Self-Employed? How to Build a Killer Email Marketing Campaign

If you are looking to grow your business, you need to build your email list. There are a lot of tutorials and blog posts about the importance of increasing web traffic and encouraging reader engagement. The best way to engage your readers is by building an email list. Here are a few ways that you can create a killer email campaign.

Remember That Emails Are Personal Forms of Communication

Email speaks directly to your readers. It is essential to sustain this relationship to generate income and grow a faithful following. The trick is to expand your list of email subscribers. There are proven ways to take your subscriber list from zero to hero. Many marketers have used these tricks of the trade to grow their lists. You can do the same, and readers will be signing up for your emails in no time.

Have a Strong Lead Magnet

Lead magnets are free items that you offer to your readers for signing up with you. In exchange for their email address, you can send your readers an email course, course videos, library items, printable forms or workbooks. It is important to create something that is valuable to your email subscribers and worth their time.

The location of your lead magnet on the website is also important as well. You can place it in many spots on your site. Some bloggers put the magnet at the end of a post. Other website owners have their lead magnet on a sidebar for maximum visibility. Lead magnets can even be embedded in a pop-up. You should exercise caution with this method though; if you have too many pop-ups, you can alienate readers from your website.

Resource: InfusionSoft.com | How to Create and Market a Lead Magnet: The Ultimate Guide

Upgrade Your Content

A content upgrade offers your audience another free item. It is usually related to an article or post that they were reading. If you have a post about side hustles, you may want to offer them a promotion kit that they can use to help get their business started.

These upgrades help if the reader is already interested in the topic. A relatable freebie increases the likelihood that they will sign up for your product. You can use simple tools to create your content upgrade. There are plenty of image and document creators that can help you with your content-upgrade product.

Use Social Media to Grow Your Email List

You can find a lot of your audience on social media. If you are self-employed, your potential clients are going to be reading and spending time on these platforms. Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest can help you connect to clients and influence followers, which is an essential step in creating a killer campaign. Soliciting reviews both online and via social media will contribute to the growth of your email list.

Resource: Podium | A Guide to Getting More Google Reviews

Segment Your Contacts List

The segmenting technique is used by email marketers to send their emails to specific groups of subscribers. Marketers will divide or segment their email list into groups. Doing that can help you to tailor your email campaign to those individual groups.

Segmenting your email list can increase your reader conversions. Campaigns that are segmented have higher open rates than non segmented emails. These grouped emails can also lower your unsubscribe rates.

Resource: StrayDigital.com | How to Build an Email Marketing Funnel that Drives Massive ROI

Personalize Your Emails

Now that you have subscribers, you want to send them emails about upcoming products or services. You can use your collected information to target them in an email campaign. Useful data includes their name, previous purchases, location and online-browsing habits.

Email personalization can be as simple as using the subscriber's first name in the email. Some sophisticated tactics even change the email content based on the person's location or gender. These email campaigns are successful and can increase your click rates since a personalized email is more likely to be opened than a generic email.

Send the Email From a Real Person

Trust in the sender is extremely important for email open rates. Using a consistent name and email address is crucial for developing trust. Your name should be recognizable to your subscribers. You can use other information in the subject line as well.

The company name or product service can also be included in the email. If your business is more of a brand, it is best to use that name in the email. Some email programs can cut off a name after twenty characters. For the best results, keep your “from” name under fourteen characters. Whatever you decide to do, you need to be consistent to build trust with your subscribers.

Another rule about sending emails is that you should never send them from a free email account. These emails tend to be viewed as spam and end up in trash folders. No-reply addresses also have a higher chance of getting deleted. That type of email will come across as too generic to readers.

Resource: MovableInk.com | 8 Best Practices for Building Trust in Email Marketing

Know the Best Times to Send an Email

If you send your email at the wrong time, your open rates can take a dive. There is a tried-and-true formula to get more people to open your email. The best day of the week to send an email is Thursday although the difference is only slightly better than the other days. There is no real difference between any other day of the week.

Weekend emails are the least likely to be opened by the recipient. The best time to send an email is between 10 and 11 a.m. during a weekday. Emails sent between 4 and 8 a.m. also tend to have a high open rate. The general rule still stands though: Emails are more likely to be opened during the times of 8 and 5 p.m.

Email campaigns can be hard work and are more complicated than just sending out an email. You have to know your audience and tailor the email to meet their needs. If you want to increase subscriber engagement, you should include something like a freebie or content upgrade. All these steps can help you to create an email campaign that will successfully promote your business.

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Ian Walsh

Nerd. Book lover. Spiritualist. Ian Walsh is a 38-year-old artist who enjoys writing, traveling, and theatre. He is energetic and creative, but can also be a bit snarky.