At New North, as an email marketing company in Frederick, Maryland, we’ve run our fair share of email marketing campaigns. We’ve orchestrated email newsletters; we’ve crafted email drip campaigns, we’ve designed promotional email marketing campaigns. We’ve served clients in Frederick, but we’ve also been around the block.
And we won’t lie; not every email we’ve sent has been a smashing success (although we wish that was the case). We’ve seen emails that haven’t gotten the click-through rates we’d like, or that didn’t get opened nearly as much as we’d hoped that they would.
Every email hasn’t been a smashing success, but we have learned from every email we’ve sent. And after sending tens of thousands of emails for clients around the country, we’ve learned what works and what doesn’t.
Do you want to improve your email marketing strategy? Maybe you just want to get an email newsletter off the ground for the first time. Either way, we’re here to help. Here are three insights on what works, straight from a local Frederick, Maryland email marketing company.
Email newsletters work.
We’ve talked to a lot of companies who have the desire to do an email newsletter, but just aren’t sure it will work. Either they’re not confident in their ability to consistently produce content and get it sent, or they’re not confident that the content they produce will be interesting to their readers.
Here’s what we’ve found: email newsletter campaigns can work for anyone.
Simply put, they’re one of the best ways to generate long-term customer engagement with your customer.
Putting our personal experience aside for a minute, let’s take a look at some general email statistics. 72% of consumers say that email is their favored conduit of communication with companies they do business with. 61% say they like to receive promotional emails weekly.
And businesses have similarly positive views; 42% of businesses say email is one of their most effective lead generation channels. And for B2B marketers, 88% say email is the most effective lead generation tactic (Email Is Not Dead).
What’s the takeaway? Well, your customers want to hear from you, more frequently than you might think – and email is still one of the best channels to connect with them.
We’ve seen this with our clients in Frederick, Maryland. As our clients maintain consistency with their newsletter cadence, they start to see each send result in leads.
You can put email newsletter campaigns to use. Your customers want to hear from you, regularly. And you’ll be able to see the impact of your efforts, in real, live, qualified leads – all from producing and sending regular email content.
Good Content Is The Secret
Of course, to run a successful email campaign, you need good content. Don’t be intimidated; by “good content”, all we mean is content that your readers will find interesting, and that will lead them to your site.
There’s a common misconception, especially among B2B businesses, that their subject matter or area of expertise simply isn’t interesting enough to produce good content around. That’s not true. No matter what kind of business you are, you can produce good email content.
Think about it. Whether or not you think people will find your business interesting in general, it’s undeniable that people find your business interesting when it meets their need. Consider an IT firm. Sure, maybe people aren’t interested in server security in general – but there’s also no denying that they’re incredibly interested in server security when they need to deal with a data breach.
By producing content consistently, you can ensure that you’ll reach your contacts at the moments when they’ll be most interested in hearing from you. And when that happens, the sale is easy.
And you can appeal to them at other times, too. Do you have behind-the-scenes insight into your industry? People will be intrigued. Have you recently changed your services? People will want to know. Have you had any crazy client experiences – good or bad? People will listen.
Every business has a story. An email newsletter is a great way to tell people yours.
A Good Contact List is Essential
If good content is the secret, then a good contact list is the context in which that secret makes sense. Put another way, your content is only good if you’re sending it to the right people.
As a Frederick, Maryland email marketing company, this is something we’ve learned time and time again. We’ve had clients come to us with contact lists of thousands of that haven’t been touched in years. Often, these lists are full of people who don’t want to hear from you. Sending to these is like shouting at a brick wall. It doesn’t really matter if you’re reciting Shakespeare or spouting gibberish; you won’t hear anything back.
The good news is that many lists can be cleaned and improved – and any business can use their website to start generating a good contact list right away.
Our best email newsletter campaigns have been sent to lists that have been organically grown using website signups. That’s because those contacts have expressed a vested interest in newsletter communication. These are the people who want to hear from you. They’re the ones who will appreciate your content.
Next Steps for Frederick, Maryland Email Marketing
For more tips, read our article on how to increase click-through rates, or our post on 3 tips for creating great B2B emails.
Are you ready to start your own email marketing campaign? Get in touch with us. We’d love to put our expertise to work to help you design the perfect email campaign to reach your audience– whether they’re in Frederick, Maryland, or around the world. Learn more about our email marketing services here.