Top 3 marketing strategies to close the year strong. Part 2 - Email Strategy

Here we are the day before Thanksgiving and on the cusp of the holiday season. I recommend businesses and nonprofits increase their communications during this time of year. Not thoughtless emails just because your supposed to send something out. But, a well crafted message that is of tremendous value to your community. I wrote a blog post about how to discover what is valuable to your audience here.  Once you have a good idea of what your community is asking you to speak with them about, that's what you focus on. 

So getting back to the holiday season, in my last email, PART 1, I told you there are 3 strategies you need to be implementing in order to end the year strong with sales and revenue if you are a business, with donations and gifts if you are a nonprofit. The top 3 strategies are a referral strategy, email strategy, and event strategy. Then, I gave you my tips and actions steps to implement a strong referral strategy. 

Today, for Part 2, I tell you about implementing a successful 4th quarter email strategy.

We all get so many emails in the day. You are likely deleting several or ignoring a majority of the emails in your inbox. When this is your reality it's hard to believe that email is still considered (based on statistics) the best way to communicate with your community.

A couple of things need to be in place to make this accurate for you...  ​

First, your email list should be comprised of folks who have willingly subscribed to your list, not a list of people you have added because you collected their business card at a networking event. The open rate and click through rate on your communications are possibly a bit lower if this is what your list is made up of. This is not always the case, but most likely what is occurring. So, start making sure people have opted-in to your list and have asked to be communicated with.

Second, You should already be consistently communicating with your community, meaning you are sending at least a monthly e-blast. If you haven't been doing this, then dedicate this quarter to get communications established again. Rather than seeing a revenue increase this quarter, you will likely start to see results more towards the end of the 1st quarter in 2016.

If you have the above infrastructure in place, then go through the following action steps to see a significant ROI with your email marketing campaign.

Action Steps:

1. Take out a sheet of paper or open up a Google doc and write out the one or two things you want sell (or if you are a nonprofit, the exact amount of money you want to ask for) this holiday season. 
2. Next, determine some valuable topics and themes to communicate to your audience about as it relates to the item or items you are selling. For example, if you are going to sell an introductory home organizing package to get your clients to help them get organized for the holidays, then you might start writing to them about organizing tips they can easily implement for the holidays. You could also share some of  your favorite resources and tools for them to use as they start this organizing endeavor. 
3. Break the topics out and create interesting email subject lines so that you have enough to be able to send out an email weekly to your community on these various topics. These emails individually should provide huge value to the reader, enough so that even if they never worked with you, bought your product, or gave you any money, they benefit. But, what this kind of value sharing does for you is establishes you as a leader in your community around the topic you are speaking about. 
4. Make the last 2 emails in your campaign about your offer. Link the topics, ideas and thoughts you have shared so far in previous emails to the product or offer you have for the community. You are not making them feel like they have to buy, you should simply share what you have to offer and (THIS IS THE KEY) graciously invite them to collaborate with you to help solve a problem through the purchase of your product or through the gift they will make. 
5. Set up an easy process for your community to buy from you. Set up a special page on your website for them to buy that one thing. Don't make them go search for it or give them lots of steps to make this happen. 

These actions steps require that you first have a connection established with your community. In your campaign you are then creatively communicating and sharing value on a consistent basis, and for this campaign specifically that is weekly. Finally, you invite your community to collaborate with you...to help you help them.  Using the 4Cs of Marketing, connection, creativity, consistency, and collaboration, for this campaign, you set yourself up for a significant return on investment.

Want us to help you implement this strategy?

Would you like more help in setting up this email campaign for your organization or business? Or, if you are a nonprofit and want to know how to apply these steps for your specific ask, please contact us at 505-216-6110 or email us at marketing@fireflystrategies.com and we would be happy to help make this happen for you.

In the meantime, please have a beautiful Thanksgiving holiday with your family and loved ones!

Here's to your illumination,