Email marketing - Practical guide to start


Over the last few years, the Internet has created and opened new communication channels between users, groups, businesses and companies. If we have to talk or know of a friend or relative that is on the other side of the world, we have many ways of doing it:
  • Via email
  • With social networks (Facebook, Twitter and others)
  • With a blog
  • With an instant messaging program
  • With a video call (Skype, Hangout)
  • Other ways
The same goes for business. All these methods are used to communicate internally in companies, to talk and close agreements with suppliers or sellers and also with customers at the time of sale and after-sales service.
In terms of Internet marketing, many ways to reach prospects and sell have emerged thanks to advances in technology and the Internet.
In this article, we are going to focus on email or email, one of the oldest and most traditional forms of digital communication.

Email Marketing - Guide to Begin Your First Campaign


Let's first see some of the most interesting benefits when practicing a good email marketingstrategy :

Personal communication

When a person visits a Web page, a communication is established from one sender (blogger, Webmaster or owner of the page) to several recipients (all site visitors). This is good and necessary to begin with the interaction.
When that person subscribes to a marekting email list, the communication becomes one by one, that is, an issuer (person or business that sends the mail) to a receiver (the subscriber).
This creates much more personal interaction, which brings many of the benefits that I explain below.

Build trust and long-term relationship


By having a personal communication with each subscriber, each message creates trust and a long-term relationship , which helps boost sales and increase the number of loyal customers who buy everything that is offered - or almost everything;) -
Trust is KEY to be able to sell successfully, especially on the Internet, a medium where sometimes the personal interaction that is obtained when buying in a traditional store is needed.
Email marketing (correctly) is a creator of trust, reputation and relationships.

Own database

When we have traffic to our website or blog, each of those visits has the control and decision to stay or close the tab of your browser, which means you probably will not come back and miss a potential client or even a strategic alliance.
With email marketing you have a database of your own to which you can contact and send messages as often as the user decides. And although the opening of messages is never 100%, there is much more control and initiative in communication and interaction.

More traffic


If you have a considerable list of subscribers, in addition to promoting products and creating a good relationship, you can use it to generate web traffic to your site.
For example, if you write an excellent guide on your blog, your subscribers can be the first to read it and share it on their social networks with a simple email that includes the link.
Fast traffic and also that brings positive things.

Basic requirements for email marketing


In order to carry out an email marketing strategy, it is necessary to fulfill some basic requirements:

Autoresponder

An autoresponder is the software that does all the magic and automates the entire email marketing process. This is a bit of what can be done with one:
  • "Capture" emails with subscription forms and thus convert people or traffic into subscribers
  • Send emails (with optional HTML design)
  • Place different forms of subscription in your blog or website
  • Create a sequence of automated messages or emails that are sent to subscribers every certain time
  • Segment subscribers in different lists
  • Manage subscribers
  • Create a newsletter in a simple way
  • Measure performance and conversions of campaigns and messages
An autoresponder is the tool that opens the doors to all the benefits of email marketing. 100% indispensable.
Personally I recommend both Aweber and Mailchimp , two excellent solutions with everything you need to get started.

Website or blog

Although it is possible to do email marketing without a website, it is advisable to have one to create capture pages, place subscription forms, send subscribers to different offers or blog content, convert traffic to subscribers and much more.
To have your website you need a server and a domain, both very accessible and easy to acquire (around $ 20 USD to start).
To create your website or blog, I recommend WordPress, although you have a lot of options and content management systems.

Product or service to promote

Unless your email marketing campaign is 100% focused on sharing your blog posts or your content marketing strategy, it will be necessary to have a product (s) or service to promote your subscribers.
They can be physical products of a virtual store, information products such as eBooks or courses, software and applications or services of different types.

The main objective of each of your campaigns

Before starting, it is very important to know what you are going to create your campaigns for and with what specific objectives you are going to do it. It can be to promote a new product that you will launch to the market, to create a relationship with your subscribers, to answer a survey and know more about them, to promote your blog or anything else.
Defining your main objective will allow you to create better communication and messages , which generates better results and conversions.

Mail messages

Although you do not need to have all your messages written before you start, it is good to know what type of emails you are going to write to your subscribers and the purpose of each one of them.
I recommend you find a good balance between emails and informative emails. Send 100% sales messages and promotions is not the best idea, but neither should we go to the other extreme, otherwise there are no sales.

Email marketing strategies - Define yours


There are different email marketing strategies that you can implement in your business with different approaches that adapt to the objective you have. Here are some of the ones you can use:

Traditional newsletter

This model works very well when you have a blog where you add content on a frequent basis. Subscribers are sent emails with useful information and a link to different entries or articles where they can learn even more.
With this strategy you generate a good relationship with subscribers through quality content, which works to create trust and make you gradually get to know you as an expert in the niche.
You can also include sales messages every 2 or 3 emails, not as aggressive and more with the approach to contribute.

100% content strategy

I have also seen some recognized experts who use an email marketing model totally focused on providing free content and messages unrelated to the sale.
The clearest example is Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income. Every time I receive an email from you, it's about a new article on your blog, an update of your new projects or important news in your life. The sale leaves it for your blog and other sites.
Is this strategy adequate? Maybe For some cases or users, sure, yes, for others, not so much😉

Strategy Sale-Content

By applying this method, greater emphasis is placed on sales and promotion messages without forgetting the content that can help increase trust and reciprocity on the part of the subscribers.
For example, for each 3 sales messages, one is sent with interesting or valuable content (either within the message or with a link to the blog).
This model can be good for businesses where you have a good variety of products or eCommerce virtual stores.

100% Strategy Sale

Campaigns 100% focused on promoting products or services are recommended for users or experts who are already well positioned in their niche and have authority, trust and good reputation.
If you are starting, this may not be the best option because subscribers prefer to receive something that contributes to their lives instead of pure sales messages from someone they do not know much about.
Be that as it may, a learning message and 100% content is always good from time to time ☺

ARM strategy

ARM refers to Auto Responder Madness, an email marketing course by Andre Chaperon where he teaches how to create email marketing campaigns where you write based on stories and as if it were a TV show or a novel.
The messages contain drama, emotion and a touch that makes the reader "addicted to the messages", especially when implementing open loops.
Open loops are made when at the end or at some point in the mail they are told what they will learn in the next lesson or simply leave the rest of the story or content for the next mail. This creates expectation and intrigue on the part of the readers and makes them remain pending and anxious to receive the following message.
Like a virtual novel in email mode ðŸ˜€
This strategy is widely used in TV shows, where they leave the viewer expectant of what is going to happen in the next chapter with unfinished endings or cutting the main plot. Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead are perfect examples of this.

Define your email marketing strategy and take action


According to your business model, objective and needs, you can make the best decision about what the email marketing strategy will be. It does not necessarily have to be one of those that I just shared, you can adopt one and shape it or modify it to your liking . The important thing is that it works to help you meet goals.
The steps to follow to start with email marketing are:
  1. Create your website or blog
  2. Have established your niche and the product or service that you are going to offer (or the content to be a strategy without sale)
  3. Acquire the autoresponder that best suits what you need (Aweber and Mailchimp are my favorites)
  4. Set the goal of your campaigns
  5. Create and automate your messages
  6. Implements a web traffic strategy
  7. Measure the results of opening, clicks and conversion in your messages.
  8. Make the necessary optimizations
Performing all the infrastructure and creating campaigns is the first step. In order to generate subscribers you need people to leave your data in your subscription forms; This is achieved by generating visits and Web traffic to your site.

Email marketing is undoubtedly one of the best (if not the best) tools to grow a business on the Internet, increase sales and position yourself in any niche with success.
What other resources or email marketing tips do you recommend? What is your favorite autoresponder? Share with us in the comments🙂

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