6 Out-of-the-Box Ideas to Keep Your Email Marketing Fresh Email marketing is a grind but remains the best way to engage customers -- if you keep it fresh.
By Reshu Rathi Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Email marketing isn't dead; that debate is over. Emails are the most effective way to market a business. Even the small businesses are on board that it's the best way to win and retain customers.
But, over the time, this medium has become very competitive. With more and more retailers sending mailers left &; right, customers have become accustomed to ignoring email messages (unless they're too good). So to stand out in a crowded inbox, you've to leave a mark.
Now, I'm pretty confident that whatever I said above isn't news to you. However, creating emails that get noticed is not an easy task. And that's where the tactics given below can help:
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1. Subscribe to one good brand mailer daily.
Email marketing works. But, to make it work, you've to send messages on a regular basis. Churning out good emails on a daily basis is no easy task. But, there's a quick fix to this problem; subscribe to the email list of at least one email-savvy brand daily. Why? Well, it hardly takes a minute to do this, and over time, it will create a resource base for you to take inspiration from when you're out of ideas.
2. Scan your inbox every day.
One of the most productive habits to start every workday is to check your inbox daily for some inspiration. See what catches your eye and try to find out why it did? Once you understand the reason behind it, you can use the same tricks when creating your emails to capture the attention of your audience.
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3. Check your competitors' email campaigns.
You're probably already keeping an eye on your competitors' marketing strategy, which is great, but take it even a step further by checking their email messages. See what the marketing campaigns they're sending are. See if you're missing out on any of them? This competitive analysis can also help you think of strategies your competitors might have overlooked.
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4. Turn to Pinterest for daily dose of inspiration.
Pinterest offers a wealth of email campaigns and beautifully designed infographics to get inspiration from. Besides, there's so much more outside of your direct scope to get your creative juices flowing. And the best part is that it's community-driven; some of them might have come from your audience, competitors, and influencers in your industry. These emails are there for a reason; something about them compelled people to pin it. Understanding what customers love about an email can help you in creating better emails.
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5. Read at least one email marketing article every day.
Do you know Google serves more than 7 billion results for the keyword 'email marketing?' No wonders content marketers are creating great content on the subject. These guides are a great source of learning about the latest trends and best practices in your industry.
Remember, "Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body." Successful people read every day to build up their knowledge.
For example, you can learn a few tricks on how to make your subject lines better from this post on eight battle-tested ways to increase your open rates.
The digital landscape is fast-paced, and with the abundance of content, there is so much more to explore every day. So, indulge yourself into good content to help your learning.
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6. Create emails
Last, but not the least; create emails. No matter how many awesome emails you check, or how many articles you read, you will not become a pro until you start doing. Learn as much as you can, but don't forget to implement what you've learned or you will forget it soon enough. Also, put your learning into practice to see what works for your own business and what's not.
Just like every other marketing technique, email marketing requires a discipline and strategy to get favorable results. Rely on these simple daily habits to become a better marketing professional. And, yes while the six steps above might seem like a lot to do every day, I guaranty you that once you begin practicing them, they can all be accomplished in no more than five to seven minutes a day. And they will start producing positive results a lot sooner than you think.
