Nora Mork
E-mail marketing is one of the most valuable assets available to you as a business owner of any sort. It is a direct access point into the personal world of a potential client, as often as you like, with no real constraints on what you can or cannot include. It allows you to take a modern approach of getting information or advertising your company in a direct and targeted way. As a recycling business, it also allows you to advertise in an environmentally friendly way, paperless and without massive consumption of energy, that would go into something like a billboard. Here are seven tips for getting your e-mail marketing right.
#1: E-mail with Consistency
There can be a temptation to try and avoid emailing potential and /or past clients too much. This fear comes out of the fact that a lot of marketing can feel unwanted, and you may perceive a risk that your content might in some way upset or annoy people you send it to. This is not the case. E-mail marketing is so ubiquitous these days that business owners and individuals are accustomed to getting communications. It then becomes your job to maintain consistency so that you have a presence in their inbox and, if they suddenly felt in the mood to explore recycling options, they would not have to look farther than your latest e-mail.
#2: Work on Mobile
So much of people’s lives is now conducted on mobiles and tablets. It is an obvious point to make, but there is such a degree of convenience inherent in the mobile platform that its adoption as, for some people, a primary device seems inevitable. That coupled with the fact that smartphones were developed for communication, of which emailing is a subset, and you have got yourself a perfect platform. Sadly, recycling businesses often forget to optimize their content for smartphone viewing, which wastes this prime opportunity for them to get market themselves effectively through these devices.
#3: Segment
Different potential clients have different recycling needs. You might have a large company which is looking for a complete overhaul of their waste disposal methods, or you might have a boutique firm looking to take advantage of a potential environmental tax break. These differences should not be ignored. You ought to gather data on all of your experiences (page visits, history, past purchases etc.) so that you can segment your e-mailing to direct specific information to specific people, rather than simply relying on blanket marketing e-mails.
#4: Write Your E-mails Well
This is a field in which it is very easy to make a mistake and it can be costly. Well-written e-mails do not just mean interesting or engaging, it also means grammatically correct and with good spelling. It can be very unprofessional to blunder in this regard, so here are some tools to ensure you stay on the right side of this:
- ViaWriting and MyWritingWay—These are general e-mail copywriting guides for you to master the overall art of email marketing.
- StateOfWriting—An online proofreading tool, for weeding out any of those pesky mistakes, mentioned here.
- AcademAdvisor—A grammar checker. Grammar is deceptively hard, so use this for some help.
- Academized and PaperFellows—These two are editing and proofreading tools, to polish up your copywriting before sending it off.
- Study Demic—A formatting tool for making sure your emails have flow and are legible.
- AustralianHelp and EliteAssignmentHelp—Some niche tools for helping you generate subject lines, keywords, titles and subtitles.
#5: Use Images
Particularly in the world of recycling, where there are so many compelling images to choose from, using pictures in your e-mails can be a great way to draw attention, set yourself apart and avoid having a huge block of text that looks uninviting to read.
#6: Use Promotions
A very clever way to maximize the potential for your e-mail marketing is to use it like the recipients are in a special club. To foster this idea, you can include one-time promotions, discount codes, hidden deals which are not available to anyone not on the e-mail list.
#7: Diversify Media
“There are so many options available to you in email marketing these days,” advises Mark Latham, e-mail marketer at BigAssignments and OxEssays. “Recycling companies should look to use gifs, short films or documentaries, images and even audio to propel their marketing content.” Inclusion of any of these will really help your emails to stand out and achieve their desired effect.
Conclusion
As you can see, e-mail marketing can get pretty complex. However, it does not have to be overwhelmingly hard and when done right it can garner serious results for you and your recycling business. Just remember to stay genuine, professional and try and find ways to stand apart from the crowd.