Here is an exercise that can totally change your email marketing strategy for the coming year. The kicker is at the end, but stay with me, it is five minutes well spend. I have been helping email marketers for over ten years. Giving training and workshops, reviewing strategies as a consultant and crafting them in teams. So you see patterns emerge.
maybe you recognise one of these :
I’d like to move away from Ad-Hoc to get some structure in our program.I’d like to explain to my colleagues why we need the budget or do things, but it’s hard. I feel like we are stuck or reached a plateau.Am I doing it right? Where should I start?
All of these can be answered with the help of a solid email marketing plan. During any workshop or training, I (try to) make people think.One exercise is for each person to write down the one thing that would help you the most in your email marketing. You know your situation the best, and if you come up with it yourself, that question is sure to deliver the most value, right?
Well actually, wrong. No one gets it right on the first try. But it is still a great way to improve your email strategy, and I’ll explain why.
Strategy seems hard because it’s a multi-part question
First off, it isn’t easy to define your next best action. And if there isn’t an urgent problem, most marketers find it quite hard. That is 100% normal, and it is super recognisable. But why is that question so hard?
It is hard because defining the one best thing to do, is a multi-part question. The need to prioritize is built in. Why is that the best thing? and why that one first?”Oh, and what does “Best thing” mean to us anyway?
You understand it is a first step to uncover the underlying purpose – and tactics to get there.A perfect starting point for thinking about your strategy. Start improving your email marketing. You’ll run into the wall, the hard questions along the way. That is how to overcome them (together). Now you also understand this is a great way to go step-by-step in a training or workshop.
A starting point for your email strategy
Sometimes we (think we) know what helps us the most. But don’t know where to begin.
Often there is some kind of idea of what you could do. Some people have heard of best practices, some people can list a number of general email tactics. But that is no strategy, there are over 300 things you could do. What the great Michael Porter said: Strategy is knowing what NOT to do. And there are about 20-25 base frameworks (number depends on your industry) most helpful in nailing your strategy down . Different Goal setting frameworks, multiple customer journey models, segmentation, content planning, data and analytics models.Super helpful as long as you know the right tool for the job and how to use them – and have the experience in looking beyond and never let the model define your strategy. And then there is the How… Doubt sets in. Is it really the right thing? Again, this is really quite normal – I’d be more worried if you don’t have any doubts at this point.
Bringing value for subscribers, your business, but also you
I wish you all a great year ahead. If you paid very close attention you might have noticed I changed the main question along the course of this article. This is part of strategic awareness. Different question produce wildly different answers. So while you are crafting or fine-tuning your strategy for 2021, I’d like you to not only give a clear answer to reach your Business Goals, but combine it with how to enjoy the road getting there. 1. The big starter question: What is the best thing to do?2. Even more important: What is the one thing that would help you the most? What will make the difference for you, personally? What will make your job more enjoyable, interesting, energizing, fun and productive? Start swapping out terrible tasks for better ones. Welcome to the wonderfull world of win-win reprioritizing. Untill next time, be Awesome, do Awesome things.
How to improve your email marketing strategy – in an unexpected way
Read more: emailmonday.com
