5 Successful Email Marketing Strategies for Black-Owned Businesses [+ Examples]

July 7, 2021/by admin

5 Successful Email Marketing Strategies for Black-Owned Businesses Welcome to Breaking the Blueprint — a new blog series that dives into the unique business challenges and opportunities of Black business owners and entrepreneurs. Learn how they’ve grown or scaled their businesses, explored entrepreneurial ventures within their companies, or created side hustles, and how their stories can inspire and inform your own success. We live in a digital era, and people are still checking their emails daily, so strong email marketing strategies are essential, especially for Black-owned businesses. When thinking about creating the best email marketing strategies, make sure you are authentic and tell your community your story. Do a brain dump of your ideas if you need to find purpose and discover the expected outcome for each marketing strategy you are working to create. The Black community supports you best when you're honest, so they can empathize with you. "The most effective email marketing campaigns we've launched have been those that are authentic, tell our story, and bring our audience along for the ride. In the early days before we launched our company, all we had was our story to draw people into our funnel," THE MOST founder and CEO Dawn Myers told HubSpot. Myers adds, "Be vulnerable. Show the ups and downs of entrepreneurship. Show that you identify with their pain points and how much you've sacrificed to be able to serve them. This tactic builds deep credibility and trust." Below, you can find five email strategies...

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4 Easy Steps to Get a Custom Email Domain [+ Key Features to Look For]

June 29, 2021/by admin

4 Easy Steps to Get a Custom Email Domain There are a few things in life that can earn you that "official" status. For me, it's anytime I see someone with a blazer or suit. I think "Oh, that person is definitely handling business today." Probably because in Miami, the only time anyone subjects themselves to multiple layers in this heat is for official business. Online, a verification badge gives you some official points. A great-looking website takes it that much further. But a custom email domain? Well, that's peak official. It signals structure and organization. Let's talk about the benefits of getting a custom email domain and how to get one. Personalized email domains can be used for both your employees and the departments in your company. There are two types of personalized email domains: A regular custom email domain – This includes an inbox and has all the features of a regular email service. A forwarding email domain – This is only a customer-facing alias used to forward emails and doesn't have an inbox. Ex: You set up support@yourcompany.com and have all emails sent to that address forwarded to martina@yourcompany.com or martina@gmail.com. If you're a small business and don't anticipate a high volume of emails, you can start out with a forwarding custom email domain. It looks professional and you don't have to sift through a separate inbox, as all emails will go to another inbox. However, as your company grows, you'll...

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39 Simple Ways to Grow Your Email List

Email Marketing, Email Marketing Tools

June 23, 2021/by admin

39 Simple Ways to Grow Your Email List I have some bad news — your email marketing contact database degrades over time. Your contacts’ email addresses change as they move from one company to another, opt-out of your email communication, or abandon an address they only used to fill out forms on websites. As a marketer, it’s your job to make sure you’re constantly adding fresh contacts to your email lists so you can continue generating growth. While purchasing emails is an option, it’s not always the best way to go about this. In this post, discover high-quality strategies to help you grow your email list to ensure that you have a large audience of subscribers eager to hear what you have to say and likely to make purchases and contribute to your business growth. Sometimes called subscriber lists, email lists can get smaller if members unsubscribe and grow as you continue to collect more and more addresses through lead generation. If you’re not working on building your email list already, or you’ve run out of ideas on how to do so, here are 39 simple ways to grow your email list. Please note that, with these methods, it’s essential to allow people to opt-in to receiving additional emails from your company, as some may not be interested. 39 Creative List Building Techniques How To Grow Your Email List Using Email 1. Create unique email content. Want to retain your current subscribers and have them help you grow...

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The Simple Guide to Creating an HTML Email [+ Free Templates]

Email Marketing, Email Marketing Tools

June 11, 2021/by admin

The Simple Guide to Creating an HTML Email When you create an email using a drag-and-drop or module-based tool, you're actually generating an HTML email. There are two main types of email you can send and receive: plain text emails (these are exactly what they sound like — any email that contains just plain old text with no formatting) and HTML emails, which are formatted and styled using HTML and inline CSS. HTML emails are easy to spot — most of the styled, multimedia marketing emails in your inbox are HTML emails. As a marketer, you've probably compared HTML emails versus plain-text emails and realized that there are different benefits to each type. HTML emails aren't inherently better than plain text emails, and in different situations, both types can be part of a successful email marketing program. Here’s what an HTML looks like on the front-end. Click on the HTML button to see the code behind it. See the Pen HTML Email Template from HubSpot by Christina Perricone (@hubspot) on CodePen. In this article, we'll cover how you can get started creating HTML emails, regardless of your experience level and comfort with coding, and share some free templates you can use. Let's dive in. How to Create an HTML Email Good news: You actually don’t need to know how to code to create an HTML email. Most tools that create and send email (like HubSpot) will offer pre-formatted, ready-to-go HTML templates that enable you to...

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How to Embed Video in Email [Quick Tip]

Email Marketing, Email Marketing Tools

June 10, 2021/by admin

How to Embed Video in Email Nowadays, video is an undeniably popular channel for marketing purposes. In fact, in 2021, 86% of businesses use video as a marketing tactic. If you're an email marketer, I'm willing to bet you've considered how you might spruce up your subscription and click-through rates with video. It's a good idea in theory, with roughly two-thirds of consumers preferring video over text when learning about new products or services. In reality, however, it can be tricky. Major email clients including Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook don't support embedded videos, so your subscribers either won't be able to watch your video within the email, or worse -- they won't see your email at all, because it'll end up in their spam folders. Fortunately, there's a creative workaround to help you embed part of your video within your email, and incentivize subscribers to click-through to watch the rest. Here, let's explore how to do just that. Embed YouTube (or Any Other) Video in Email There are two options you might consider when embedding a video within your email -- you can either embed a GIF of your video with a "click here to watch full video" CTA, or you can embed a still photo of your video, and when subscribers click the "Play" button, they'll be re-routed to your video's URL. Let's explore the GIF option, first. You can use the following instructions on any video from a video hosting platform of your choosing, including...

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7 Features You Need in a Bulk Email Service [+ Top 5 Best Providers]

Email Marketing

May 27, 2021/by admin

7 Features You Need in a Bulk Email Service When it comes to email marketing, there's no denying how powerful this channel can be. According to a 2019 Campaign Monitor report, for every $1 you spend, you earn $42 – an astonishing return on investment. If you're scaling a business, you may have relied on personal or business email providers like Gmail and Outlook in the past. However, they're not equipped to manage large volumes of email and provide the data needed to track performance. That's where a bulk email service can come in. Discover the key features you should find in a bulk email service and the top providers in the market. A mass email service helps you reach a large audience and nurture them one email at a time. In addition to getting direct access to your customer base, you can also track how your emails perform and test various methods to increase clicks and conversions. While traditional advertising methods, such as print ads and direct mail, can have high return on investment (ROI), it can be difficult to understand how consumers are interacting with your materials. With a bulk email service, you can find out what attracts consumers and what elements lead to higher conversions. Furthermore, many bulk email services offer automation tools – think workflows and sequences – to help you move leads down the funnel and retain your current clients. Using a personal or business email can work in the first few months...

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How to Get to Know Your Email Subscribers, According to Research

Email Marketing

May 19, 2021/by admin

How to Get to Know Your Email Subscribers, According to Research One of the first things I do every day is check my email. And I'm not the only one. Did you know that roughly 80% of marketers have reported an increase in email engagement in 2020? And that the number of global email users is set to grow to 4.48 billion users by 2024? Additionally, email marketing has the highest return on investment for small businesses and is the second most effective medium for building brand awareness. Wow. Those stats alone serve as a reminder that email marketing is not a thing of the past. It's continuing to grow and is a major way that brands learn about and engage with their customers. As the adage goes, email marketing is about sending the right message to the right people at the right time. But, how do you do that? In this post, let's review the top strategies you can use to get to know your email subscribers according to research. 1. Use analytics. A great way to learn about your current email subscribers is to dive into your analytics. Find out what emails perform best. Is there a pattern? What topics is your audience most interested in? What emails do they engage with the most? What day/time are your open rates higher? Analytics can help you figure all of this out so you can be in touch with and provide content that your audience wants. Cynthia...

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How to Make Your Emails More Interactive [Expert Tips + Examples]

Email Marketing

May 18, 2021/by admin

How to Make Your Emails More Interactive As a Millennial, my experience with email has been quite interesting. For a while, it's where I received chain mail that I was forced to forward unless I wanted something terrible to happen to me or my family. Then, it was where I sent junk emails from brands I didn't care about. Today, I look forward to checking my email and hearing from my favorite brands on everything from the news and the marketing world to product launches and sales. As this marketing channel continues to evolve, one thing users are looking for is interactivity. It makes emails more fun to read, and on the brand side, is a great way to convert users. Let's dive into how to use interactive elements in your emails and examples of brands getting it right. So, why the push for interactive emails? Ashley Riordan, growth marketing manager at HubSpot says nowadays, users expect more. "When you think about your own inbox – work or personal – the amount of emails we get in a day is a lot," said Riordan. "Interactive emails, whether it's a personalized element or multimedia feature, help attract readers' attention, set your email out from the crowd, and cut through that noise." She suggests calling this era: email 2.0. Interesting email content isn't enough – now it's about taking it one step further to involve your audience in the emails they receive. Studies show that consumers are welcoming this...

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Save Time With Agile Email Marketing: Everything You Need To Know

Email Marketing

March 3, 2021/by admin

Save Time With Agile Email Marketing: Everything You Need To Know "Hey, would you mind sending a follow-up email?" You're already barely keeping up with your workload when you get the dreaded, last-minute email request. With everything else on your plate, you now need to pause to get that second email out the door, and then play catch-up with everything else on your plate... Sound familiar? We know you're constantly being asked to send more emails with less resources. And sometimes, it's unavoidable. When your business' and subscribers' needs change, you must be able to adapt quickly to stay relevant or risk your email marketing program suffering. But that doesn't mean it has to be so difficult. Enter agile email marketing. Here, let's break down what agile email marketing means, why it matters, and how you can use it to scale and send more effective emails faster — without breaking a sweat. What is agile email marketing, anyway? Agile email marketing is a way to be flexible and adapt to change by focusing on data and your subscribers' needs while using a modular process so you can send effective emails faster. Before diving deeper into agile email marketing, we first have to mention the agile methodology. Image Source The agile methodology is a project management process that started in software development, giving teams the flexibility to adapt and respond to changes quickly. This way, teams could constantly improve and innovate, staying on top of their users' needs and...

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The Best Time to Send an Email (Research-Backed)

Email Marketing

September 16, 2020/by admin

The Best Time to Send an Email (Research-Backed) Here's a little exercise for you: Check the timestamps on the emails you've gotten in the past day. What have you found? For me, I noticed that most of my emails, especially my subscription emails, were sent between 9-10 AM, or 5-6 PM. This isn't a coincidence, either. While the answer to “What’s the perfect time to send an email to my customers?” isn't an exact science, there are some key findings we've discovered through heavy research, and those times listed above are right in line with what we found. Keep reading to find out the best time to send an email, according to our findings. Why Email Matters For Your Business Automated email marketing provides a chance for you to improve sales conversions — maybe even by 14%. It’s a way to send customers unique offers — such as product sales or newsletters updates — with information your reader can’t get anywhere else. Emails should be personalized with what your customers want to see, allowing you an instant way to communicate with them. Your emails should contain information your customers are interested in learning more about, such as discount offers, business updates, or product/service launches. HubSpot's marketing email tool allows users to create and send automated emails for free. It also gives you the option to schedule your emails according to the preferences you’ve set. Then, your emails will then be sent to the list(s) of contacts you select....

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