Email marketing is the smartest way to promote a business brand. Additionally, the massive ROI of email marketing is second to none.
And, content marketing gives the power to leverage words to influence people (the target audience), establish a rapport with them and build sustainable brand loyalty.
When these two – content marketing and email marketing – work in tandem, they complement each other. Indeed, they improve the overall impact of the marketing campaigns. They both have one common trait: creating and sending content. Effective content and email marketing help to build business, promote a brand, develop loyalty and create recurring business opportunities.
The Push – Email marketing acts as a push marketing method. It directly connects a brand with the lead/subscriber/contact to generate business.
The Pull – Content marketing acts as a pull marketing method. It hooks the attention of new leads to connect with the brand and drives them to make a first-time purchase.
Versatile Marketing
Email marketing campaigns are ideal for turning people into customers for two reasons:
- The audience already shares a bond with the company (after all, they opted-in to receive the emails); and,
- More importantly, they already know what your company offers.
Marketers use email marketing to boost sales by focusing their efforts on targeted offers. Content marketing, alternatively, is focused on the idea of organically engaging and growing the customer base based on the value of the content employed in the emails. This marketing technique is adaptable, allowing you to target a broad audience or a specific niche.
Combining Content and Email Marketing
Emails have four basic components, namely the subject line, preheader text, email body, call to action button and sign-off text. Each of these content elements should be viewed as a golden chance to combine content marketing with email marketing.
An email is only as good as its content, but when you take the time to intelligently communicate to the audience, it becomes a valuable part of the marketing approach. Nothing is more off-putting than an email that purports to provide useful information but swiftly devolves into a sales pitch.
Indeed, if the emails provide valuable content, recipients are more likely to read them and take the intended action. With meaningful, educational, and well-written email content, you can address the consumers’ pain points. This has a significant influence on the kind of the customer-brand bond.
Subject Line
The subject line is the email’s first impact on the recipient’s mind. Moreover, the window of opportunity to create this first impression is just a few microseconds. Hence, it should be witty, crisp and must be relevant to the recipient.
The email subject line serves two purposes:
- First, it conveys what the email is all about.
- Second, convinces and tempts the recipient to open the email.
There is endless discussion about the efficiency levels of different kinds of subject lines. Scanning your own email inbox is a good idea to start with the research of getting ideas for email subject lines.
Analyse which kind of email subject lines go unopened, which one gets immediately clicked, and which emails were marked spam or shown the trash box. Keep in mind that the reader should always be at the forefront of any content marketing strategy with regards to email campaigns. The email subject line should in a way help the reader, rather than complete a deal. It should not be spammy and must be in coherence with the email body.
Preheader Text
Email opens on mobile devices have increased by more than 30%. This shift to mobile devices reiterates the importance of preheader text. Any marketer who uses email to increase sales and revenue should think about creating the most impactful preheader text copy.
Preheader provides a summary text of the email. It follows the subject line and plays an important role in improving the open rates. This content is used by the email recipients to screen their emails, while marketers use it as an opportunity to make a confident impression.
Follow some email preheader content best practices:
- Read the preheader text numerous times. Then read it again when you believe you can’t read any more.
- Examine the preheader text copy inside out – What are you attempting to express or achieve? What about this text intrigues you enough that you think others should read it?
Examining and comprehending these questions will assist you in creating a preheader that effectively summarises the email content and rapidly guides readers to the open the email.
Email Body
Use the email body copy to deliver quality, relevant, and industry-related content after developing a click-worthy subject line. The more relevant it is, the more likely it is to be read till the end, putting your business in front of a wider audience. The email copy needs to comprehensively emphasise the subject line. This is critical for establishing trust and meeting the set goals.
Call to Action (CTA)
Examine the email’s body content to ensure that it encourages recipients to take the intended action. The audience reading the email is already well interested in its content – it’s your turn to leverage this opportunity. Make it obvious what you want people to do, then make it simple for them via a strong CTA.
Email Sign Off
Do not underestimate the footer of the email. Use it in the best possible way to create the last impression – be on-brand, personalise it and importantly, have proper contact information.
Relevancy is Key
Relevance is crucial for successful email content. So make sure you tie the email’s content to something that will establish it as timely and relevant. Email list segmentation and optimal personalisation helps to create relevant email content that has a better chance of catching and holding the reader’s attention.
Creating and understanding customer personas through efficient email list segmentation allows marketers to tailor their email content more effectively, resulting in better engagement rates
The email content, like everything else in the email marketing domain, does not follow the set-it-and-forget-it methodology. People change professions, upgrade their devices, acquire new interests, and discover new passions as media trends, informational demands, and consumer preferences change. Hence, it is important to maintain the efficacy of the email content in order to keep the customer experience as fresh and personally relevant as possible. Otherwise, this
once-valuable resource can turn into a bustling nuisance in the reader’s inbox, preventing it from performing to its true ability.
Bottom-line
Email marketing and content marketing when used correctly in conjunction can stimulate the digital marketing efforts and yield a higher ROI. Moreover, strategic content and email marketing campaigns deliver an experience to the audience that feels less like they’re being sold something and more like they’re receiving something valuable and worthwhile.