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Email Marketing for Small Businesses

Many small-business owners assume that email marketing is a strategy reserved for the big guys, who have hired dozens of people for their marketing teams. However, if you follow the rules highlighted in this article, I guarantee that you, too, will be able to build your brand and improve customer relationships through email marketing.

To get started, you will need to have a list which includes your past and potential customers' email addresses. I get it; you may not have that list yet. Fortunately, you can fix the problem by creating a nice-looking landing page, which asks people to give away their email addresses in exchange for a valuable digital gift. I have already written an article that teaches how to create effective landing pages, so I won't get into details here.

Once that you've built a great landing page, start sharing its URL with people who might care. Send the address to your customers by email, for example. Post useful information on social media, and then ask people to sign up to your list to get more info like that. Alternatively, give a permanent 10% discount to anyone who fills in the form.

You may need to wait a few weeks, and sometimes even a few months, until you get at least a few dozens of subscribers on your list. But then, it's time to party!  Craft a monthly newsletter; it won't require a lot of time, and it shouldn't bother your subscribers either.

What do you want your list to do? My guess is that you will want them to buy more stuff from you, right? Well, you can't tell them to do that in your emails, because they'll unsubscribe right away. The key is to stay at the top of their minds, and then, when the time is right, they will remember you and purchase your stuff.

Another idea is to try and create a need for your products. If the holidays are approaching, for example, you could write a blog post titled "10 Thoughtful Gift Ideas for Your Boss", and then include the link to it in your newsletter. And guess what? Products #2 and #5 on that gift list will be your products, get it?

Don't forget to offer discounts to your subscribers; they may share your newsletter with other people, who will learn about your business, and will probably want to become your subscribers as well.

Often, it helps to segment your list. People who have similar interests should be grouped together, because this will allow you to send them highly relevant newsletters. I know it's more work, but if your emails are very relevant, you will see a significant increase in profits as well. Use gender, age, location, engagement, etc. as key criteria for segmentation.

Each email should include a single, clear, powerful call to action (CTA). Some people include 2-3 CTAs in their emails, but this approach will confuse most subscribers. Just tell the people what you expect them to do, and then make it really easy for them to do it! Include a bright CTA button which stands out without looking cheesy. Use a call to action that tells people to read one of your blog posts, download a digital gift, purchase some of your products using a discount code, and so on.

Don't forget to evaluate the performance of your marketing campaign. If several people have unsubscribed after receiving one of your emails, try to determine what went wrong, and then find ways to improve the next batch of emails.