Finding clients becomes a lot easier when you know exactly who you’re looking for. Identifying your ideal client, or your target market, and then delving into who they are—their values, likes, dislikes, etc.—is just the first step. Then, it’s time to provide them valuable insight and content to keep you on their radar.

Our experience shows one of the most effective ways to do this is through email marketing.

Why Use Email Marketing to Connect with Potential Clients

In today’s world, emails are a highly valued form of digital currency. They’re one of the best ways to reach people directly. Here are a few reasons why:

• Strong ROI. According to research from The Direct Marketing Association, companies can expect an average of $42 return for every $1 spent. This makes the initial investment into email marketing worth it in the long run.
• Widespread use. Regardless of who your target market is, they most likely use email regularly. Statista found that in 2019, 293.6 billion emails were sent and received every day. You want to focus your efforts on platforms your target market is using.
• Easy to personalize. Your content is crafted just for your audience, and email marketing platforms like Hubspot make personalization easy. Simply adding personalized subject lines and introductions are ways to increase your open rate. According to Yes Lifecycle Marketing, emails with a personalized subject line generate a 50% higher open rate than those that are more general.

How To Build an Email List

Before you can use email in your marketing strategy, you need email addresses for those in your target market. There are several ways to get these. You’ll want to find the best strategy, or combination of strategies, for your company based on your available resources.

• Lead forms. You cannot expect people to just give you their email address. Instead, you need to offer something valuable to your target market in exchange for access to their inbox. A lead form asks a person to provide their email to receive a valuable piece of content such as a free ebook. Whatever the content is, it should provide authentic solutions to a problem your potential clients have. For example, if you’re targeting millennials, you might offer an ebook titled, Start Saving Younger and Retire Earlier.
• Use your network. Look to see what emails you may already have access to. Compile a list of emails from your inbox or LinkedIn account. These could be people you’ve worked with before, former clients, or anyone who might be interested in what your business is offering or the value it provides.
• Buy a list. If you go this route, make sure to buy an email list that closely resembles your target market. Keep in mind these people haven’t signed up directly through your business, so they are much cooler leads than if they came through a lead form or your network. With that in mind, you want to keep your emails relatively short and make sure to highlight some relevant, expertise-based content, not just your own services. Don’t lead with “Switch to my bank to get mobile banking.” Instead, maybe provide valuable information such as “The benefits of mobile banking.”

How To Implement a Successful Email Marketing Strategy

A successful email marketing strategy in its most basic form requires the use of an email marketing platform, clearly defined goals, and providing valuable insight within each email.

Choosing an Email Marketing Platform

A benefit of email marketing is the automation component. You are not going in and emailing your entire list every week or month. Instead, you’re able to pre-schedule messages to be sent out on a regular basis. To do this, you’ll need to find the right email service provider for your company.

Some things to consider when choosing an email marketing platform include:

• What personalizations are available?
• Can I segment my email list into groups?
• What data is gathered and how easily can I access it?

Clearly Define Goals

Email marketing campaigns are used for a variety of reasons—driving sales, raising brand awareness, and nurturing leads are just a few. Before you start crafting content and sending emails, make sure the goal is well-established across your entire team. 

Some things to consider when designing your company’s goal for email marketing campaigns include:

• How does our email marketing goal align with our overall business objectives?
• Are we able to easily track and measure progress?
• What is a realistic goal for our target audience?

Creating Valuable Emails

With a platform chosen and goal defined, it’s time to start crafting your emails. This is your opportunity to provide valuable content to your target market. What your ideal client finds valuable will most likely depend on their unique pain points.

Using tools such as market research or surveys can provide you with specific problems for you to address, such as, “I’m worried I’m not saving enough for retirement, and I want more information about how to prepare.” Other times, you may need to infer what your ideal client perceives as valuable based on what you know about them. For example, “I’m struggling with compliance regulations.” This is where knowing your target market inside and out is critical.

With email marketing, not only are you addressing their pain points and building your credibility, you’re staying top-of-mind for when they are ready to seek out your services.

Here are some best practices to keep in mind when creating content for your emails:

• Don’t focus on sales. Always add value to your emails instead of only discussing your services or offering up a sales pitch. This might be in the form of strategy suggestions or practical tips like “How to Modernize Your Payroll Methods.” This content should speak specifically to your target market. For example, if you are gearing your emails toward millennials, you might do a series on “Easy Ways to Start Saving for Retirement in Your 20s.”
• Be interactive. Go beyond the typical newsletter format and engage your reader. Do not be afraid to add videos, sliders, collapsable menus, and GIFs. Data from MarTech Advisor found adding videos can increase email click rates by 300%! You might consider including a video you make in-house that highlights your company culture; a relevant news clip your ideal client would care about (maybe on cryptocurrency or the growing SaaS industry); or a humorous video, such as an SNL skit parodying the insurance claim process.
• End strong. Each email should conclude with a strong call-to-action (CTA). This directs your reader to do something beyond reading the email: book a call, read a related blog post, learn more about what services you offer, etc. Keep the copy of your CTA short and to the point such as “Learn More” or “Schedule a Call.”

Knowing your target market is great, but how you reach that group of people is essential for your company to scale and grow. Developing and implementing an email marketing strategy is a great place to start that growth.

If you’re interested in learning more about how to use data from your email marketing campaigns, read our previous blog, “3 Tips to Using Email Data to Drive Sales.”