Email Marketing the SMART Way
Email marketing has gotten rather a bad reputation over the years. That’s because so many people, including lawyers, do it badly. Used properly, email marketing can be a great way to connect with your existing and potential clients and make them aware of new products and services you offer as well as highlight newsworthy developments in your area of expertise.
One of the prime advantages to email marketing over other forms of marketing is that you can reach a vast number of people for very little money. This type of market also allows you to interact with your readers in real time. There’s no lag while a print ad is being developed or while a direct mail piece is at the post office.
Tips for successful email marketing
Being effective at email marketing doesn’t take a lot of time, money or energy. However, it DOES require a dedicated and consistent effort. To get started, consider the following email marketing tips.
1. Give your subscribers what they want. One of the nice things about email marketing is that your readers will often tell you what they want to know…if you listen. Blog comments or email questions can easily be turned into email marketing messages. It’s a good bet that if one person is interested in a particular issue that there are dozens more with the same question.
2. Be consistent. No email marketing effort is going to be successful with just one marketing message or one newsletter. To be effective, you need to offer regular, interesting information to your readers. This is especially important for a law practice, since you never know when a potential client is going to need your services. Keeping your name in front of your readers will make yours the practice that they think of when they need a lawyer.
One easy way to make sure you are sending regular, new information is to use a content calendar. This way you can schedule your email marketing/newsletter topics ahead of time. This also saves you from procrastinating because you can’t think of a suitable topic.
3. Think mobile. More than half of Americans access their email via a mobile device. If your marketing emails aren’t viewable or aren’t well-suited to viewing on a smartphone, tablet or Kindle, then you’re missing out on a large portion of your potential audience.
In addition, those who check their email via mobile devices are usually people on the go, rather than those at a desk or office. Make sure to keep your message short and succinct so that it can be easily absorbed and scanned by readers in a taxi, on the subway or in a coffee shop.
4. Don’t be spammy. Being “spammy” is what has made some people shy away from email marketing. This includes practices like cluttering your readers’ email boxes with messages and offering boring or repetitive messages. Make sure to offer something of value to your readership every time you hit “send.”
5. Make it easy to opt in. Most Internet readers spend just seconds making up their mind whether to stay and read more on any given website. Make sure that your site explains clearly “above the fold” what you have to offer and makes it easy for readers to sign up for your newsletter or other email marketing campaign. Email marketing is, in large part, a numbers game. The more people you reach, the more new clients you’ll be able to generate.
Your recipient is one who will ultimately determine if your email is spam. Have a plan, listen and only send to an audience that truly wants to get your email in their inbox.
Following current events can be one way to add timely relevant content to your email marketing strategy. Let your audience know that you can address those specific topics with your practice and team.
What do you consider spam in your inbox? Share your comments below.
