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Thanks to its convenience and ease of use, email continues to grow in popularity with global user numbers expected to reach 4.3 billion by 2022. With over half of the world's population using email, it's clear that your business simply cannot afford to skip out on this marketing channel.
Unfortunately, when it comes to email marketing, there is also a tremendous amount of competition between brands. This means that your emails really have to shine — and you need inbound marketing elements in place to back them up — or your efforts could fall flat.
To help you avoid that scenario, here are five tips to help you grow your email database and optimize your marketing return on investment.
1. Skip the Email List Purchase
Although it might seem like a quick fix, purchasing an email list can only serve to derail your marketing efforts. The fact is that when you purchase subscribers, they do not have an interest in your brand and may not even be a part of your target audience.
To ensure your marketing materials hit the mark, you need a database of subscribers who wholeheartedly agreed to your business communications. This ensures they are receptive to your emails and much more likely to open, read, and click through each one.
In order to own such a receptive email database, you have to earn it — there are simply no easy workarounds. You need quality content, and all the right inbound marketing elements in place, to achieve true email marketing success.
2. Create Quality Content
Quality content is paramount when it comes to effectively growing your email database. Your website needs quality content on every page to optimize the customer experience and encourage visitors to subscribe to your emails. Your emails must have quality content as well to ensure you are effectively jump-starting the conversation with your target audience.
Ensuring users have educational and engaging content is the cornerstone of inbound marketing. Through inbound marketing, businesses are able to provide their email subscribers with consistent content in the form of:
- Blog posts
- eBooks
- Infographics
- Videos
- Whitepapers
- Webinars
- Online courses
- Resources pages
- Product guides
- And more!
It's important to note, however, that this content should never seek to sell to your email subscribers, but rather, it should provide them with educational information that empowers them to make informed purchase decisions. Through this method, your business will build trust (which will end up leading to new customers anyway!)
3. Segment Your Audience
Most people only want to read emails that are relevant to their needs and interests. That means that delivering tailor-made content to your email subscribers will have the biggest impact. You can ensure your content always speaks to your clients’ interests by segmenting your audience and delivering personalized marketing materials.
By segmenting, you separate your email subscribers into different groups based on their behavioral data. If they download one of your eBooks, for example, you can zero in on their interests to create engaging custom content for that group. By communicating with context to segmented groups, you significantly lower the chances of losing the subscribers you worked to earn!
4. Encourage Sharing
When people share your email content, it can spread far beyond your subscriber list. As your subscribers decide to share, they often pinpoint individuals who would have an interest in your brand. This drives more quality leads your way without any extra expenses or work on your part.
Even better news: Encouraging your email subscribers to share your content far and wide doesn't require as much effort as you might think. All you have to do? Ask them! In all of your emails, make sure that you have clickable, social sharing links listed at the bottom. You can also include "Email to a friend" calls-to-action, simply asking your readers to share your email with others.
5. Consistently Communicate
When it comes to your emails, your business must continually provide your customers with value to keep them from clicking the unsubscribe button and disappearing off of your radar forever. With constant outreach, you can keep your subscribers engaged with your brand and looking forward to your next email. Accomplish this goal by regularly creating content for your inbound marketing campaigns. Then, stick to a strict schedule in sending out emails to all of your different customer segments.
When you have a solid inbound marketing strategy backing up your email efforts, your business will experience email marketing success like never before. Your email database will consistently grow, giving you even more opportunities to win over prospects, keep customers happy, and drive sales. Need help starting or stepping up your inbound marketing game so that you can grow your email database? Contact us today and let us develop a customized and results-driven strategy for your business!
