“Please subscribe to my newsletter”…. have you ever been told to do this? Well, that’s a type of digital marketing and it’s called email marketing. Now, let’s get right into it!

Email marketing is a type of marketing that allows organizations to stay connected with their clients and customers by sending them customized newsletters or offers based on past brand engagement or shopping.

Based on research done, it is said that the first marketing email was sent in 1978 which means that this method of marketing is an ancient method. Don’t get it twisted! Note that email marketing is one of the quickest ways to collect data and use it for your marketing strategy. How? Once people sign up to be reading from you, they’ll fill in some necessary details about them and that can be used for your personal use.

Also, we have quite a number of free and cheap email marketing platforms that allow you to do marketing on a budget. An example is MailChimp (though there’s a premium plan on it too). 

Furthermore, just as you receive personalized emails from Cologeny, email marketing allows you to send personalized emails to your target audience. 

Do you also know that the conversion rate through email marketing is very high? Oh yes! But you have to tell a compelling story that’ll thrill your readers. 

How do I start email marketing 

1. Set your goals right: what are you driving at with this method of marketing? is it to make sales or to build your brand awareness? What is the goal?!

2. Know your audience: to start email marketing, you need to know who your audience is by creating buyer personas. What is a buyer persona? It is a semi-fictional representation of your ideal customers that can be created by researching, surveying, and interviewing your business target audience. We don’t want to make assumptions hence, the reason for a buyer persona.

3. Select an email marketing service provider: here’s a list of email marketing service providers: Mailchimp, ConvertKit, Constant Contact, GetResponse, Substack, Drip and, campaign monitor.

These service providers allow you to automate email marketing, collect data and create marketing templates.

4. Build your email list: it doesn’t matter if you have a lot of people on your contact list. A signup form goes a long way in building your list.

5. Choose a marketing strategy: just as it is with content, a marketing strategy helps you achieve your goals. For example, if you are looking to increase conversion rate, discounts on your products will be the best thing to do. To increase engagement, send out newsletters.

6. Optimize your emails: to capture your audience’s attention, ensure that you are using engaging copy and sending valuable content. Your subject line can be the reason a subscriber won’t open your email. Work on your content!

7. Evaluate your data: The only way to know if your email marketing campaign is successful is to keep track of the data.

Here are the things to look out for.

• Open rate: the number of people opening your email.
• Clickthrough rate: the number of people who clicked in the links attached to your email.
• Unsubscribed: the number of people unsubscribing from your email. Believe this or not, these metrics work!

Do you want to take a step further by doing this? You’d definitely be glad you did and in case you get stuck, you can always let us know.