Email Campaigns: Discovering What’s Right for Your Small Business or Nonprofit

Email campaigns are a wonderful marketing tool for building relationships with your audience base. Think of email newsletters or email campaigns as an opportunity to speak directly with your audience through their inbox. Coupled with the right strategy, emails can become one of your most impactful marketing channels. However, email campaigns are not a one-size-fits all marketing strategy. At Evergreen Strategic Communications, we’ve seen it first-hand; what works best for one small business or nonprofit, may not be effective for another. Here are three key ideas to consider when deciding whether or not to establish an email campaign for your small business or nonprofit.

Just Because Everyone Else Is Doing It, Doesn’t Make It Right For You

When it seems like every small business or nonprofit has an email newsletter or email campaign, it’s easy to think your business needs one too. Instead of following the pack, first consider these guiding questions:

1. Who is your audience, and do they really want or need to hear from you?

2. What is your message? Screaming into the universe about nothing does nothing.

3. Is your email daily? Weekly? Monthly? Your answer to question #1 will help answer this question, too.

4. What is your goal for the email campaign? How is it moving your brand forward? Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn’t make it right for you and your business. Take a look at question #1 again.

Automation Is Not For Every Email

Now that you’ve reflected upon the drive and purpose of your email campaign, it’s time to decide: automated or manual? Yes, you can automate your email campaigns! Just set them up and let them run while you get back to doing what you really enjoy in your small business or nonprofit. However, automation is not for everyone or for every email. How might the following pros and cons of automated emails affect your business or campaign?

PROS: Automation creates a consistent flow of information to your audience and gathers important data regarding your audience base.

CONS: Automated emails can be a lot of work on the front end. Also, they are not totally hands-off- you must check on your automated emails often to ensure everything is running properly.

Bring It All Together

So, you’ve planned your email newsletter or email campaign, now it’s time to bring everything together. Prevent the “what should we put in this month’s email?” question that undoubtedly arises when it’s time to send out the next email. Your email campaigns, social media, and website or blog should all be talking the same talk.

If you use a monthly content calendar, your month’s theme should be woven into all of your marketing channels to ensure your audience is receiving clear and consistent messages about your small business or nonprofit. This will ease the struggle of deciding upon the content to include in your email newsletter or email campaign. Also, integrating your marketing across all platforms strengthens the message and reach of your business!

Next Steps

Looking to explore the world of email campaigns? Let Evergreen Strategic Communications serve as your guide. We specialize in helping small businesses, nonprofits, and brand strategists weave their branding into everyday marketing practices. Visit our website to schedule a discovery call today. We can’t wait to meet you!