Your 2017 Theme for Email Marketing

Finding an email from HubSpot^® in my inbox with an offer for a download to learn more about how to improve my email marketing skills inspired this post. I have (confession time) a love-hate relationship with email marketing on several levels. Yes, I said it, me, an email marketer. And I'm sending out a link to this blog post in an email, of all things!

What do I want? I want quality. But that doesn't always happen in marketing emails I receive, that is certain.  I want the emails that arrive in my inbox, and my contact's and their contact's inboxes to be appealing from the subject line forward.

What have I learned and what can I glean from marketing experts such as those at HubSpot^®-what is new and fresh?

• Subject lines, ‘nough said. Ok, that is not new and fresh, but it is timeless wisdom. If you need a more expanded answer, click here to read “17 Tips & Best Practices for Writing Catchy Email Subject Lines”.
• Personalize. One way is to use the truth that people identify with faces over logos or product images. If possible and if you deem appropriate, include your pic in the header.
• Dump stock images. My pet peeve is the overused stock image of the lady with the gleaming smile wearing a headset to illustrate Customer Service. When you do use photos of people, use your own photos of your staff or crew doing what you do. Add captions that let the reader know who is who.
• Use research to your advantage. HubSpot^®’s Pete Caputa shares templates that use careful and thoughtful research to change an email into a virtual meet-and-greet event conversation. Check out his post, “28 Prospecting Sales Email Templates Guaranteed to Start a Relationship”.
• Segment your list(s) into customer life cycles. HubSpot^®’s Eric Devaney suggests customizing content based on your customer life cycles:  Awareness stage, (prospect realized and expressed symptoms of a potential opportunity; Consideration stage, (a person has clearly defined and given a name to their problem or opportunity); and  Decision stage, (a person has defined their solution strategy, method, or approach). Read more in his article, “Content Mapping 101: The Template You Need to Personalize Your Marketing”.

What I love about email marketing is its flexibility and ever-evolving nature. (Well, I love that about anything technology-related.) And I know when I find myself opening marketing emails and clicking on calls-to-action that if I benefit from quality marketing emails, so can my clients. And their clients.