Two Email Marketing Beliefs That Could Be Hurting Your Firm

Many firms send out email marketing campaigns. But there is a question that lingers in many marketers’ minds:

“Are we doing it right?”

“Right” is a nebulous term. If your goal is to trip and fall, tying your left and right shoe together is the right way to “tie your shoes.” Therefore, whether you are doing something “right” relies on what you are trying to achieve.

However, if your goal is either to bring in new clients or use email marketing to build trust and maintain relationships…

…there are some common beliefs that may be hurting your efforts. Let’s take a step back and rethink email marketing.

The Crazy Things People Think About Email Marketing

My personal trainer asked me if having an email list is important to a business. My answer was, “To me, it’s essential.” Heck, if not for email marketing’s ability to bring in new clients, I wouldn’t be able to have a “personal trainer.”

But his jaw dropped at the next thing I said:

“0.5%…that’s the rule of thumb for converting prospects on your list to paying clients.”

He found that very disappointing. But I explained to him that email marketing is a great tool to build trust with an audience you can truly help.

But there are two commonly held beliefs, I think you should avoid…like the plague.

Let’s Not Bother Our Clients

Think about your best friend. How often do you communicate with him or her? It’s probably fairly frequently.

Regardless of what they claim, too many firms don’t want to treat clients like a friend. They don’t want to bother their clients until those clients are in need of services again.

That’s a mistake. You need to treat your clients like friends. Therefore, you need to communicate with them on a regular basis.

You can use email as a tool to help you maintain regular and consistent communication with you current, past, and future clients.

But then there is another related trap too many firms fall into.

Self-Serving, Valueless, Emails

Let’s get back to the concept of treating your clients like friends. Do you send your friends email with advertisements, about contracts you’ve won, or featuring your latest company picnic?

Nope.

You probably send him or her only helpful information, something they’ll find of value, or a tidbit they might be interested in.

I believe there is a downside to sending your clients worthless and self-serving information.

Again, is this how you would treat a friend?

I believe every email should provide value to the reader.

And trust me, I’m not oblivious to the fact that I’m selling hard in some of my emails. But you’ll be hard-pressed to find an email I’ve sent that is devoid of value.

Is it harder to create value-based emails? Yes, it’s much harder. It’s more time-consuming.

But it’s the “right” thing to do when communicating with your audience.

The Bottom Line

Communicate with your clients regularly with emails they’ll get value from.

Have any email marketing tips or tricks? Share yours in the comments.