Entrepreneurs understand the importance of promoting their local business to the maximum number of prospects possible.
With this in mind, email marketing is among the most efficient and reliable ways to promote your local brand and offers.
Yet, there are numerous mistakes you should avoid, particularly when you're just getting started.
At the same time, focusing on specific email marketing methods can improve your chances of achieving a desirable ROI.
Considering the above, in this post, we'll cover some of the best methods for using email to promote your local business and brand.
Let's begin.
Build Up Your Email List
You must create an email list of recipients before promoting your local business via email marketing.
With the above in mind, in the past, companies often purchased lists of prospects and began emailing them.
However, nowadays, you should avoid that practice.
Instead, you should only reach out to those who have consented to receive email marketing messages from your company.
Fortunately, you can quickly build a legitimate email list via creative lead-generation ideas.
For example, customers can agree to receive marketing emails in exchange for a free lead magnet such as a checklist or special report.
Promote New Product and Service Offers
Although emails should predominantly include valuable tips, resources, and information, sending occasional promotional messages to your customers is acceptable.
Moreover, keeping your email list recipients updated on your new offers can also serve as a USP (Unique Selling Proposition) for signing up for your email list.
After all, customers love receiving updates regarding new offers from their favorite brands.
Not to mention, promoting new products with exclusive offers can boost your conversions.
Asking for Reviews and Feedback
Most prospects prefer reading reviews and feedback before purchasing.
Consequently, showcasing your company as reliable and trustworthy will help differentiate you from lesser competitors.
With this in mind, asking your current customers to leave reviews, feedback, and testimonials whenever possible is essential for encouraging future purchases.
By all means, the more positive reviews your business receives, the better.
Personalizing Your Emails
The days of sending general copy-and-paste style emails are long gone.
These days, customers want and expect personalization.
That is to say, truly effective emails should be tailored and personalized to each customer.
Fortunately, you can accomplish this easily by employing tools that personalize your emails automatically.
You can also segment your email list by sending different email types to each customer category.
Considering the above, you should remember to use the customer's first name in the intro rather than something generic such as "dear customer."
Localize Your Subject Lines
Adding local information to your email subject lines when emailing recipients near your business can help improve email open rates.
For example, "Get your life together with my exclusive coaching program in Cleveland, Ohio," or "Don't miss this awesome coaching opportunity for Cleveland residents" are excellent subject lines for life coaches offering services in that particular city.
To emphasize, mentioning the specific local area will garner more interest than a generic subject line.
Employ Automation Tools
Managing your email marketing campaigns can be challenging alongside the other responsibilities of operating a local business.
Consequently, investing in automation helps ensure timely messages and is paramount to email marketing success.
Specifically, automation tools help you schedule emails for delivery on specific days and times.
For example, your welcome emails will go out whenever a new contact opts into your list.
In Conclusion
As shown above, email marketing is a simple and cost-effective method for local businesses to promote their brand to prospects and customers.
With this in mind, companies must pay close attention to their email content and the value they provide to their email list recipients.
Again, following email marketing rules and best practices helps ensure quality customer experiences and helps avoid legal issues.
Also, remember that achieving significant success with email marketing takes consistency, time, and effort.
However, applying the above strategies can help your local business achieve positive results.
Hope this helps,
Erik
We implement creative, results-based digital and hybrid marketing strategies for local business clients.
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