to attract customers.

It’s another task your digital marketing agency can carry out for you and something we recommend working with them. After all, you’re the one that will know what’s unique about your company, what news you have and other assets that can be of use to them.

The agency can then put this to use by way of content that can be distributed across the web in front of your potential customers. Content marketing can also be used to support your SEO.

Social Media Marketing

Social networks have grown in popularity this millennium. Whilst MySpace may not be a thing anymore, Facebook has more than 2.8 billion active monthly users, which is quite a significant audience to say the least.

How many of those users could be interested in your product or service if they only came across it? Social media marketing can be done by way or publishing content on a business page created specifically for this purpose.

You can attract an audience to your page, engage with them and run advertisements to sell your product to.

Public Relations

Similar to what McDonalds, supermarkets and John Lewis have been doing for decades, Public Relations is the art of persuading your target audience into purchasing your product.

Historically, this has been done in newspapers, on television and radio. Today, the engaged media is largely online – such as social channels and websites.

PR is not for everyone. It’s often for storytellers and those good at networking. After all, the aim is to get featured in large publications. Their aim is to create a pitch or a narrative about your business in order for the newspapers and influencers to share your story.

It’s different to advertising in that it is unpaid media. Ie you don’t pay to be featured on the news but rather create a story to get featured. It is earned media.

If you hire a good agency to carry this out for you then it can be hugely profitable by putting your product in front of a large audience and building your brand in the process.

Email marketing allows for targeted, personalized communication with customers at a low cost and high reach potential. However, it can also result in low engagement rates, be seen as intrusive or spam, and face deliverability challenges.

How effective is Email Marketing?

Email marketing can be very effective when done correctly. It offers a cost-effective way to reach a large audience and allows for highly targeted and personalized messages.

The open and click-through rates of well-crafted email campaigns can be higher compared to other marketing channels. However, it’s important to have a clean and engaged email list, avoid spam filters, and provide value to subscribers to see optimal results.

Who uses Email Marketing?

Email marketing is used by various types of organizations, including small businesses, corporations, non-profit organizations, and e-commerce companies. Its effectiveness makes it a popular choice among marketers, allowing them to reach their target audience directly in their inboxes. Email marketing is also cost-effective compared to other forms of marketing, making it a viable option for businesses with limited budgets. The versatility and personalized nature of email marketing make it appealing for businesses of all sizes and industries to use as part of their marketing strategy.

Email marketing is a marketing strategy that involves sending commercial messages to a group of people via email. While it can be an effective way to reach customers, it also has its advantages and disadvantages:

Advantages of Email Marketing:

1. Cost-effective: Email marketing is one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies as it requires little investment in terms of money and resources compared to other forms of advertising.
2. Targeted audience: With email marketing, businesses can target specific groups of people who have opted-in to receive emails from them. This allows them to reach the right audience with relevant content.
3. Measurable: Email marketing provides metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and more, allowing businesses to measure the success of their campaigns and adjust accordingly.
4. Easy to personalize: With email marketing, businesses can personalize messages and tailor them to the recipient’s interests and preferences, making the messages more relevant and engaging.

Disadvantages of Email Marketing:

1. Can be viewed as spam: If not done properly, email marketing can be viewed as spam, which can negatively impact a business’s reputation and lead to lower engagement rates.
2. Deliverability issues: Email messages may not be delivered to the recipient’s inbox due to spam filters, email provider issues, or other technical problems.
3. Limited attention: People’s attention spans are short, and emails may be quickly deleted or ignored if they do not catch the recipient’s attention.
4. Requires opt-ins: To comply with regulations and avoid being flagged as spam, businesses must have recipients opt-in to receive their emails, which may limit the size of their email list.

In summary, email marketing can be a cost-effective and targeted marketing strategy, but it also has some disadvantages, including deliverability issues, the risk of being viewed as spam, and limited attention spans. To overcome these challenges, businesses must create engaging and personalized messages that provide value to their recipients and comply with email marketing regulations.