Can Email Fuel Your Inbound Strategy?

Social media continues to be all the rage in inbound marketing these days. However, oversaturation has made the droves of social media content feel impersonal which could be driving users away.

Your loyal customers have opted to follow you on social media, but every time they open an app, they see posts from companies that are not appealing to their needs... That's why you should reach them in a more personal way; through email.

But wait, is email marketing dead? No, absolutely not.

Email is still used to reach marketing goals, nurture leads, and communicate with customers. And while email marketing is clearly an excellent marketing tool, it can actually improve your sales as well. For customers who opt into email updates, it's an excellent resource for determining a final decision to purchase. In fact, 59% of marketers say email is their biggest source of ROI, and marketers who use segmented campaigns note as much as a 760% increase in revenue.

Inbound Marketing

While both inbound and outbound marketing is valuable to your marketing strategy, here, you'll be focusing on customers who have opted to receive your emails and how you can utilize that opportunity to fuel revenue growth and ensure your email marketing synchs closely to your CRM.

Why Is Inbound Marketing Important for Your Brand?

Here's the thing, while outbound email marketing to random strangers is only a step away from cold calling — which no one wants —inbound email marketing directly targets customers who have told you that they want to hear from you. So, why is email marketing important to your brand? Because your audience wants to hear about new products and content, an inbound marketing strategy is an incredibly cost-efficient way to give that to them.

Inbound email marketing is also a great way to tailor a journey for your customers and keep them engaged. Your research and data show you what it took to get them on your email list, use that to offer them what they want, encourage them to be active on your social media, and inspire them to invite their circle to your company. The more they feel engaged, the more they'll share the journey you created for them, leading to a larger audience for your company.

How To Light Your Inbound Marketing Email on Fire

No matter what your current inbound marketing strategy looks like, whether you focus on paid ads or guest posting, you need to incorporate email marketing. How effective is email marketing in 2022? Again, look at the statistics.

•   4 billion people use email daily.
•   77% of email marketers have witnessed an increase in engagement in the last year.
•   37% of brands are already increasing their budget for email marketing.

The best part about inbound marketing emails is that your customers want you to engage with them. By opting in, they've asked you to send them content that attracts further attention, informs them, and encourages them to interact with your company. So to light a fire with your inbound marketing emails, you must understand your customers, learn where they are on their journey, and create content that makes their subscription worth it.

Steps To Fuel Your Inbound Email Marketing Fire

If you're unsure where to start with your inbound email marketing, here are some steps to follow.

1. Find the Right Service

Hubspot is an excellent service for email marketing. Whatever email marketing service you choose, know that the best ones offer customer relationship management.

2. Organize

Start by segmenting. Create lists of like-minded contacts to ensure you're creating curated content that addresses customers are each stage of their buyer's journey.

3. Automate!

Workflow is essential for creating emails that increase conversions. Develop a workflow strategy that will be your best friend in engaging your customers.

4. Keep Your Brand In Mind

No matter the content, your marketing emails should sound like you. Make sure that the content you deliver always matches your brand voice.

5. Nurture

Create nurture campaigns specifically targeted toward subscribers who have downloaded offers and enrolled in promotions. They showed you what they want; now, you can tell them what to do next.

6. Test, Test, Test

Reactions to your emails tell you a lot, and studying those reactions is how to increase click rate in email marketing. For instance, there's an ideal time to send your emails. Keep data on what times and subject lines work best and use that to build your inbound strategy.

What to Share With Your Email Audience

What you share should be as unique as your audience. They've asked to see it, so make sure that it's something worth sharing and worth receiving. Think outside the box, but a few things you should share are: 

•   Event promotion
•   Newsletters
•   New blogs
•   Updates

There's no limit to what you can share, as long as it's tailored to your audience.

The Best Way To Know Who You Should Be Emailing

You must know who your email is going to with regards to whether they've opted-in for specific content or not. Hubspot defines three different subscription types.

•   Not Specified
•   Subscribed
•   Unsubscribed

The General Data Protection Regulation — GDPR — is an EU regulation designed to protect users' data. Hubspot allows you to simply turn on this feature and send emails to your audience who have opted-in. It's an effective way to ensure you're only emailing who you should be emailing.

I’m Not Using Email. Is This Hurting My Company?

While email isn't out there actively hurting your company, it certainly can't help if you don't use it. What use is your database if you don't utilize its contacts? You don't want to lose your connections, and if you don't update them, they may forget about you. Sharing engaging content through inbound email marketing is a huge opportunity to stay engaged with your customers that you don't want to miss.

Some Do’s and Don’ts for Inbound Email Marketing

Of course, there are some do's and don'ts for email marketing. Some practices are regularly proven to work, and some will make your audience cringe.

DOs

•   Make your emails exciting, friendly, and newsworthy.
•   Use personalization tokens that use readers' names or companies.
• Make an email buyer persona so you understand your audience and use of segmentation. That way you know what they will find valuable. 
•   Give your audience something to share and remind them that their audience may find this content helpful and engaging too.
•   Include humor and wit with your brand voice. It's not so serious all the time; feel free to use a GIF!

DON'Ts

•   Spam your subscribers; they unsubscribe.
•   Sound like a sales rep who's always pitching; no one finds that entertaining.
•   Keep your audience as prisoners by making the unsubscribe button hard to find; you want willing subscribers.

Start You Inbound Email Marketing Today

Where to start sending emails, Godaddy, Hubspot, WordPress... It's all so much to manage sometimes, and you just want to run your business. 

There are a few people that was love to turn to when we have email questions, one of them is Jay [direct to his page and a graphic]

There's always so much that goes into building and maintaining a brand, plus you have to run the business. Enlisting help in running your email marketing strategy can go a long way. Beacons Point can help you craft dynamic inbound strategies that keep your audience engaged, excited, and coming back for more. We're here to be your inbound partner and help you grow your audience and revenue. Contact us to find out how Beacons Point can help you climb higher!

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