Best practices with shrinking budgets
It's an oft told story in today's economy. Executives panic as they see their salaries, bonuses and jobs at risk. As a result budgets are reduced and departments that are seen as cost centers are hit the hardest. Marketing often falls in to this group and CMOs are faced with achieving results in a tougher climate with fewer resources. Below are three suggestions on how to meet this challenge by using e-mail marketing to adhere to best practices and maximize results with minimal resources.
Go ESP
Today's unstable economy has made companies rethink their approach to marketing. Firms grapple with achieving greater results with shrinking budgets. Digital communications, specifically email campaigns, are a great vehicle for doing this. These channels allow you to monitor the results of your efforts in order to fine tune future campaigns and stop ineffective marketing tactics. Marketing teams can analyze campaign effectiveness and deliver real market intelligence back to the business.
Leading e-marketing providers will have ‘Software as a Service' solutions, which run off the vendors servers, or are web based, which means you don't pay for software or installation fees. Additionally, you don't pay the hidden costs of installed software such as maintenance fees or new hardware upgrades.
Be compelling
Chances are you have a wealth of knowledge and experts within your company. Designate employees to create content relevant to your target audiences and deliver it through e-mail marketing. Make your communications specific and personalized so that it resonates with current and prospective clients and proves you are listening to their problems. The content of the e-mail campaigns should show how you firm can add value and make their jobs easier. E-mail marketing to an existing contact list is a great way to kick-start this process without spending money. This can drive traffic to your website so customers can read the latest about your company and engage in other content such as blogs, white papers or speaking engagements.
Be topical and timely
Demonstrate you are up to date on your customer's issues by using e-mail marketing, which is instant, to offer solutions to current industry problems.
Similarly, chances are your contacts are also being targeted by other firms and probably receive e-mails daily from ‘experts'. To break through the inbox deluge make content edgy by:
- Targeting content to the client's business and industry
- Summarizing issues concisely, no one wants a twenty page memorandum
