Learn Email Marketing & How To Get Your Emails Read…Especially If They Feature Articles!
One of the #1 things that I recommend to my members is that they write and publish content consistently to their own sites, AND promote those articles to their lists via email marketing. Now of course there are pros and cons to any marketing strategy, and it makes sense to analyze them, before you commit to them. So today I want to talk about using email marketing as a part of your overall article marketing promotion strategy.
The Email Marketing Advantage
The great thing about using email marketing is that it is free and easy. All you need is a connection to the web, an email address, and you can send pretty much any message to your list. Normally you would have to pay for this type of access in the offline world. For example, direct mail. At best it will cost you the price of a stamp, at worst a direct mail campaign can run you hundreds of dollars per campaign or per month. That’s what makes email marketing such a great deal.
Having said that, there are business owners out there who have abused email marketing and really taking advantage of the system by spamming, etc. Also, now that reading emails is practically a normal activity for many people at home or work – folks are starting to become a little desensitized to email marketing messages. I mean consider your inbox. How many email lists are you on? And how many do you actually read? When I look at my inbox, I read emails based on level of importance, urgency, and interest.
So people that read your emails are hopefully going to be:
1. People that requested and confirmed to be on your list. Email/autoresponsder services like Aweber make sure of this.
2. People that are highly interested in your topic.
3. People that need answers or information that they are depending on you to provide
4. People that trust you, your advice, your recommendations
But this does not happen overnight. It takes work to get people on your email marketing list. And then it takes even more work to get them to actually read your emails. But here’s a few tips to help get your email read – especially your articles…
#1 – Write An Eye-Catching Subject Line
The first think I look at when I see an email in my inbox is to see who it’s from. There are certain entrepreneurs and marketers who have gained my trust – so I read everything they send. But if you haven’t built that bond of trust yet with your list, your subject line is the next best piece of email marketing real estate.
Your subject lines need to capture the attention of your readers without being spammy. The best way to do this in my opinion is to model your subject lines after emails you actually opened because of the subject lines. What worked on you will probably work again. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel.
Avoid Spammy Email Marketing Subject Lines
Using these types of email subject lines might get you noticed at first, but readers will quickly designate you as a slimy spammer and your credibility will be ruined. Trust denied. Also these types of subject lines can get your emails marked as spam and get you banned from your email provider.
- RE: or re:
- Your [insert company] account has been Cancelled / De-Activated / Terminated
- From admin
- Notification of payment received
- Fwd:
- I read your ad or I saw your ad
- Please Verify Your Account
#2 – Set The Stage For Your Articles
There are many ways that you can introduce your articles to readers via email. Some like to include the entire article in an email (I don’t use that one). Others like to introduce the article and include a link to the full article (I do use this). Another strategy is to list several articles with article titles and summaries and allow the subscriber to pick and choose which articles they will read (I do this in my newsletter).
However you decide to promote or feature your articles via email marketing, you need to make sure you capture the reader’s attention. Speak to their quest for knowledge, for answers, for help. But be classy about it. Don’t spam. Don’t “sell”. Just send informative, interesting, and content that speaks to your community of readers and your email marketing campaign WILL get read.
Lisa Angelettie
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Yes, email marketing can be a bit tricky and I will be honest, if their is hype in the subject like, I generally don’t read the email. We are an over emailed, texted world…we have to be careful who we let into it. :0
Great piece.
So true!!