Innovative Marketing With Email: 3 Simple Rules To Send By

If email is a part of your innovative marketing strategy – and, it should be! – it is important to consistently be on the lookout for fresh new approaches to content and design.

It’s equally important to flush out the tired stuff – especially since your prospects and current customers are more likely to get sick of it and tag your emails as “spam.”

The thing is, helpful, useful and innovative emails still give your customers joy. The key is understanding what those attributes truly mean to your customers and prospects. What you might assume is useful, cool or worthwhile information might appear to someone else as a snoozer – or worse, annoying. 

We've collected three tips that will help you make better connections with your audience:

1. Consider frequency

Too much of a good thing…you know the rest. When you’re about to hit ‘send’ on any email, ask yourself: if you were the customer, would you be getting annoyed by now? Perhaps less frequent and more robust emails are better for your brand, per tip #2…

2. Aim for regularity

If you like to send weekly deals and announcements, that’s great. Do that. And, try to do only that. Once per week emails with company news, discounts and current deals and specials – these are the things customers often look forward to. In fact, it’s the reason many “opt-in” to your email list in the first place.

3. Let them leave (and make it easy to go)

Sure, you don’t want readers to hit ‘unsubscribe’, but you need allow them to, and make it a simple process for them to do so. Maybe they don’t want your emails anymore, but making it difficult to unsubscribe will turn a minor annoyance factor into a major thorn in their side. It could ruin the stewardship you’ve worked so hard to build in the first place.

Brands who like to send various types of marketing emails tend to categorize them with internal labeling. That way, when a customer decides to unsubscribe from one type of email (say, a newsletter they no longer find interesting), they don’t necessarily need to toss the proverbial baby out with the bath water.

When they hit ‘unsubscribe’ they’re taken to an opt out page with check boxes, allowing them to cherry-pick what they want to keep receiving and what they’ve grown sick of. Many prospects might still want to receive special sales announcements but might no longer want to receive company news or blog announcements, for example.

BONUS TIP: Take the opt-out hints

If you’ve received an inordinate amount of unsubscribes for a certain type of email, perhaps you need to reconsider its value. In fact, it could be harming your reputation and innovative marketing efforts.

Learn more about integrating your email marketing efforts within your broader marketing campaigns. Get your free copy of our B2B Guide to Inbound Marketing to learn more.