You probably know that building a successful email marketing campaign is no easy task, especially when you don’t have a lot of existing resources to build your email list like website traffic or a significant social media presence.
And while it is true that there can be quite a bit of planning involved to grow a successful email list, the good news is that email marketing is extremely effective. According to an email marketing study by Oberlo using data gathered by Statista, 2019 alone had 3.9 billion email users. By 2023, this is set to reach 4.3 billion users.
With that said, email marketing is something you can’t take for granted and the sooner you start building an audience and growing your email list, the better.
Identify your target audience
For a successful email marketing campaign, the first thing you’ll want to do is consider your audience. Who is your ideal customer? Do you already have a website or a data source with their demographics like age, gender, and location? What are their interests? Having this information will allow you to focus on a specific group of prospects for your brand or business.
Choose a platform
Once you have a solid idea for who your target audience is, you’ll want to focus on growing your email list. For this you’ll want to sign up for an email marketing platform like Mailchimp or Constant Contact. This will allow you to capture leads and send them straight to your email client.
Set up laser-focused lead-gen campaigns
Having the right data about your audience, as well as a place to capture them is just the start. You’ll want to set up some winning lead-generation tactics so you can start growing your list. Depending on whether you have a website with some traffic or you can afford to spend a little on paid advertising, you’ll be able to start collecting potential leads in no time.
Stay compliant
One thing you’ll want to keep in mind at all times is the CAN-SPAM Act, you need to be sure to follow the rules in order to not violate any laws that govern your country or jurisdiction. If you have an audience in Europe, be sure to also consider the GDPR regulation. Campaign Monitor has a great guide so you can better understand email laws and regulations.
Avoid the temptation of buying email lists as not only is this a rather unethical approach of building an audience around your brand, this may also violate the TOS of certain providers like MailChimp.
Finalize your Email Marketing Strategy
Once you start growing your email list, consider defining an email marketing calendar so you can be consistent with your message to your subscribers. Identify how you want your audience to receive your message with uniquely designed email marketing campaigns that target your subscribers at various levels of their customer journey.
Whether you are sending a sales email for a big sale, or you are sending them an automated email because they forgot to check out, having an email marketing strategy and living up to it will be an ongoing process to maximize your email marketing efforts.
