Email campaigns can be an effective way to reach customers and promote your products or services, but only if they are well planned and executed. In this blog post, I’ll will discuss the basics of email campaign management strategy for beginners, from identifying objectives to deploying your campaign. I’ll also cover some best practices for list building, design, copy writing, and more. So whether you’re just starting out with email campaigns or you’re looking to optimize your current strategy, read on for tips and advice that will help you achieve success!
Planning an Email Campaign Management Strategy for Beginners
Creating a plan for your email campaign is important because it will help you stay organized and ensure that all aspects of the campaign are executed correctly. A well-crafted plan will also help you to identify and achieve your campaign objectives, which in turn will help you to achieve your overall business goals.
Determining Email Campaign Goals
Once you have a clear understanding of your business goals, you can start to think about what you want to achieve with your email campaign. Do you want to increase brand awareness? Drive traffic to your website? Generate leads or sales? Once you know what your goals are, you can begin to develop a strategy that will help you achieve them.
For you email campaign management strategy for beginners, or any strategy for that matter, this is the #1 most important step!
Make sure you document you plan along with your measurable goals and objectives. This way you can follow up later and make improvements / tweaks, without having to redevelop a new set of goals.
Creating Your Email Campaign Calendar
After you have determined your email campaign goals, it’s time to start planning out the details of your email campaign management strategy for beginners. This includes creating an email calendar that outlines when each email will be sent and what content will be included. It’s important to note that your calendar should be flexible enough to allow for changes as needed.
You should be able to reflect this calendar within the UI (user interface) of your ESP (email service provider). Remember, this is not “only” a dated calendar schedule, it’s also reliant on when each subscriber opt’s in – For example, each subscriber will receive their dripped emails at a different time than others.
Email Campaign Production
After you have created your email campaign calendar, it’s time to start producing the content for your emails. This includes writing copy, designing layouts, and creating any other visuals that will be included in the email. Be sure to include the detailed information in my other post: “Email Campaign Best Practices – How to Boost Your Campaign Success 100 Times!” as it’s jam packed with helpful goodies – This would be a useful addition to your email campaign management strategy for beginners, as it covers things in more detail.
List Building
An important part of any email campaign is ensuring that you have a robust list of subscribers. There are a number of ways to build your list, including offering incentives such as coupons or discounts, running contests or sweepstakes, and adding sign-up forms to your website, social media, etc.
To build a successful list, always focus on providing a compelling incentive, that delivers what’s promised.
This is often a bottleneck when developing an email campaign management strategy for beginners, but there’s an answer – Ask your existing clients to subscribe, as they are already interested.
Developing an email campaign management strategy for beginners can be challenging, especially for list management. Download my free guide (and discussion) about email list management secrets below…
Landing Page
In addition to having a strong subscriber list, it’s also important to have a well-designed landing page for your email campaign. Your landing page should be optimized for conversion and should include a clear call-to-action (CTA).
Ideally you may have several landing pages, created for each email message in your drip campaign.
“Drip” email marketing is a strategy that sends a series of automated emails to a list of subscribers over a period of time. The emails are usually sent at predetermined intervals, and can be customized based on the recipient’s interests or past behaviors.
Email List Segmenting
Once you have built your email list (if you have an initial target size for launch), it’s important to segment it so that you can send more targeted content to your subscribers. There are a number of ways to segment your list, including by location, age, gender, interests, and more.
Often, the more effectively you segment, the better your email content can be pitched (to more interested recipients), resulting in improved engagement (and results).
Email Design
After you have segmented your list, it’s time to start designing your emails. When designing your email, be sure to keep your target audience and goals in mind. Your design should be eye-catching and should include a clear call-to-action.
Caveat: When designing an email campaign management strategy for beginners, resist the urge to rely on eye-candy graphics, they have their place, but your message is the more important!
Your design should be mobile friendly, containing some combination text, images, or video. I often see people who are creating a new email campaign management strategy for beginners, fail to view their design on mobile devices as well!
Creating Email Copy
The next step in email campaign management strategy for beginners, is in designing your email is to write the copy. When writing your email copy, be sure to keep your target audience and goals in mind. Your copy should be clear, concise, and persuasive.
For best practise (and effectiveness) focus on one message only. Your email copy should be highly compelling, so as to better lead people to your landing pages.
Caveat: For newbies creating their email campaign management strategy for beginners, if you need help, ask – Don’t assume and find out later there is an issue with something. Some things you do may need professional assistance.
Email Design and Coding
After you have written your email copy, it’s time to design and code your email. Ensure your design works well on mobile devices (most people are on-the-go). Your ESP should provide you with email templates, or you can create your own templates (which is not too hard to do).
If you’re using the templates, and related features of your ESP, all the coding will be automatically created for you – This is commonly a drag & drop + type your text environment – making it a breeze to do!
Benchmark helps you create responsive email (for mobile compatibility).
Email Campaign Deployment
After you have designed and coded your email, it’s time to deploy your campaign. When deploying your email campaign, be sure to use a reputable email service provider (ESP). Email campaigns should also be tested before they are sent to ensure that they are working properly.
Email Testing
After you have deployed your email campaign, it’s important to keep testing it to ensure that it is working properly. Email campaigns should be tested on a variety of devices, including desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
Also be sure your message is clear – Send test email messages to a “test group” and ask them what the meaning and CTA of your email message is – This helps avoid poorly focused (or misunderstood) messaging in your email.
Automating Email Campaigns
After you have tested your email campaign management strategy for beginners and it is working properly, you can begin to automate your email campaigns. This will allow you to send your emails on a regular basis without having to manually send them each time.
This is also why the opt-in and unsubscribe options should also be automated – Helping ensure your email list is clean and effective.
Using automation also helps ensure your subscribers receive your email at a time convenient to them (which increases your open rate!)
When creating your email campaign management strategy for beginners, Sender offers some free email marketing tools to help ensure delivery.
Mailchimp provides a free plan to get you started in the launch of your email campaign management strategy for beginners.
Post Email Campaign Initiatives
After your email campaign has been sent, it’s important to follow up with your subscribers. What in you email campaign management strategy for beginners can be improved? This can be done by sending them surveys, conducting interviews, or asking for feedback.
You might be surprised how candid subscribers can be, and how valuable their information is (to make your future email campaigns more effective). Think of it this way… They subscribed, which means they are interested, and are now telling you what they want – This is valuable input!
Optimizing Email Lists
After your email campaign has been sent, it’s important to optimize your email list. This includes removing inactive subscribers and segmenting your list so that you can send more targeted content to your subscribers. Email list optimization will help you to get the most out of your email campaigns.
Automation will help here, but it’s still important to follow up at times, and prune your email list. Optimizing lists in this way, helps you retain a list of subscribers who remain engaged.
As I alluded to (drip campaigns + email segmentation) Moosend has a terrific system to design behavioral email campaigns based on your subscribers’ information and/or activities.
Note: Some ESPs have a feature that can remove subscribers that don’t open your email messages (they are not engaged).
FAQ
What is email marketing strategy?
Email marketing strategy is the process of planning and executing email campaigns with the goal of achieving specific objectives. Email marketing strategies can vary depending on your target audience and the goals of your campaign.
What is a good email marketing strategy?
A good email marketing strategy involves planning and executing email campaigns with the goal of achieving specific objectives. Email marketing strategies can vary depending on your target audience and the goals of your campaign.
What are the main characteristics of an effective email marketing campaign?
An effective email marketing campaign should have a number of key characteristics, including a clear goal, well-designed emails, persuasive copy, and relevant content. Additionally, email campaigns should be tested before they are sent to ensure that they are working properly.
What are the most successful strategies for email campaigns?
There are a number of successful strategies for email campaigns, including segmenting your list, designing eye-catching emails, writing persuasive copy, and testing your campaign before sending it. Additionally, you can automate your email campaigns so that they are sent on a regular basis without having to manually send them each time.
Conclusion
Email campaign management is an important part of any marketing strategy, especially when creating your first email campaign management strategy for beginners. By following these tips, you can create a successful email campaign that will help you to achieve your marketing goals. You can learn much more about email campaign best practices by visiting our Small Business Email Marketing posts. As well as find out more about Email Campaign Management.