When it comes to the basic “blocking and tackling” of effective email strategy in 2022, email newsletters are on the starting line. After all, 81% of B2B businesses name newsletters as their top content marketing strategy. However, the popularity of newsletters often makes it one of the most difficult tactics to deploy. It’s important for every business to consider how their newsletter is going to stand out in the crowded inboxes of their audience.
Before we dive into the email strategy for developing an effective newsletter, here are just a few important factors to consider:
1. Newsletters provide a way to educate current and prospective customers.
An effective email newsletter is informative and relevant. It should appeal directly to the subscriber’s interests and cover the topics from the industry. Because of this, newsletters provide your audience with a better understanding and knowledge of your brand in a way that is helpful.
2. Newsletters help you keep leads warm.
Not everyone who visits your website or submits their email address is ready to buy. Newsletters can be a great way to keep potential customers engaged and informed until they’re ready to make the decision to buy.
3. Newsletters can enhance your brand reputation and highlight your expertise.
Newsletters also provide a way to establish yourself as a thought leader in your industry and build expertise. By sharing relevant industry news and providing perspective on important topics for your audience in your newsletter, you become a trusted voice for them.
So how do you create an engaging newsletter that creates momentum for your marketing efforts? Here are seven strategies to consider:
1. Choose an Email Software that Works for Your Brand
There are many email service providers out there on the market and choosing the right one is not easy. While we’ve used several survey platforms to send newsletters for our clients, our team likes the features and functionality that Campaign Monitor provides. The key is to find software that can meet your requirements and can guarantee both high deliverability and quality of your emails.
2. Set the Right Expectations by Letting People Know What to Expect from Your Newsletter
Because of how many emails are sent daily, people are more and more reluctant to share their email addresses. Whenever you’re asking people to sign up for your newsletter, it’s helpful to answer the question “What’s in it for me?”
Helping people recognize the value of subscribing to your newsletter and setting expectations for how you will communicate with them goes a long way in maximizing the ROI of your campaigns.
3. Use a Clean and Consistent Template
You want to make sure your newsletters are skimmable and easy to read. Whether you use an out-of-the-box template or get one created especially for your brand, using a consistent design will help your brand achieve a layer of cohesiveness and flow.
4. Make Sure Your Subject Line is Compelling
You only get one chance to make a great first impression with your subject line. According to research, 64% of readers make the decision to open an email based on the subject line alone. Here are a few different subject lines you can use to elevate your email newsletters.
5. Consider Adding an Emoji to Your Subject Line
At Green Apple, we’ve found emojis help our clients’ newsletters stand out in a crowded inbox. One study analyzed over 9K email campaigns on mobile and found that subject lines that included emojis increased email open rates by 1,071% on Android and by 662% on iOS.
6. Make Your Newsletter Helpful & Informational More than Sales-Driven
Newsletters are better for cultivating customer loyalty and brand equity than they are for hard selling. When it comes to the content you create, it’s important to embrace the mindset of “always be helping.” One way to integrate this into your newsletters is the 90/10 rule: 90% informational content, 10% sales material. With the right balance, less is more and the educational material will lead to more sales than product copy.
7. Continually Analyze & Test to Find What Works
As with any marketing tactic, in email strategy, it’s important to constantly test and analyze your newsletter to see what works. You want to track the metrics that indicate whether or not your newsletter is working and test new ideas along the way. This includes testing out different strategies for send date, layout & design, calls-to-action, etc.
Email newsletters might be something we’re all familiar with, but it can challenging to create a successful one for your own brand. We hope these insights and strategies help you develop a newsletter that delights subscribers and creates momentum for your marketing efforts.
It’s obvious when companies genuinely care about their customers, not just as purchasers but as people. As a customer, you want to feel valued and reassured that your purchase, experience, or service is satisfactory. Building consistent and reactive communication helps you develop long-term and loyal consumer relationships. So, how do you do this? You put the customer first. A customer-centric culture revolves around making the customer happy before, during, and after their purchase, ultimately earning established loyalty and higher growth. This strategy means listening to your customers and implementing what you learn from them. Not only does this practice make consumers satisfied, it helps you stand out from the competition for potential customers. While there are several methods of the approach, we’ve gathered a top five for you to review while you begin to design a customer-centric approach in your organization.
Imagine you want to make a complaint about a bad experience. If you encounter a less-than-helpful person when expressing your concerns, you likely won’t return to that business. That’s why you want to hire employees who understand the value of customer relationships.
While these customer-facing individuals do drive revenue based on customer experience, that’s not their primary duty. More than anything, team members who work directly with customers ensure the customer is understood and satisfied with their experience. To avoid disconnection between customer service and other departments, strategically merge other divisions or schedule regular meetings. Customer service shouldn’t be only certain employees’ responsibility– it should be everyone’s. Though customer service isn’t the only factor in adopting customer-centric ways, hiring and collaborating with excellent people are guaranteed ways to make your customers feel more secure.
Responding with empathy is essential when developing a successful customer-centric approach. These responses consist of implementing progressive thinking, understanding emotional needs, and genuinely caring about the individual’s concerns. Empathy is a learned and valuable skill for your team members to possess.
According to a PwC study, only 38% of U.S. consumers say the employees they interact with understand their needs. That is a monumental opportunity for your company to specialize in empathetic proficiencies and automatically outshine your competition.
When planning your customer-centric strategy, think of previous customer experiences, including:
As a team, compile these trouble spots and either solve the hiccups or list the solutions on your website so your existing and potential customers can have their questions asked as soon as possible. You learn these areas of improvement by listening to your customers and are rewarded by their appreciation and extended business.
Did you know that customers who have a good experience are 5X more likely to recommend your product or service than if they have a very poor experience? Relationships and customer satisfaction matter. Whether it’s fun communication through social media interaction or substantiating trust in B2B discussions, you want to know what your customers’ needs and priorities are before all else. Maybe it’s the way you respond or how you market toward products that create customer attraction to your brand. Research and listen to what your audience specifies; you’ll continue to build mutually beneficial relationships.
If you’re interested in learning more about how your business could thrive initiating a customer-centric business strategy, contact us today for a consultation! We’re excited to investigate the precise approach for you and your audience.
Ten seconds doesn’t seem too long, right? Based on the latest study, humans have an average attention span of eight seconds. On a first date, you usually tend to give someone the benefit of the doubt if things aren’t working out exactly to your standards. With social media lifestyles today, though, there’s no obligation to give anyone even an extra second of deliberation if the content is subpar or unreliable. To keep your audience engaged, you need to connect with them instantly, so they don’t lose interest—no second chances or “dates.” So, how do you stand out with your target audience? Regardless of the type of platform that you’re utilizing to gain listener retention, here are the four best ways that you can capture your audience’s attention in your new year marketing strategy.
For your audience to refrain from daydreaming or continue scrolling, they need to know that you are undoubtedly speaking to them. When you know your audience, you know their needs, anxieties, intentions, etc. When you focus on your target’s pain points, you confirm that you have solutions they need, which further results in increased view time, subscriber or follower rate, and customer loyalty. Today’s society and algorithms don’t allow non-relatable content to take up our space or time. Get to your point quickly by being specific, inspiring, and genuine to grab their attention immediately.
By relating to your ideal client, you build reliability, likability, and certainty. Put yourself in the shoes of your ideal customers or audience so that you better grasp what matters to them, therefore, what they want to see or experience. Consider these questions about your audience when creating your content calendar:
By answering these questions and determining the basis of why your audience is “following” you, you’re able to speak to their emotions and cultivate connections, better yet, relationships. Test out relevant, inspirational quotes, current events, success stories, industry statistics, or even humorous content to see what your audience favors. According to Forbes, customers with a positive emotional association with a brand are 8.4 times more likely to trust the company, 7.1 times more likely to purchase more, and 6.6 times more likely to forgive a company’s mistake. As you can see, once you capture your customer’s emotions, you also gain their loyalty.
Using the word “imagine” or placing your audience in “what-if” scenarios automatically transports them to your desired mindset. It allows them to mentally see themselves in an imaginary world, whether you choose to make that a good or a bad place.
If you’re working on promoting your services for B2B interactions, you could ask, “What if your revenue could grow x amount in 6 months?” or “Imagine having x purchases made by the end of the year.” Positive options like these give your audience something to look forward to with their future with you.
People process visual content more quickly than they process words. Additionally, 67% of consumers consider clear, detailed images to be very important and carry even more weight than the product information, full description, and customer ratings.
If you’re strategizing your social media content, create enticing graphics that speak to your target audience. Better yet, incorporate videos that tell a story. According to HubSpot, 54% of people want to see videos more than any other content in the future. Develop a connection with your audience first thing by giving them the content that they want to see.
The truth is, our attention spans aren’t getting any longer. Try implementing these strategies so that you can stand out from your competition and win over your target audience.
If you’re looking to enhance your marketing goals, connect to your audience more efficiently, and increase your brand awareness, Green Apple Strategy is here to help. Contact us today for a consultation.
With the holiday season quickly approaching, it’s time to start preparing your 2022 strategic marketing plan. The new year is a perfect chance to start fresh, with innovative ideas, new traditions, and creative campaigns. Before you determine what needs to change, what objectives should be established, or what goals you want to meet, take a look at these seven attainable goals to add to your marketing plan for 2022. These key components just might make this one your most successful year yet.
Include Your Team in the Process
It’s essential to involve your team in company decisions, especially the choices that will directly impact them. Whether it’s a financial, communications, or company-wide plan, you don’t need to take on this task alone.
Inviting your team to collaborate with you creates a more collaborative environment. Plus, incorporating your employees in big decision plans builds company trust, morale, camaraderie, and reliability. Everyone brings a new perspective, and it’s critical to engage them.
Construct a SWOT Analysis from 2021
Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) are essential when planning your next move. Without the deep dive into your previous campaigns and strategies, you’re unable to determine why something was or wasn’t successful. By conducting your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis, you’re unveiling endless growth possibilities and positive outcomes.
Here are some examples of each to ask your team:
Review Your Mission and Vision Statements
Everything you do should reflect who you are as a company. Ask your team and yourself questions like, “What do we value? What differentiates us from the competition? Why do we exist?” It can be easy to get lost in trends or follow others but don’t forget about your originality and what makes you stand out from the competition.
Your annual plan should heavily incorporate goals and concepts that demonstrate what makes you, you. When conducting a team meeting, request feedback on what they admire most about the company, why the values are substantial, or where the gaps are to be more purposely filled.
Develop Your 3-5 Year Strategic Plan
While it may seem like overkill, you should always be thinking about what your next step is. (Spoiler alert, your competition is already doing it). Think of your prospective finances, budget, timeline, business size, and more to keep you on track for success.
Brainstorm methods for increasing your revenue, committing to your values, executing SWOT findings, and expanding your goods or services. No goal is too big, and you can always readjust next year!
Make Your Goals and Objectives Clear
Write or type your goals and objectives for each category you’re preparing and have a timeline for each action item. Including Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) in your initial planning will help keep you accountable as often as you need, whether that’s month-to-month or quarterly.
Examples in Action:
Establish Metrics for Success
If you do not already have Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, and Google My Business, be sure to implement them! These resources do not cost you anything to configure, and they give you valuable information that can help gain traffic, leads, and revenue.
Don’t forget that surveys are also a fantastic method to gather feedback. Whether your plan is for external or internal communicators, questionnaires are immediate results where you can discover if something new or existing is working or not.
Break Down Your Priorities
In order to drive your results and keep your team more motivated, break down your priorities into annual and quarterly tasks. Your annual tasks are your higher-level, bigger-picture goals that you want to accomplish. Once you develop your yearly milestones, hone in on quarterly projects that will help you attain them. Three quarterly projects are a good rule of thumb to start and work your way from there.
Creating Your Marketing Plan for 2022?
Green Apple Strategy is a full-service marketing agency that connects clients to communications experts, conducts valuable strategies, and delivers quality work. Are you ready to begin your 2022 strategic planning with our team of specialists? Connect with us today to schedule a consultation and start implementing your best year yet.
Searching for the right marketing agency is a process. We understand—there are a lot of options. How can you know which one is the best? Like any relationship, they need to earn your trust, and you want to feel confident before selecting the right one. Before you grant them the power of connecting with your audience, spending your marketing funds, and accessing your client information, you need to feel assured in your decision. To make the process easier, we assembled the top seven questions you should ask your contenders before hiring a marketing agency.
Are you a B2B or B2C company? Do you have a niche? While some marketing agencies don’t promote specializing in one area, discussing their most popular industries or projects is worth mentioning. If you want to improve SEO, and the agency focuses primarily on media relations, be sure to keep your goals in mind and not settle if you want an agency that has more experience in your current priorities.
Having conversations about common client types also allows you to ask if they are currently working with any of your competitors. Knowing possible conflicts of interest at the beginning will prevent potential development or implementation roadblocks that could negatively impact your service.
One of the greatest benefits of working with a marketing agency is having insight into marketers’ perspectives. However, you want to be sure that these suggestions and ideas are being effectively communicated with you.
Even if you’re new to agency business, you have an idea of how often you need updates or what your communication preferences are. Asking for reporting and dialogue habits will help determine if that’s what you want in an agency partnership. Most agencies will listen and correspond to your preferences. That being said, it will be helpful if your priorities align. That way, both sides are comfortable, resulting in more effective processes and results.
Yes, talking about money can be uncomfortable. However, these conversations are necessary early on to determine your options. You don’t want to go with the least expensive option because they’re the cheapest, and you also shouldn’t proceed with the most costly if there’s no valid reasoning.
Describe what you want and ask them what that range looks like, but continue to dig beyond that. Determine how pricing is structured, what resources they’ll utilize, what percentage goes toward efforts vs. billing, etc. Once you have the numbers you’re looking for, compare with a few other finalists and determine what seems the most valuable to you.
There are some instances where the client does not own any of the content that the agency developed for them. This could include photography, graphics, coding, or other branded resources that you may assume are yours. It is imperative to discuss this information upfront so that you know exactly what you are agreeing to. Just in case the relationship or project goes awry, you want to know what is legally yours to avoid issues.
Building a foundation with your leading account holder(s) is beneficial for communication, expectations, and trust. Asking who you will be working with allows you the opportunity to research the individuals on LinkedIn and discover their professional background, including experience and longevity. While newer executives shouldn’t be discarded, it may give you peace of mind to find senior team members who will assist you with your account.
Just like when you’re shopping online or deciding on a restaurant, reviews and photos give you what you need in your decision-making process. In your agency decision process, request case studies, testimonials, and examples that they find valuable. If ROI is important to you, ask specifically for projects with metric-centered results, like audience growth and CTA conversion. If you’re re-branding or need graphic design assistance, focus on visible transformations, like logo or website portfolios.
Is there a limit on revisions? Are there certain times that are off-limits? When is an appropriate turnaround time for approval? Talking about expectations for you as a client helps you distinguish how much or little you want to be involved or if your priorities coordinate.
At the end of the day, you’re the client, and they are working for you. If their expectations aren’t reasonable for you, don’t settle. There are plenty more fish in the sea.
We sometimes tend to ignore gut feelings, and we usually regret that. Maybe an agency looks good on paper, but you lack the chemistry with your account executive. Don’t dismiss your intuition, even if your brain is thinking something else.
Throughout the process, you’ll learn the agency’s values, culture, and leadership, and you will quickly find out if there are certain details that you can’t get past. Trusting your instincts will only lead to better opportunities.
Hiring a marketing agency involves many factors, and it can be daunting signing the dotted line. We want you in the right marketing hands just as much as you do. Green Apple Strategy helps companies strategically tell their stories and successfully implement their goals through our comprehensive set of services. Schedule a consultation today. We would love to see if we’re the right fit for you!
