In honor of National Coffee Day, I’m drinking coffee and using words like “perks” in my blogging titles. I didn’t even know it was National Coffee Day until I opened my email this morning and saw subject lines with phrases like “Espresso Yourself” “15 Things Worth Knowing About Coffee,” “6 Excuses to Drink Coffee Every Day of Your Life” and “Here’s Where to Score Free Coffee on National Coffee Day Today.” That got me thinking – the businesses that sent me emails know what they’re doing, or are working with an email marketing agency that knows what it's doing!
While I don’t have any free coffee for you I do have some free advice. Here are 4 P.E.R.Ks of working with an email marketing agency.
Price
Before you ask, I’m not going to give you a hard number because…I can’t. Every business is unique. However, I will say that you can get a good bang for your buck by allocating marketing dollars to develop an email marketing campaign.
It will only work if it’s part of a holistic strategy that includes ways to capture leads (potential customers) such as blogging or creating eBooks, videos, or other resources that people can get in exchange for filling out a form with their name and email.
Some factors to consider that will affect the price are the software that’s going to be used, who will be writing the email newsletter or nurturing campaign or promo email or whatever it may be, how often you’ll be emailing your current and potential customers, and the number of email addresses on your list. The good news:
For every $1 spent on email marketing, the average return on investment is $44.25. (ExactTarget)
Efficiency
Be honest – do you really have time to develop an email marketing strategy? Do you even want to or know where to start? Most small business owners don’t. An email marketing agency will take the time to get to know your business, your industry, and your ideal customers aka buyer personas and develop an email marketing strategy based on those foundational pieces. It’s a much more efficient process than you trying to do it on your own.
Research
Did you know that “Secrets” is the most clicked lead nurturing subject line word? Or that most un-subscriptions come on Tuesdays? What are you doing at 6 a.m. on any given day? Clicking an email perhaps? Because 6 a.m. has the highest click through rate (CTR) of any hour (HubSpot).
If you don’t analyze your efforts and find out what your competitors or other leaders in your industry are doing – and more important what’s working – then your email efforts will be a shot in the dark. That’s not going to get you more customers.
Keeping Up
And I don’t mean with the Kardashians, although maybe they can be used as a metaphor here. Just as the paparazzi have to keep up with the Kardashians, an email marketing agency has to keep up with the latest trends in online marketing.
Khloe Kardashian tried Cuban coffee at a local joint in Miami and business exploded for the small coffee shop. You may not be the owner of a coffee shop, but someone, somewhere out there searching on the web wants what you have to offer. An email marketing agency will help you find your niche to develop a comprehensive strategy to help your small business be successful and – ahem – espresso who you are and what you have to offer, through email.
An agency knows what works and what doesn’t. It knows how to analyze the effectiveness of an email campaign, and keep up on trends and consumer behavior to learn new tactics to try. If you’re ready to learn more, contact us at Half a Bubble Out today.
Since 2002, Half a Bubble Out has been dedicated to providing marketing, advertising, and small business consulting that meet the needs of our clients. We specialize in powerfully telling stories through Inbound Marketing to grow your business filled with more passion and provision. Based in Chico California, we serve clients throughout Northern California and across the country to New York.
