When building a brand, nurturing your relationships with those in your target audience is crucial to your success. You need to be able to position yourself as an expert in your field, as well as become a trustworthy resource of information. And you need to ensure you’re doing this consistently by staying in touch with your audience regularly.
But how can you do this effectively? Through email marketing!
Email is a powerful way to connect with your audience and build relationships over time. Instead of fighting with tricky social media algorithms, you can reach people where it matters the most: their inbox.
However, you might find it’s a bit tricky to truly master email marketing when you consider you need to build your list, create a welcome sequence, and develop a newsletter. Luckily, we’re here to help! That’s exactly what we talked about in this #ContentWritingChat.
#ContentWritingChat Recap: Mastering Your Email Marketing
Welcome to the November edition of #ContentWritingChat! 😊
Today, we're chatting all about email marketing so you can craft newsletters your audience will love. 💌
— Express Writers | Your Content Writing Partner (@ExpWriters) November 1, 2022
This month’s #ContentWritingChat was packed with valuable tips that will help you become a true email marketing master. Whether you’re just getting started or email has been part of your strategy for a while, you’re sure to find some great advice here.
Q1: Why is email marketing important to a brand’s overall marketing strategy? What benefits does it provide?
A1. Email marketing is generally recognized as one of the most effective forms of digital marketing. It allows brands to communicate on a more individualized and tailored basis to existing and prospective customers. #contentwritingchat
— Andrew C. Belton, MBA (@AndrewCBelton) November 1, 2022
As Andrew said, email is one of the most effective forms of digital marketing today. It provides an easy way for brands to communicate with their audience while delivering content that’s tailored to their needs and interests.
a1
📩 email marketing allows brands to build a closer connection with the community of subscribers.
✅people give us their email, which means they are interested in what we have to say. #contentwritingchat— 🍋 / joana rita sousa 🦄 💩💎 (@JoanaRSSousa) November 1, 2022
Joana feels email is fantastic for creating a strong connection between you and your community of subscribers. And that will go a long way when it comes to your brand’s success!
A1: Email marketing is a great way to connect and build relationships with your audience. It's also an opportunity to stay in touch with them and keep your brand top of mind. #ContentWritingChat
— Rachel | Mindset Coach + NLP Practitioner (@rachmoffett) November 1, 2022
Another great element about email marketing is that it can keep your brand top of mind with your audience if you’re consistent when it comes to sending emails.
A1: #Email is a warm lead vs #socialemdia. Someone has given you permission to contact them. That is huge because you've gotten their attention. #ContentWritingChat https://t.co/dkAbJB5vGJ
— Carlarjenkins (@carlarjenkins) November 1, 2022
Email subscribers are often warmer leads than those who merely follow you on social media. That’s because your subscribers have taken that extra step to provide their name and email in order to receive a freebie and access your newsletter.
Q2: The first step to email marketing is building your list. What’s your advice for getting more subscribers?
A2: Make sure you offer some sort of freebie in exchange for their name and email when they opt in. It could be anything you think your audience would enjoy, whether that's a short ebook, free training, etc. #ContentWritingChat
— Rachel | Mindset Coach + NLP Practitioner (@rachmoffett) November 1, 2022
A freebie is going to be essential to getting people on your email list. Everyone wants to know what’s in it for them, so give them a reason to sign up. This could be a short ebook, free training, or anything else they might enjoy.
A2. Optimize channels to build your audience. Create offers/discounts/specific content that is accessible with a Call-To-Action to sign up for an email list. Prominently feature the option to sign up for your email list on your website. #contentwritingchat
— Andrew C. Belton, MBA (@AndrewCBelton) November 1, 2022
Once you’ve chosen your freebie, don’t forget to write a powerful call to action and make it easy for people to join your list.
Q3: Once you’ve started building your list, you need to send captivating content to your list. How do you know what to write about?
A3: I look at what content my subscribers are responsive too and increase this. You can also poll them through surveys. #ContentWritingChat https://t.co/zUaIT7jcG9
— Carlarjenkins (@carlarjenkins) November 1, 2022
As Carla said, you need to pay attention to what your subscribers are responding to. Give them more of what they’re interested in and they’ll want to stay on your email list.
A3. As a main component of your content marketing strategy, you could share research studies, blog content, promotions, events, helpful tips, industry information and news should be included. Create emails that are providing value and inbound to your brand. #contentwritingchat
— Andrew C. Belton, MBA (@AndrewCBelton) November 1, 2022
Andrew suggests sharing research studies, blog content, promotions, event details, helpful tips and tricks, industry information, and the latest news. Ultimately, it’s about providing value to your audience.
A3: Consider your audience. What information do they want or need to know that is relevant to your brand? Relay statistics, promotional content, updates on industry innovations or advancements. #ContentWritingChat
— Nicole Kowalke (@KowalkeNicole) November 1, 2022
Nicole recommended sharing interesting statistics, promotional content, and updates on the happenings within your industry.
Q4: Inboxes get crowded! How do you write a subject line that grabs attention and gets people to open your emails?
A4: First, keep subject lines short and sweet. You'll also want to communicate what's inside the email to give them a reason to open and read. #ContentWritingChat
— Rachel | Mindset Coach + NLP Practitioner (@rachmoffett) November 1, 2022
Your subject line will get cut off in an inbox, so you want to keep it short and sweet.
A4. Write titles that are capitulating, interesting and make a statement. Shake it up sometimes by using a call to action, depending on the content. #contentwritingchat
— Andrew C. Belton, MBA (@AndrewCBelton) November 1, 2022
Andrew said to make a statement with your subject line. You can even try incorporating a call to action to entice people to open your emails.
A4: 1- Consult data on what subject lines have performed better (title case, sentence case, etc.) 2- I balance attention grabbing with descriptive. People want to know what they're getting into before clicking. 3- I ask myself, would I want to open this?-Kat #ContentWritingChat
— Iron Horse (@ironhorseio) November 1, 2022
It’s also helpful to pay attention to the latest data on what makes an effective subject line. Then, you can test and see what works best for your audience. And as Kat said, a great test is to ask yourself if you would actually open your own emails.
a4
👀 go for something catchy that leave people curious. I like to use questions and emojis.#contentwritingchat— 🍋 / joana rita sousa 🦄 💩💎 (@JoanaRSSousa) November 1, 2022
Joana suggested asking questions or using emojis in your subject lines. Both can be very effective at increasing your open rates.
Q5: Are there optimal times to send your emails? How can you find out what works for you?
A5. There definitely are optimal times to send emails and it depends primarily on the audience that you have on the existing list. You can conduct some initial research and A/B test the times to begin to draw conclusions. #contentwritingchat
— Andrew C. Belton, MBA (@AndrewCBelton) November 1, 2022
As Andrew said, you can do research to find the best times to send emails, but it’s ultimately going to depend on your audience. Run some A/B split tests to determine your ideal da and times to send your newsletter.
Q5: Typically, the best time to send out emails would be in the morning when most people tend to check their inbox. If unsure, you can test a few different times and see what yields the greatest response. #ContentWritingChat
— Nicole Kowalke (@KowalkeNicole) November 1, 2022
Nicole feels mornings are the best times to send emails, as this is when many people check their inboxes. Give it a try and see how it works for you!
A5: I am in EST so I send my emails out at 12pm and 5pm. These are my optimal times that get the highest open rates. #ContentWritingChat https://t.co/KzIeBpvAw7
— Carlarjenkins (@carlarjenkins) November 1, 2022
Carla takes her own time zone into consideration when sending emails. She opts for 12 pm and 5 pm and they generate the highest open rates for her.
Q6: How can you keep your subscribers engaged, ensuring they regularly read and interact with your emails?
A6: Use captivating subject lines, be consistent with creating content and use analytics to determine which emails elicit greater responses. In turn, use that information to curate and create content that is most appealing to your audience. #ContentWritingChat
— Nicole Kowalke (@KowalkeNicole) November 1, 2022
Great subject lines and captivating content are essential if you want to keep your subscribers engaged. Don’t. forget to monitor your analytics to see what performs the best as well.
A6: Bring them quality content that's applicable to their lives. If they can apply what they're reading for a transformation then they'll continue to be subscribed to you. #ContentWritingChat https://t.co/GwVnxtnIq2
— Carlarjenkins (@carlarjenkins) November 1, 2022
Send content that’s relevant to the lives of your subscribers. This will give them a reason to stick around.
A6: Create a schedule for sending emails and stick to it. You want to make sure you're keeping your list warm by sending content regularly. Subscribers will get accustomed to this and know when to expect your emails. #ContentWritingChat
— Rachel | Mindset Coach + NLP Practitioner (@rachmoffett) November 1, 2022
Make sure you create a schedule and stick to it. This will create consistency for you, as well as your subscribers. They’ll always know when to expect a new email from you.
A6: Nurture email campaigns should be personalized. Use targeted ways to reach unengaged segments of your audience. Make sure you don't send your engaged readers emails with topics that don't apply to them. – Mike #ContentWritingChat
— Iron Horse (@ironhorseio) November 1, 2022
Take it a step further and create a nurture sequence that’s personalized to your subscribers. You can send a welcome sequence to introduce them to your brand and warm them up to potentially make a purchase, for example.
Q7: What’s your favorite email marketing platform? And what are the main features you suggest someone look for when choosing a platform to create and send newsletters?
A7: I've used @ConvertKit for years now. You want a platform that's user-friendly and offers features such as automation so you can trigger emails when people subscribe, make a purchase, etc. #ContentWritingChat
— Rachel | Mindset Coach + NLP Practitioner (@rachmoffett) November 1, 2022
ConvertKit is a popular option due to its robust features and affordability.
A7: I use ConvertKit. I like its segmentation features. I have started off with MailChimp which is good too. #ContentWritingChat https://t.co/I7ll2JEaWH
— Carlarjenkins (@carlarjenkins) November 1, 2022
Carla uses ConvertKit as well, but has also used MailChimp in the past.
Want to join the next #ContentWritingChat? Mark your calendar for the first Tuesday of every month at 10 AM Central and follow @ExpWriters on Twitter for all the latest!