Almost everyone at some time dreams about being a rock star. I always envisioned seeing my name in lights, fans asking me for my autograph. The fact that I’m not musical was beside the point.
Never one to give up on a dream, I’ve changed my aspirations ever so slightly. Today I want to be an email marketing rock star. This kind of fame doesn’t happen overnight; it takes perseverance and skill.
Become an email rock star by following these four tactics.
Have a plan. In the business, we call this a strategy, and it’s a crucial first step to email stardom. Start by asking yourself the following questions: Who are you emailing? What do your subscribers want to read? When will you send messages, and what are the results you’re aiming for? Finally, think about how you will grow your list to achieve your goals.
Don’t forget the little guy. If you really want your fans to love you, think about how to be relevant to every subscriber. Are there logical ways to segment your list so you can provide more targeted content to subscribers? If you understand the results you want to achieve, then you can segment by demographics, buying habits and industry. Think of these segments as little groupies.
Play to the audience. Rock stars do it at every gig, and so can you. Design every email campaign with your audience in mind. From a pure design standpoint, make sure your audience can actually read your email. If you’re reaching out to a segment that is older, consider bumping up the type size.
A younger demographic will respond better to shorter content and more links. If you’re sending an email that’s all image-based, make sure your audience will be able to read it. Consider creating different versions of the email to target audience segments.
Go for the Grammy. Rock stars love adulation, and you’ll get plenty of it if you measure your success. Set out to achieve key performance metrics for open rates, click-through rates and engagement. Become your own champion and challenger by trying to improve on your best benchmarks with each campaign. Demonstrate email’s contribution to the sales funnel, and you will quickly achieve rock star status within your respective company.
Finally, no one gets to the top without a little help. Enlist the help of your email service provider (ESP) to guide you to stardom. An ESP expert acts like a manager and should work closely with you at each step to ensure your email program is a success.
