You have jumped on board with email marketing for regularly communicating with your email audience and have followed our tips for getting started. You sit down at your computer and BAM! The questions arise – what type of content is best to send to my email list? And where does this content come from?
Now that you have begun to develop an email list, you don’t want to keep your subscribers hanging without providing quality content on a regular basis. It can be tricky to know what information will engage them and keep them coming back for more.
Although 80% of content marketers use email as part of their marketing campaigns, most businesses can benefit from developing and improving their strategy for creating or curating content. Here are 6 Email Content Tips that will help in your efforts to provide subscribers with informative and engaging content on a regular basis.
1. Repurpose Existing Content
Email Content Tip #1: Running your small business can be demanding and you do not have the time or resources to write high quality content every day. You likely already have some existing content laying around that can be easily repurposed and tailored for your email list. A few examples of where to look for existing content are:
RSS-to-email:
If your business has a blog and you are pretty consistent with updating it most email services allow you to automatically send subscribers new blog posts as they are published. This feature allows customers to hear what you have to say, even if they don’t check your blog often.
Roundups:
Schedule a roundup email once a month where you summarize blog posts, articles, eBooks, or other existing content you have on hand. Even if the content has been highlighted in a previous email, republishing it in a roundup will provide an opportunity for those who previously missed the content to see it this time.
Best sellers.
If you are an online retailer, let your email list know what your current best sellers are. Many email services even make it possible to segment your email list by purchasing behavior, allowing you to send customers product information that is relevant to their previous purchases.
Photos and videos from social media.
Emails do not always need to be filled with extensive written content. If your small business has developed images, photos or a video, sending the visual and a quick caption may be all you need for a great campaign. Share photos of products, completed projects, or works in progress.
Videos don’t necessarily be your own. You can also include relevant, informative YouTube videos along with some written information on the value/benefit of the video.
Popular posts.
Republishing your most popular blog posts or articles from time to time can fill in content gaps and reach some subscribers who previously missed that content. Including some of your most popular content in welcome emails is a great way to get new subscribers engaged right away.
2. Curate Content
Email Content Tip #2: Content curation is a process of locating engaging, useful, relevant content and arranging and publishing it. This content could include blog posts, articles, images, videos, or photos from other websites or online sources that your community of readers would find interesting.
Your customers subscribe to your email list because they are seeking education, advice or inspiration. If someone has already published content that will inspire your readers, share it with them.
When small business owners send useful and informative content without having to create it themselves, they are making their email marketing process easier and more efficient while still providing quality content for their subscribers.
Are you considered to be a thought leader within your industry? Send email links to both your published articles and podcast interviews as recommended reading/listening for your subscribers.
You can also include information and links to content from other respected leaders within your industry. The more engaging content you provide, the more your email list will look to you for insight and best practices.
3. Be Personal
Email Content Tip #3: Many email marketers write content in the third person, which delivers content from behind a cloak of anonymity. Too many emails lack personality and relate-ability. The further you stray from personally addressing your email list, the harder it will be for the reader to connect with you and your brand.
A couple of times a year, be sure to create content that tells a personal story of growth or industry awareness. Allow your email list to connect to you on a more intimate level. Sign emails with your own name to add personality to the content. Another idea is to include a link to a personal video in your emails to introduce the content or to introduce yourself and your staff.
4. Be Helpful
Email Content Tip #4: When you are sitting at the computer with head in hands at a loss for content ideas, remember that everyone loves a great list of tools and resources. Small business owners are positioned to be experts within their niche and sharing valuable tools with your audience will engage and retain your list and assist with future email list building.
Every email should not be geared towards promoting a product or service. Focus on keeping self-promotion of your business to less than 25% of your emails. To keep customers engaged, provide helpful information such as:
♦ A list of tips or tricks
♦ A list of tools specific to the industry
♦ An instructional video
♦ A list of useful resources
5. Develop a Survey
Email Content Tip #5: What is the best way to learn about what your customers expect from your emails? Ask them! Use a service such as Survey Monkey to create a customized survey. Not only will this provide engaging and interactive email marketing content for your current email, but the survey results will provide you with email content tips and ideas for your next emails. Keep these tips in mind when creating your survey:
– Keep it short.
– Ask one clear question at a time.
– Make use of Yes/No questions.
– Avoid leading questions.
Learning about the interests of your customers and delivering the information that they expect is one of the best way to retain your email marketing list and continue to build it.
6. Keep Up with the Competition
Email Content Tip #6: It is never a bad idea to drop in on your competition to learn about what type of content they are delivering to their list. Subscribing to competitors’ email lists will keep you in the loop on what your competitors see as most important or useful for their customers or sales prospects. This can also provide insights about what type of content is being shared within your industry.
Learning about the marketing strategies and email effort of your competition will allow you to enhance and focus your content game and provide ideas on how to deliver more than your competition.
Conclusion:
Providing relevant, helpful and engaging content to your email subscribers will keep them opening your emails. It will also continue to enhance your image as someone that is knowledgeable in your industry, and keep your business in the front of their mind for when they need your products or services. The email content tips in this post will help.
Now that you are filled with content ideas, get writing! Don’t be afraid to pre-write content as it comes to you and then publish it at a later date. As long as your content is helpful, useful, and relevant, your email list subscribers will appreciate the emails and your email list will continue to grow.
Here are some other Posts you may enjoy (click title to read):
9 Benefits of Email Marketing for Small Business