By: Becky Harris
Digital Marketing and Fundraising Professional
Email marketing for small businesses looks very different than it does for a large corporation. You may be wondering, why is it necessary for me to dedicate time and resources to email marketing in the first place?
Think of email marketing as a way for you to engage those in your audience with an expressed interest in your brand. These individuals had to subscribe to receive emails from you, so they must be at least somewhat interested! Additionally, through emails you can segment your audience to ensure you are sending the most relevant information to the right people.
How often you should send emails depends on the industry you are in and the types of emails you are sending. No matter the cadence, sometimes it can be difficult to think of what to say.
Here are five email marketing ideas for small business owners and entrepreneurs, for when you are running low on inspiration.
Give a Company Update Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic
This one is especially timely. With so many organizations rearranging how they do business amidst new social distancing and safety guidelines, now would be the perfect time to share how your organization has pivoted. Remember to keep it positive. Tell people what you are doing differently, how this pandemic has forced you to take a deep look at your priorities, and how you have doubled down on your mission. Share uplifting data. End by telling people how they can be a part of strengthening your organization’s mission.
Send a “Top Moments” Update
Did your organization reach a major milestone this month? Did you exceed sales, or host a virtual event for the first time ever? Collect all of these exciting moments and publish them together in a newsletter to your audience. This could be a monthly/quarterly email marketing idea to show your audience the growth your company is experiencing.
Ask Your Audience to Share Their Ideas
This can be a tricky email marketing idea. You don’t want to open up the floodgates by asking your audience general questions about what they would like to see from you in 2021. What you can do is ask for feedback on a specific campaign/new product or the like. Provide them with a form they can fill out directly in the email that will send responses to a designated email address. Look through these responses and be sure to thank everyone who engaged!
Email to Accompany a Social Media Post
Take a look at your social media accounts. What have you posted about lately? What content have people engaged with the most? Take some of these content ideas and pull them together in an email. Very often the people who interact with your business on social media and those who are subscribed to your email list are not the same people.
Sneak Preview of a New Product
If you are about to release a new product or make significant improvements, launch an email marketing campaign to give your subscribers an exclusive sneak preview! This email marketing idea will make you subscribers feel special and they will appreciate the opportunity to view something that no one else in your audience has access to yet.
These are just a few ideas. Need more? Explore this article we wrote on three e-commerce trigger email ideas. Have ideas of your own that you’d like to share? Leave us a comment below!