How to make the most of an essential marketing asset – your email database

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You might not realise it, but a well-maintained email database is a MASSIVE marketing asset for your business. Having a bank of people who know, like and trust you ready and willing to buy what you’ve got to sell – who doesn’t want that?!?

Also, if for instance you sold your business tomorrow (totally hypothetical), then having an email database of contacts you can pass over to help the new owner promote the business is a huge plus and of actual value. Yes, we love having loads of likes and followers on our social media pages, but if these platforms closed tomorrow, we can’t access (let alone export!) that like list to get in touch with those potential customers. A bit scary, we know!

So let’s dive a little deeper into the three steps to making the most of your email database.

Step #1: Build + grow
If you want to build your list – you need to invite people to sign up! Promoting signing up to your email database should just be part of your regular marketing activities, such as linking to sign ups with social media posts, through your email signature, having call to action buttons on your website etc. Of course, you need to give people a reason to sign up – this is where a lead magnet (ie a freebie) can make a BIG difference.

Here’s what that could look like for your business:

• Monthly social media post – “Sign up to our eNewsletter to stay up to date with <insert the amazing reason/s why your audience would benefit from joining your list>”

• Email signature – this is high profile real estate, use it by creating a little promo for your database (again, what’s in it for them?) and linking it to a sign up form

• Lead magnet (apparently not a magnet on your fridge with an arrow pointing to stuff like Lani imagined) – this is basically an awesome freebie that you offer your audience in exchange for their contact details (email address and name). This could be an eBook for 10 top choc brownie recipes, a how to guide on a popular topic you get asked about all the time, must have checklist etc. It could be a broad topic to reach many, or a niche topic to target a specific audience. So if you were a recruitment agency, an example of each is:

  o  1 size fits all option > 10 initiative-taking ideas to land a job in 2021
  o  Narrowed target option > Top 3 tips for landing a Queensland mining industry job

Step #2: Nurture + maintain
Now that you have people signed up to your email database, it’s time to spend some effort and thought on how you can nurture these new followers and maintain their interest. Yes, you will have people drop off after a lead magnet push – but if they got the info they wanted and are moving on, they still might pass your business deets onto someone else looking for what you offer (if they found the freebie super valuable and memorable).

For everyone else, you want to continue that journey with them – create a relationship and continue the conversation. To do this, you will need to schedule some more emails!

• Schedule regular content (this is a must do) – continuing with our recruitment example that might look like
  o   Weekly email > This week’s latest jobs
  o   Monthly educational newsletter > including tips and article pointers (to direct them to your website to read the article) on how to dress to impress, resume tips, what employers are looking for etc

• Setting up a nurturing sequence (this isn’t essential but can make a big difference when done well) – this is basically a set of automated emails that you already have written/set up, to send to someone once they join your database, so they can get to know you (alongside the regular content you’re sending out). It could just be a welcome email after someone signs up, asking them to like you on your other social media channels, or it could be more thought out and look something like the following;
  o    1 week after signing up - your subscriber receives an email asking “What are some challenges you’ve found while trying to get a job in the mines?” This then prompts the person to hit reply on the email, helping you stay out of their spam filters (hopefully).
  o    1 week following that - they receive another email outlining some courses relevant to someone seeking a job in the mining industry.
  o    1 week following that - they then receive an email with a checklist for medical health check tips for mining.
  o    And so on – it doesn’t have to be never-ending, but it’s called a nurturing sequence because it helps that new subscriber get up to date on how you can be of value to them.

Step #3: Utilise
Yes, you do need to actually use this great asset you’ve gone to all the effort to build and nurture – it’s a fantastic marketing tool for your business, honest. So, in your regular marketing activities, whether you send a weekly, fortnightly or monthly eNewsletter/eBlast/sales promotion, you want to include information on how your audience can buy your products/services - and do business with you. You’re producing all this amazing value and giving it to them for free – in many cases, this will lead to them either wanting to a) work with you themselves, or b) give a solid recommendation for your business when someone they know is seeking your products/services.

For our recruitment agency example, this might be promoting your resume finessing service or giving details on how your engaged audience can “Work with one of our experienced recruitment consultants to find your next job”.

At Rebel, we send out our weekly Wild Oats eNewsletter (you can sign up here 😉) – which includes a sneak peek at what’s happening at Rebel each week, curated business and marketing tips and news, a pointer to our latest podcast (with our own tips and advice on marketing) and info about upcoming workshops or new products available. Alongside popping new products/services in Wild Oats, we also send out single emails to talk about just that product or service -as a more targeted, and in-depth look at it (which always leads to – more sales!).

So mix it up, see what works for you and don’t be afraid to try new things. Not everyone will read every word of every email you send – but if you put in some time and thought, the benefits are pretty damned amazing.

BONUS TIME
Email marketing platforms that we use or recommend include:

• Mailchimp (free to 2000 subscribers – certain functions are paygated on new accounts though, eg scheduling emails)

• Convert Kit (includes loads of sequencing options + customisation)

• Active Campaign (we’re tossing up between this guy and Convert Kit atm)

• Campaign Monitor (always worth a look – depending on what your needs are)

 Other things worth noting:

• Make sure your email marketing platform allows you to export your mailing list (if you can’t download it to use elsewhere, how useful is that list?).

• DON’T, we repeat, DO NOT use Outlook (or Gmail or your regular email system) as your email marketing manager. You’re increasing your chances of your emails landing in spam folders because of your bulk mailout (not just from that mailout, but your future single emails too), plus there are no insights/data for you to review and improve your marketing.

• Some platforms have different triggers for junk/spam folders so if you find that you’re getting low open rates, it might be worth doing some research about what could be causing that and what you can do to improve it. This article here from Codeinwp.com is worth a read – Why Are My Emails Going to Spam? 6 Ways to Fix the Problem (codeinwp.com)