Email marketing is a powerful and cost-effective way to communicate with your audience and grow your business. It allows you to send personalized and relevant messages to your prospects and customers, build trust and loyalty, and drive more conversions and sales.

But how do you get started in email marketing? And what are some ways to use email in your marketing plan? In this blog post, we will answer these questions and share some data on why email marketing is still one of the best marketing channels available.

What is email marketing?

Email marketing is the process of sending emails to a group of people who have given you permission to contact them. It’s one of the best ways to promote your content. Content marketing and email marketing go hand in hand.

Creating a system like an email funnel can help you scale your business. But first, you need leads. Here’s the full guide on lead generation and lead funnels.

You can use email marketing to:

• Promote your products or services
• Educate your audience about your industry or niche
• Share news, updates, or tips
• Nurture leads and move them along the sales funnel
• Increase customer retention and loyalty
• Encourage referrals and word-of-mouth

Email marketing is not spamming or sending unsolicited messages. It’s an outdated and simply poor practice to purchase email address and send emails to them unsolicited.

Instead, your email marketing should be based on permission, relevance, and value. You should only send emails to people who have opted in to receive them, and you should always respect their preferences and privacy.

How to get started in email marketing?

To start email marketing, you need three main things: an email list, an email service provider (ESP), and an email strategy.

An email list is a collection of email addresses of people who have agreed to receive emails from you. You can build your email list by:

• Creating a lead magnet (a free offer that provides value to your audience in exchange for their email address)
• Adding a sign-up form or pop-up to your website or blog
• Asking for email addresses at events, webinars, or workshops
• Integrating your email list with your social media platforms or other channels

An ESP or CRM (Customer Relations Manager) is software that helps you create, send, and manage your email campaigns. You can use a CRM to:

• Design and customize your emails using templates or drag-and-drop editors
• Segment your email list based on various criteria (such as demographics, behavior, interests, etc.)
• Automate your email campaigns using triggers or workflows
• Track and measure your email performance using analytics and reports

Some popular CRMs are Mailchimp, Constant Contact, AWeber, ConvertKit, and HubSpot.

We highly recommend Mailchimp as an all-in-one platform for small businesses: emails, landing pages, social media posts, ads, and more!
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An email strategy is a plan that defines your email goals, audience, content, frequency, and metrics. You can use an email strategy to:

• Align your email campaigns with your overall marketing objectives
• Identify and understand your target audience and their needs
• Create engaging and relevant content that provides value to your subscribers
• Determine how often and when to send your emails
• Test and optimize your emails to improve your open rates, click-through rates, conversions, etc.

Ways to Use Email in Your Marketing Plan

There are many ways to use email in your marketing plan, depending on your goals and audience. Here are some examples of common types of email campaigns:

• Welcome emails: These are the first emails you send to new subscribers to introduce yourself, thank them for joining your list, and set expectations for future emails.
• Newsletter emails: These are regular emails that provide updates, news, tips, or curated content to your audience.
• Promotional emails: These are emails that showcase your products or services, announce special offers or discounts, or invite subscribers to events or webinars.
• Educational emails: These are emails that teach your audience something useful or valuable related to your industry or niche.
• Lead nurturing emails: These are emails that guide your leads through the sales funnel by providing relevant information, addressing objections, or offering incentives.
• Customer loyalty emails: These are emails that reward your customers for their loyalty, such as sending birthday wishes, anniversary discounts, referral programs, or feedback requests.

Data on email marketing

Email marketing is still one of the most effective marketing channels available. Here are some data points that prove it:

• According to Statista, there were 4.03 billion email users worldwide in 2020, and this number is expected to grow to 4.48 billion by 2024.
• According to HubSpot, 78% of marketers reported an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months.
• According to Campaign Monitor, if you’re beating industry averages, for every $1 spent on email marketing, you can expect a return upward of $42.
• According to OptinMonster, segmented email campaigns have an open rate that is 14.31% higher than non-segmented campaigns.
• According to Litmus, personalized emails deliver 6x higher

Now that we’ve covered why email marketing is important, how to use emails, and data on email success rates for business, let’s get started.

Here’s a quick list to help.

5 Steps to Getting Started in Email Marketing

Email marketing is a powerful way to connect with your audience and promote your products or services. But how do you get started with email marketing? Here are some basic steps to follow: