People become brand evangelists by connecting with the brand and its people. Remember to share a bit about your company’s culture, values and people, rather than “blast” your audience with coupon or sales announcement in their inbox every other day. Sales shouldn’t be the primary focus of your efforts; it’s the byproduct once you’ve built a relationship.
Share your story and your people
Your marketing plan is about growing loyal followers and fans while upholding and solidifying your brand’s style and values. Instead of sending a plain ol’ email with your new inventory, consider having staff members share their picks of your new products. Likewise, ask colleagues to write blurbs about upcoming events or menu items that excite them.
Sending these staff picks every other month could be just the right formula to add some quirk and personality between your regular newsletters. Who doesn’t like learning unexpected (and even embarrassing details) about the people behind the brand?
Use the right tools to stay relevant
While spinning a yarn, fully utilize all that your email marketing platform has to offer. Segment the audience you’ve built, and send targeted messages to unique groups.
And take advantage of autoresponders – they’re easy to set up and get the right message to the right people at, well, the right time. Let’s say your campaign includes links to various offerings on your website. Set up link-based triggers that go out to folks when you have a special price on the particular product they showed an interest in.
Keep in touch
Hosting a Friday happy hour? Send an email invitation with a link to an RSVP form. Later in the week, check in to see who hasn’t RSVP’d, and send them a heads-up to let them know what they’ll be missing. You can even set up an email reminder to those who did RSVP to make sure they’re still attending.
Pay attention
You can’t be expected to remember every detail about your contacts or customers, so use your audience section to store important information like company name, birthdate and next appointment time. Then, use those date fields to set up autoresponders that send when a person’s birthday or appointment rolls around. Set up easy personalization in the email, too – it’s an easy way to snag their attention and keep them engaged.