Key takeaways
- Lead with yourself: include personal details like quality-control steps and industry experience in welcome and marketing emails to build comfort.
- Cross-promote existing content (how-to videos, social Q&As, blog posts) inside emails to expand inbox offerings and avoid repetitive messages.
- Send non-promotional, personal messages (holiday wishes, birthday e-cards) to nurture repeat business.
- Use peer review pages and customer testimonials (Yelp, Angie’s List) and product reviews to let others vouch for your quality.
- Prioritize visual first impressions: use clean, aesthetically pleasing templates and graphics so recipients read past the break.
Introduction
For all of the personal trainers, plumbers, or freelance IT gurus out there, making a name for yourself seems like a hopeless proposition at times. After all, there’s a plethora of options consumers can choose from, in addition to your brand’s need to hone in on local demographics. However, just because you have your sights set on a different target audience than all of the major global brands that utilize email marketing successfully doesn’t mean that you also can’t put this powerful process to use. To help your service-based business get the most out of email marketing, here’s five smart tips that will have you sailing past the competition in the inbox in no time.
Focus on Yourself
The best place to start when forging ahead with email content is yourself. As narcissistic as this tip might sound, Kim T. Gordon of Entrepreneur magazine explains that one of the most important selling points when offering a service is letting the customer learn a little more about you. Whether it’s providing these individuals with a look into your quality control steps, or focusing on your experience in the industry, mixing in this kind of content into your welcome and marketing messages goes a long way toward maximizing the comfort of your potential customers.
Cross Promote Your Other Content
In keeping with this theme, Gordon goes on to point out that promoting your other content in the inbox continues what you’ve already started in terms of trust building among your audience. “How-to” videos on your YouTube channel, social media Q&A sessions, and old-fashioned blog posts all fit this billing and ensure that you establish yourself as a trusted and reputable source for information and services. The best part about this approach? Taking the time to mix in your other content and outreach programs expands your inbox offerings and helps avoid stagnant or repetitive marketed messages.
Go Beyond Splash Offers
Of course, sometimes simply building in additional content to your offers just isn’t enough. For service-based individuals, a lasting and deep bond in the inbox means repeat customers. To achieve this continued relationship, it’s time to go above and beyond in terms of your emails that don’t contain offers or discounts. Well wishes for upcoming holidays, birthday e-cards, and any other personal moment you can hone in on is a great way to show that you care about more than just the next sale. In ultra-competitive industries, the goodwill built in this manner can be worth far more than its weight in gold.
Incorporate Brand Reviews from Peer-Oriented Sites
As important as it is to tout your skills and services, Jeff Sexton of Web Marketing Today explains that in many cases, you’re better off letting someone else speak on your behalf. Sometimes this means adding in links to your brand pages on Yelp, Angie’s List, and other local peer sites and letting your inbox viewers do a little digging before committing to the deals and discounts offered within your marketed messages. However, if you can utilize reviews and testimonials from satisfied customers and users of these sites, you’ll have a powerful asset on your side as you connect with wary and speculative customers still sitting on the fence.
If you really want to get creative with peer-oriented review content, Sexton goes on to suggest utilizing product reviews covering your tools from Amazon and other online retailers. By doing this, you’ll be able to erase any doubts your customers might have about low quality or insufficient materials on the job.
Make the Most of Visual First Impressions
Finally, Sexton recommends that you take some pride in the visuals that go with your marketing pitch – in the inbox and anywhere else online. You only get one chance to make a stellar first impression, so why not get the most out of this process with aesthetically pleasing templates and graphics? Sure, at the end of the day you need to impart value and a certain level of confidence to the customers considering your services, but it’s hard to expect them to read beyond the break if your email comes off as rudimentary or disorganized. With this tip in hand, as well as the rest of what you’ve learned, you’ll be well on your way to serving new customers in your area in no time.
FAQ
Explain who you are and what you do: describe relevant experience and share concrete details such as quality-control steps. Mix that personal information into welcome and marketing messages to help potential customers feel more comfortable.
Include links and short prompts to your how-to videos, social media Q&A sessions and blog posts within regular emails. Rotating these content items into your inbox offerings expands variety and prevents messages from feeling stagnant.
Send personal, occasion-based messages such as holiday well wishes and birthday e-cards. These communications show you care about more than the next sale and help build long-term goodwill.
Link to your brand pages on peer-review sites (for example, Yelp or Angie’s List) and include testimonials from satisfied customers. You can also include product reviews of your tools to address concerns about materials or workmanship.
Use aesthetically pleasing templates and clear graphics so your email looks organised and professional. A strong visual first impression encourages recipients to read past the break.
Combine personal storytelling about your business, cross-promotion of other content, non-promotional personal messages, peer reviews and polished visual templates. Together these tactics build trust, variety and a strong first impression.
