A mantra is a statement or slogan that’s repeated frequently to cement it in the mind. In spiritual practices like yoga or meditation, you say mantras over and over to aid in concentrating or focusing on the task at hand. In the case of many of these practices, you reiterate these phrases as you move towards your goals.
In today’s post, we will speak aloud nine email marketing mantras to set you and your business on the path to marketing enlightenment (or maybe just a little more revenue).
Progress Takes Place Outside My Comfort Zone (Be Agile)
If your email marketing efforts are becoming stagnant, don’t be afraid to try something out of your comfort zone this year.
There are so many new and exciting tactics you could take to liven up your email efforts. You could improve your personalization efforts. In 2020, more and more customers are going to be looking for the 1:1 personalized experiences that they get in their lives as B2C consumers. And in B2B, personalization should be hyper-personalized to simulate or transition the potential buyer into having a relationship with a sales rep.
Think of how Amazon, Netflix, and other giants (which now rule the economy) tailor their emails and on-platform experiences to the individual. Aim for that level of quality, even if it’s not possible for your business at this moment.
B2B companies will have to use data-driven insights and machine learning to truly personalize experiences, then learn how to integrate that with a genuine human relationship. Break out of your comfort zone of [first name]-style personalization and see if you can get truly personal.
I Keep Connected, Keep In Contact
Pay attention to what your leads are doing on every channel you can find. Learn who they are, what they think, and what needs they have.
This is ever-changing. You may have made target audience profiles, but don’t get lazy. Just because you created these profiles doesn’t mean they remain the same as time passes.
The best way to stay connected is to plan periodic updates to your target audiences and buyer personas. Once a quarter is a good plan or any time your industry/offering faces a considerable disruption. Also, when you create email content, use data, and listen to what your customers are saying to determine what they like and what they don’t.
Disconnected marketing is bad marketing.
I Remain Focused, Eliminate Distraction
While the previous two mantras focused on staying flexible, this mantra cautions you not to be constantly chasing trends.
The gist of this is, while it may be tempting to try the latest and greatest marketing gizmo, ever-shifting tactics make it hard to tell what’s working.
Change things slowly, based on evidence and feedback from your audience. Then, change one thing at a time, otherwise, you won’t be able to tell what’s helping and what’s hindering your marketing.
I Commit to Clear CTAs
This is straightforward. Make sure that when you send a marketing message, there is a clear call-to-action.
Without this, your readers might enjoy the content, come to an end, and then have nothing left to do.
At the top of the funnel, make the CTA light and low-pressure. Maybe just tease a blog post at the end of an email or promote an ebook that isn’t gated. Start slow and mimic real, human relationships in what you ask as you proceed.
Later in the funnel, make your CTAs more aggressive.
“Try a demo.”
“Schedule a call.”
Clear CTAs are what makes marketing work. Ensure they are timed appropriately.
Be Someone Who Checks Emails Before Sending
Edit every bit of your email before you send it out. Check subject lines, titles, buttons, etc.
There’s not much else to say about this. Have multiple sets of eyes on every email you send out and have each set of eyes rake through the copy multiple times.
Everything I Need is on a Clean List
Data hygiene might be one of the most important things you do as a company. Data is so crucial to the global ecosystem.
Keep tabs on your data and, as your list grows, ensure your data hygiene practices keep up. Check for false names, errors in the data, incomplete data, and for contacts that no longer respond to your marketing messages.
Clean data is good data. Data that you haven’t recently updated isn’t clean.
Accept What You Cannot Change, Keep Compliant
Remember, when you store data, you must keep it safe and secure. Talk with your IT department and determine the best way to ensure the marketing data you’ve collected doesn’t end up in the wrong hands.
You don’t want to be the next company to hit the news because someone stole all your marketing data.
I Am Someone Who Tests Emails
Figure out what works and what doesn’t by using programs like Litmus to test your marketing emails before they get sent out. You want to ensure that your email looks good to the largest group of people possible.
I Can and I Will Use Segmentation
Mass email blasts are a thing of the past. They are outdated and truly please no one. Maybe if everyone in your target audience were the same, you wouldn’t need to segment, but honestly, that’s unlikely.
If you haven’t started segmentation yet, make 2020 your year.
And remember, while certain factors like age do play a role in B2B marketing, it is not the best indicator for this market.
Consider other factors, like income, job title, and marital status. These factors determine how your audience makes decisions, as their work lives impact these factors.
Additionally, factors like primary device (on a particular channel), industry, and company size are all important.
When you segment for B2B data, you want to think about all the stuff that impacts the work lives of your potential buyers. This tells you more about their pain points than a factor like age.
As 2020 continues, these mantras will help guide you in the right direction. Traditionally, a mantra is repeated over and over to cement it in your mind. Feel free to do that with these mantras and let us know if your marketing efforts improve as a result.
