Abby Alwan, with EMMA (myemma.com), a web-based email marketing service, shares case studies of how her company's more than 40,000 customers create, send and track email newsletters as part of their content marketing mix.
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Email Content Marketing
1. Email (content) Marketing
@AbbyAlwan abby@myemma.com myemma.com
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Content Marketing always seemed like a silly phrase- Marketing has always been the process of
portraying collateral/design...content to connect your brand w/your consumers. So isn’t all marketing
content marketing?
The main things I was able to connect w/ when first learning of content marketing is that it’s the
CREATION of and process of SHARING that content with your brand followers and potential customers.
With so many channels and types of content to portray, it’s no wonder people are buzzing about
content marketing, not just marketing anymore.
My favorite thing to talk about with Emma partners is how to tell your brand story to connect with your
audience. Email is the perfect way to tell your story, so to me email and content marketing really go
hand in hand.
2. Electronic
$42.08 ROI of every dollar spent on email marketing (DMI 2010)
63% of mobile users check email 1x day or more (Merkle 2011)
74% of all online adults prefer email in commercial communication (Merkle 2011)
90% of consumers have been using email since ’05 (2010 Digital Marketing Fact Book)
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Here’s what we know about email:
it’s personal, direct, it’s database driven, design & brand focused. It’s segment-able & it’s
measurable.
Social Media channels like T & FB are great additional tools to your overall marketing strategy, they
especially play nicely with email.
Emma loves SM, we take the stance of making it very easy to connect all the channels. for you
AND your audience.
They aren’t however, tools to use on their own w/out a solid channel like email done really well first.
Posts and Tweets can be tracked to an extent, but not the way email can.
Who saw it, what they clicked on, where they went and what they did once they got there (thanks
google analytics). Email shows you the who behind the action.
All of this considered, where is your audience? Look at who they are, and be where they are.
3. First things first,
Grow your list (lirst?)
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So you wanna incorporate email marketing into your strategy. First things first...
Get people on your list. Sign up forms should live where your audience is. Online, at store/front desk, fish
bowl.
Segment - whether it be event invites vs. newsletter, where they live, what products they are specifically
interested in. Groups & email activity
Sure you could send the message to everyone, but a study showed that 39% of people saw an increase
in open rates and 28% saw a decrease in opt outs once they segmented their audience base.
The right message to the right person.
4. Getting the right message
to the right people
see, gloss over, delete
Read: They’ve asked you to communicate, now
make it worth their time
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Content is a key component to email marketing. email without great or strategic content, is just noise.
inbox noise actually: see, gloss over, delete
9 seconds. Real estate. Top 1/3rd should be branded/well designed for them to know what to expect.
5. Welcome Note
Newsletter
Promotion
Engagement
Survey Invitation
Holiday Card
Event Invite/Reminder
In-the-Moment Notification
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Welcome note: set up a trigger, engage them right away
Newsletter: What they can learn to expect from you
Promotion: New items in store, new collaboration to announce, any announcement you’ve got
Engagement: asking them to get involved
Survey
Holiday
Event. Another trigger. Tell your email platform they’re attending a particular event, set up triggers to
remind them once they’ve clicked the RSVP link, then another after the event as a wrap up
Notification: It’s raining but the event is covered, we’re still on. We’re closed due to an impromptu all-
staff game of ping pong
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YMCA. They utilize the color of their design to draw your eyes to key components. Brand recognition is a
big part of grabbing attention in that 9 seconds. Having great looking emails (including branded, well
designed headers/top 1/3rd of the email) is an important way to engage someone that has opted into
your brand.
Using bold images and consistent font, it’s a great read & accomplishes all of that. Logo links to site,
Donate Now call to action links to donation page. Informative, tells their story,
Greenlights in Austin. A nice thank you with great call to action. Love their Kickstarter-style donation
buttons. They utilize their content on their website to save the email real estate for the call to action &
why. Again with the stand-out link in blue. I maybe would have used Green, but it looks good.
7. Building Brand Engagement
Building desire/sales
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Sweet Leaf. They continue to build their brand with engagement and activity. Not calling for SALES, BUY
ME, SPEND YOUR MONEY HERE. But really solidifying their relationship with the audience through activity.
Bigger picture strategy, the sales ultimately come. Driving traffic to social media and site.
Catbird. More of an announcement or sales driven email/announcement. Highlighting what’s new and
linking each image to that part of the online store. They get where they want to go. Also drive them
right into the store when they get that email at 4pm on a Tues. Keeps things concise, you don’t have to
scroll far to see what’s in, you can open, look, click, get to where you want to be.
Tip here: Each image is linked to approp item. Use the knowledge of their attraction to that item for
future targeting, trigger another email on more products like it.
8. Jump Links/
Anchors
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Jumplinks/anchors. Use links when you can and when it fits. You want to drive them to the original
content. However, not EVERY audience wants to see short and sweet. When you have an audience
that enjoys those longer emails, or you don’t have that content on your site or blog to drive them
elsewhere and your email is where it’s at, let them choose what’s important with these quick links. They
take them to the portion of the email that will give them more info.
If I see the list of topics up top and one interests me, I’m definitely jumping down to read it. But if I scan
the entire email to see what’s interesting to me, I could miss something with all that text and content.
Another Y Example (we love us some YMCA), The content in the email reminds them of savings they
can take advantage of, and the links up top show them each action/item they want to take/learn
more about. Images connect you with the program, and the real estate in the email highlights the best
parts about summer camp.
9. Hey you, do this!
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More engagement here. Utilize your channels together.
Kodak announced a social media image contest via email. Used email to engage the activity, as well
as see who was interested in it. Building their brand loyal consumers, and those who participate feel like
they’re part of the Kodak community.
Birds, awesome ATX barbershop. What a great thank you note from the owners, their image is so
personal, building + thanking their brand loyal followers- with the call to action for engagement and
sharing with your friends to vote.
10. Subject lines
Save your best writing for this little guy
Identify self
Make them relevant
Personalize them
Call to action if need be
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Test a few out to see what works best for your audience. A/B Split testing makes that easy.
Test length. Sometimes short subject lines destroy long ones, sometimes they don’t
Pay close attention to what is working for your audience in a style of subject line as well as from name.
Is info@, or abby@ more effective to use?
Big pet peeve of mine is noreply@, but that may work for your brand identity or client. I invited you to
my inbox, at least tell me there’s a human behind it!
11. Let your numbers and engagement shape your
email strategy
See what’s best for your audience.
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Email is great bc it’s data driven, but if you don’t do anything with the data, aren’t you just shooting
with your eyes closed?
Compare your emails. Which content got better click throughs, which subject lines got better open
rates?
12. Dig in
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Take a look at each email individually.
13. Delivering Content Marketing via
Email
9 Seconds? Major value and call to action at the top
Utilize jump-links, drive traffic
Use stand-out design, colors for links and calls to action.
Watch engagement, be where audience wants you to be
Make sure you're gathering -- and using -- information about your subscribers to
send more relevant emails.
Know what the best practices are, but don't always assume they'll work. Bravely
experiment
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I’ll leave you with a few final thoughts.
9 secs: Are your emails designed to maximize that?
links: drive traffic to more content
Create the content in the email so the important points stand out
Where aud wants you to be: put your emails in social media channels so everyone can see your
message
send follow-up notes to people who've clicked or opened
Maybe a really long email will outperform a to-the-point one. Or a weekend send time will engage a
whole new group of readers. Everything is different for everyone’s brand, so it’s important to TEST what’s
right for yours.