posted in Sales & Marketing

Email marketing is not only powerful, but it’s extremely accessible, measurable, and manageable on all budget sizes. To a UK Manufacturer, this should be screaming out as a massive opportunity. But that’s all it is, an opportunity. Unless you take steps to implement an Email Marketing Strategy for your business. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, if there’s one marketing tactic you should be dedicating your time to learning it’s email marketing. That’s because it stretches across every level of the sales funnel, from lead generation through to customer retention. That’s why we’ve dedicated our time and resource to bring you a series of articles to get your knowledge levels up, and your email marketing strategy moving.

What is and how to use Email Marketing for B2B

In part 1 of this series I covered 7 Benefits and 6 real-life applications of Email Marketing for your B2B business. If you missed it you can check out Part 1 of Email Marketing for B2B right here. Email Marketing is a vast subject, but at the same time, if there’s one part of marketing your business online that you should master, it should be Email Marketing. It covers every part of the sales funnel, you can target specific parts of your target audience and it’s not labour intensive like other online marketing methods. Those are just a few of the “slap-you-in-the-face” reasons why you should be doing Email Marketing.

As promised, in Part 2 we’ll get into the specifics, giving you actionable steps and guidance on what you need to do to take some action. So without any further ado, let’s get into it...

What you need to get into email marketing

As with most things, getting started is often the hardest part. If you don’t know what you need or what the path ahead looks like the thought of getting started can be enough to deter you. If this is you, I’d advise you check out this awesome Podcast by Pat Flynn where he talks about the concept of Just-In-Time Learning.

If you’re ready to start your journey towards driving more sales with Email Marketing, here’s a list of what you’ll need.

To Start You Need an emailing platform

An Email Marketing platform makes life easy. You can manage lists of contact details, emailing preferences and other important contact data. You can track who’s opening what emails, and which emails are getting the most attention. It’s also possible to create workflows or drip campaigns where a string of emails is automatically sent based on a user signing up to your list, their behaviour after signing up, even based on what parts of your website they visit after signing up.

The simplicity of sending a single email in which the subscriber’s name is automatically inserted by the software makes things run like clockwork.

An emailing platform is different from an email account. There are a number of reasons you shouldn’t be using your personal email account to send marketing emails, number 1 is privacy. You could be violating it easily if you’re sharing members email addresses in mass emails. There are a whole host of other very serious reasons, not to mention the fact that it’s seriously labour intensive. Here’s an article that explains why you shouldn't be using your email inbox provider for email marketing in a little more depth.

Email marketing software is designed to allow you to manage large lists of contact information, segment that information and send tailored and personalised emails to your list. It’s also designed to be operated by Marketers and small business owners, not tech geeks and developers (although some features may require a bit more of an advanced eye).

All in all an email marketing platform is not a luxury, it’s a necessity. The good news, many of these platforms have a free version, usually based on number of emails sent. As an SME UK Manufacturer, the volume of emails you’ll be sending is likely to be well below the limit in most cases. And even if you blow a hole through your free email budget, the cost per email is ridiculously cheap.

Here are a few links to emailing platforms that could be relevant to your business.

- Mailchimp

This one is sort of the favourite amongst many marketers. It allows drag and drop construction of emails, easy editing and a ton of free templates so you can start quickly.
Simply sign up for an account and get started within minutes. We can personally vouch for the power of mailchimp, as it’s the machine behind our very own email marketing strategy.

Mailchimp has the majority of features that all email marketing platforms will provide. It’s been built with the marketer in mind, as the software guides you through the process of getting started. If you are a seasoned pro (which is unlikely if you’re reading this article) you may find the templating a little limiting. Fundamentally Mailchimp is tried and tested, with great deliverability (helping you avoid the spam tray).

Added bonus. As Mailchimp is so popular, it has a load of integrations. What are integrations I hear you say! Integrations are simple, but powerful. They allow you to connect the customer data you have in Mailchimp with other pieces of software. The list is almost endless, from invoicing and book-keeping software through to your personal email provider, survey providers, your CRM and many, many more. This means that you can have one view of the data regardless of which piece of software you’re currently in.

Check out Mailchimp right here…

- Active Campaign

These guys describe themselves as the all in one marketing platform. With features extending beyond email delivery and into CRM functionality, you can see why. They too also offer integrations, and it’s got a sexy user interface if I do say so myself. The package is aimed at businesses of all shapes and sizes so can be suitable for the newbie and the pro. They have a free plan which allows you to maintain 2,500 contacts (plenty for now!).

If you already have a CRM and you don’t want to move, you will be missing out on some of the functionality. All the same, it does a great job with their focus being on high levels of deliverability (once again, avoiding the spam tray).

This is a package that can really grow with your aspirations. But don’t get caught up in the bells and whistles! The added functionality is great, but you may find yourself only scratching the surface with this one. All the same, you’ll leverage lots of power from their platform (for free!).

Check out Active Campaign right here…

- Customer.io

This one could be seen as a little left field, but I wanted to make special mention of this one. They have a really fantastic blog with some awesome ideas thrown in for good measure. It’s a platform that is all about the targeting. There are loads of options to utilise user behaviour and advanced segmentation so you can really narrow down the target audience for your emails. This is useful, however if your email list is unlikely to grow past the 1000 mark, this advanced level of segmentation may be lost on you.

All the same, Customer.io offers everything you need to get started. A free forever version allowing you to send 400 emails to up to 200 list members should be enough to get you off the ground. Their pricing does steeply increase thereafter, however they offer some advanced functionality that unlocks a lot of power when it comes to targeting certain groups of prospects within your email list.

If you fancy yourself a marketing pro and you can see the potential for large list growth (10k subscribers) and high volumes of web traffic (at least 30k hits per month) then I say fill your boots. If your aspirations and appetite are a little less lofty, we’d suggest starting smaller!

Check out Customer.io right here…

It’s ok to choose one, have a go and move on. So many people get caught up thinking they can’t move once they’re in. This isn’t true. Keep a mindset of trial and error, small wins and lessons learned, that should keep you moving forward.

Then you need an email list...

An email list is simply a list of contacts you’ve collected, an essential for email marketing. In fact, you won’t stop growing this list, it’s something that will be ever changing and increasing in size.

- Use your existing contacts...

If you think about it, you’ve got tons of email addresses of potential customers. You will have collected some at tradeshows, customer visits, when prospecting for leads, at networking events etc. Basically anywhere you exchanged business cards. But before you go raiding the business card collection, remember, you need permission to use the email addresses. More on that shortly.

- Capture new contacts

You’ll want to grow your email list from day 1, so you’ll need to put something in place to capture new contacts. The simplest way to do this is with your Email Marketing Platform as discussed above. You’ll be able to create “signup forms” for your email list and put these forms on your website. In most cases, you might not even need a website, as the Email Marketing Platform simply creates a page which you can direct prospects towards.

It’s also possible to “embed” these signup forms in your website pages, or create “pop-ups” for visitors to fill in and give you their email address. I’ll talk a little more about what would make them give you their email address a little later in the article.

- Segment your email list

You’ll want to segment your list. By this I mean capture or input some more information about each contact that allows you to target them more intelligently based on their needs. What does that mean?

Take your existing contacts as a working example. If you think about it, you have many different types of customer within that list. Some have been customers forever, some are brand new, some aren’t even customers, but may be in the future. Just that little bit of knowledge will help you intelligently target certain “types” of contact within your list with specific emails.

Targeting was one of the most significant benefits we described in the previous installment of this series. If you need a reminder here’s the link to the 7 Top Benefits of Email Marketing.

- Build a customer journey (in your head at least)

Leading on from segmenting your list, your map of the customer journey could help you understand the segments you need. If customer journeys and segments is sending you into a spin of fluff and wool, you need to check out our article on inbound marketing and the modern marketing system explained.

So when I say customer journey, you’ll be thinking about your sales funnel. If you manage your sales funnel in any way, you’ll understand that the needs of the prospect at each stage are different. I’ve previously talked about getting a prospect to Know, then Like, then Trust you. This is a pretty good starting point if you’re just getting to grips with your sales funnel.

So how does this relate to email marketing? Despite the fact that Email Marketing can be used at EVERY stage of the sales funnel, the way it’s used will be different. Not only do your prospects and customers NEED something different from you, YOU also want to drive different behaviour. Yes, this is the ultimate aim of your emails, to drive behaviour. If your not convinced, I’d check out this article from Customer.io

Your tactics, the emails and their purpose will be different for different segments of your email list. To start, think about which contacts don’t know you well enough, then which one’s you need to build a better relationship with, then those you have a relationship but want to build trust with. This is a great exercise even if you’re not setting up your email marketing system!

Key Considerations to do things right

There’s always a “nuts and bolts” section to anything you try and build. This is that section. I would suggest you take these in, but as you implement email marketing in your business it’s worth checking back in with this section. We all want to do things right, rules are rules, excuses are lame. The good news, a lot of this is naturally covered off IF you select a reputable email marketing platform. You need to be aware of them though!

Here goes…

You need to be registered with the ICO

There’s plenty of interpretation to be had around this one. The stance we, and anyone who is serious about their business will naturally take is that it’s a requirement. You’re handling the contact data of people and businesses, however benign that data may seem it’s still personal data. As the keeper of that data, you have a responsibility to keep it safe and manage it correctly.
We’re talking about £35 per year to be registered, compliant and legal. Check out more info from the Information Commissioner’s Office here.

You need to provide a clear and valid unsubscribe link

In each email you send you MUST offer the reader an opportunity to opt-out or unsubscribe. The truth is, if someone is unsubscribing this is good news. What? Yes, good news. They’ve qualified themselves out as a potential customer, leaving you with a list of real prospects. Anyway, this one is pretty easy. If you’re using something like Mailchimp to send your emails this is an unavoidable mechanism. The unsubscribe link is automatically inserted into every email you send. Email marketing bliss…

You need to provide a valid business address

This is kind of a legal basic when it comes to any marketing. But it also helps you establish credibility as a real business. Once again, If you’re using an Email Marketing Platform they physically won’t let you send an email without entering an address. All you have to do is make sure it’s a valid one. The address will automatically be inserted at the bottom of each email you send, no more thought required...

They need to consent to you sending them an email

From your own personal experience you’ll know why this is important. You know that email you keep getting from some random company selling you some sort of pharmaceutical remedy? Don’t be that company. When selecting existing contacts to go on your list, be selective. Don’t just throw every email address you have into the pot and wait for the unsubscribes! That’s the perfect way to destroy relationships and alienate people.

This is a legal requirement, and there are a couple of ways permission is considered valid…

- The Soft Opt-in route

If you add email addresses to your email list, you are stating that these people have verbally or by other non-recorded means given you permission to email them. This is called a “Soft Opt-in”. It’s valid, but if anyone ever requested evidence you’d have to be prepared to provide it. Fundamentally, as long as you’re only adding those who’ve provided contact details willingly you’ll be fine. Here’s an article describing some more ways “Soft Opt-in” can work for your business.

- Single or Double Opt-in route

This is where your Email Marketing Software records the Opt-in from the visitor. However there are 2 ways this can happen. Single Opt-in is simply when the visitor fills in their email address, presses “Sign up” and that’s it, they’re on your list. This doesn’t guarantee that the visitor entered their own email. Think about it, you could enter anyone’s email address in that box and they would be on the list! Worse still a visitor could enter their email address wrongly and you miss out on the lead.

Double Opt-in on the other hand sends a confirmation email to the user. This means they need to click a link in the confirmation email before they are added to your email list. Your email marketing software records this action and thus provides evidence that you lawfully collected this information. Arse well and truly covered.

Other legal stuff

There’s a ton of legal stuff regarding emails and email marketing. It’s been around a long time and been abused in many different ways, so it’s unsurprising. I’ve highlighted a few areas you should definitely be aware of when getting started. If you want some more information, here’s where you’ll find the boring stuff when it comes to Email Marketing in the UK.

Building & Growing your email list

List building is a massive topic, on which you will find an absolute bucket load of articles. Regular readers will know that I advise you filter this type of information with your “SME UK Manufacturer” head on. What do I mean by this? Well, these articles are typically aimed at bloggers trying to build massive email lists. This is not you. You’re trying to get your potential customers to subscribe to the list. Your customers are probably a lot lower in volume, but spend a great deal more with you. This is why we write articles aimed at YOU, the SME UK Manufacturer.

I’ll provide some tactics for growing your list, in a way that makes sense for your business. Always keep in mind, you’re trying to attract potential customers. Get prospects into your sales funnel and then progress them from Knowing and Liking you, to Trusting you, becoming a returning customer.

So here are some tactics you can start using right away

1. Tell your customers about your email list

If you haven’t already added them to your email list, tell them all about it. Craft an email asking them to sign up. But don’t just ask. Remember, you need to provide them with incentive to sign up. If they think you’re just going to spam their inbox you won’t get ANY takers. So explain what they should expect if they sign up to the email list. Is it a weekly blog article, monthly capacity update, quarterly newsletter, the occasional industry update, a list of curated content from across the web? Whatever it is you’re offering in terms of content, give them a flavour of the quality.

It’s amazing, as in many cases your existing customers will actually sign up as a show of support. If they don’t, you haven’t sold them on “what’s in it for them”. Keep this question at the front of your mind before sending any request to sign up to your email list.

2. Use your day-to-day emails to attract sign ups

You send a ton of emails even if you don’t do email marketing. Each one of these emails is an opportunity to gain another subscriber to your list. Integrating a link to your sign up form in your email signature is a sure fire way to get some exposure. Don’t make it sink into the background, make it stand out. Sure a lot of people will gloss over the signature, but when building a list it’s about using multiple tactics with incremental gains.

This is a really cool way of attracting sign ups as it doesn’t require ongoing effort. Once your signature is set up the tactic is pretty passive. You may want to refresh the link every now and then, maybe promote a specific piece of content instead of simply providing a link to the sign up form. This brings me onto the next tactic

3. Have a sign up form on your website

There are so many ways you can do this, and so much data out there on what works best. For now, just make sure visitors who read your content are able to sign up to receive an email directing them to new content when it’s released. You wouldn’t believe the number of businesses that go to the effort of creating content and then don’t offer a sign up form. If this is you, you’re wasting valuable leads.

There is no better time to ask someone to sign up to your email list than when they are actually reading your content. If they think it’s valuable, they won’t want to miss out on future installments. Give them the opportunity to sign up and they shall. Don’t expect 100% success, but remember, piece by piece your list will be growing.

I’ll have some kick ass tips on sign up forms in Part 3 of this series. Getting started is not difficult. Email Marketing Software comes into it’s own once again, providing you with the tools to create these sign up forms without being a tech genius. Mailchimp in particular offers a drag and drop form creator, with a bunch of templates you can use straight off the shelf. For those a little more branding conscious they also allow you to fully customise with corporate colours just by selecting a few boxes, nothing onerous.

Once the form is created you can do a number of things. Email Marketing Software can simply provide a link or “URL” which you can include on your website or within your emails. You can also get the software to provide some “code” which can be placed within your website. This creates what’s called an “embedded” form. This reduces the number of clicks or actions visitors to your site need to take to get signed up, hence usually get better results.

Another type of form is the dreaded “pop-up” despite everyone’s hatred and trepidation, they are highly effective at driving sign ups to an email list. This is again provided in the form of some “code” from the email marketing software which can be placed on your site. If you’re confident with managing your site with a content management system you can do this yourself pretty easily. If not, it’s really easy for a web developer to do in a matter of seconds once the form has been created. So don’t panic, it’s pretty easy.

4. Encourage existing email list subscribers to share the love

Your existing subscribers will have other potential readers in their network, leverage that network. Give them a prompt to share the article either by forwarding on to someone who may be interested in the article, or simply sharing on social media. Either way, your content, and your business is getting a recommendation.

We love this tactic. It has a lot of potential for generating new leads as well as growing your email list. If you think about it, a lot of business is done on recommendation. This is because recommendations are really powerful things, it’s like a seal of approval. This means these leads are primed to travel down your sales funnel towards a place of trust.

It’s also worth considering why some people read business blogs. I wrote an article a little while ago suggesting why YOU should subscribe to a business blog. If you missed it, check out why right here. Pulling together content to share is a growing reason to subscribe, so many of your subscribers may already be in this mindset. Give them the nudge they need, ask them to share your content within your email.

5. Add a link to your opt in page on your business card

Adding a link like this to your business card can create intrigue. How many business cards have you seen with this on? Maybe a website, but not a direct push to sign up to a list. It’s certainly a point of discussion which can be a great conversation starter.

If you’ve created a signup form that’s just a “URL” it may be worth customising this so it looks like a link on your website. For example “www.yourdomain.co.uk/signup” this is easily done with a content management system, but if you’re not sure on how to do this, a web developer can do this pretty quickly, easily and at low cost.

This may just breathe some life back into your business card after many years of becoming steadily redundant!

6. Encourage sharing on social media

This can be done at multiple points. Such as within the email you send, on the newsletter they read, on your website within the content you’ve directed them towards. However you do it, make sure it’s explicit and easy. If it’s more than a few clicks, or a copy and paste away it will not happen. If you provide a link or button which automatically launches the social site with the link pre-populated, you’re onto a winner. This makes it really easy for people to share.

There are a number of ways this can be done. Some are pretty “tech-guru” centric, others are a little less. If you want to add some automatic social sharing bits and pieces to your emails this is easy. When creating your email you will be able to insert links or “URL’s”. You can make any text you write a link, or even images.

Using something like “Sharelink Generator” you can input what you want to share on each social network. It provides you with a link or URL which you can then use in your email or even in your content.

If you want to integrate buttons into your content it can be a little more involved. But again, if you’re a competent content manager of your website it’s more than possible. See this guide to creating all kinds of share buttons from Hubspot.

If you’re less confident, it’s worth consulting a web developer. Many of the Content Management Systems out there such as Wordpress have buttons that you can switch on and off within templates. It may take a web development company a matter of seconds to implement for you, so not too costly. But be warned, useless social sharing buttons with no real purpose are one of the 12 deadly sins of UK Manufacturing websites. Think before you implement!

Social media can be a love it or hate it kind of subject. Which is a shame. It’s largely because a lack of understanding of how it fits in with the rest of the marketing tactics. If you’re in that camp you NEED to read our article on Inbound, Content & Social Media Marketing explained. It pieces together the jigsaw puzzle which is the modern marketing system.

7. Use your social media presence to drive sign ups

Now I’m not advocating make every other tweet, share, post and comment about signing up to your blog, content or email list. But I am suggesting leverage the audience attention. After all, you’re trying to build a social presence so that you CAN market to these people and companies effectively. Or is that not what you were doing?!

Gary Vaynerchuk, who I’ve mentioned in previous posts, refers to an approach he’s coined “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right-Hook”. It pretty much sums up a solid approach to marketing as a whole. The “Jabs” being the delivery of valuable content, the “Right-Hook” being the compelling offer. I’m slightly using creative license here, but the “Right-Hook” I’m referring to here is your offer of a sign up to your email list. However it’s not a “Right-Hook” unless it’s compelling and the customer sees real benefit in doing so.

Gary wrote a book titled “Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook” which you can check out on amazon right here. It’s a great read if you want to get your head around how marketing actually works. And the principles he talks about are applicable to every size of business. I recommend it.

Back on topic. The occasional compelling post in your armoury of social media can help drive followers and fans towards signing up to your email list. Simply provide the link or “URL” to your sign up form with a compelling reason why they should sign up to your “World altering” blog, newsletter or email sequence and you’re done.

A word on frequency. This will be highly dependent on the quality of your audience on social media. When you first start posting about signing up to your email list, don’t be surprised to get a few un-follows. We’ve heard of and used frequencies of around 1 sign up post per every 5-10 valuable content posts. You can tune this to your audience, but it’s a good starting point that won’t scare too many off.

8. Use a lead magnet

Last, but by no means least, use a lead magnet. For those who don’t know a lead magnet is something which draws in leads and gets them to part with their email address in return for something valuable. The “something valuable” is usually a piece or multiple pieces of content which they cannot get without handing over their email address.

This is a favourite of ours at Manufacturing Network. With multiple lead magnets in the pipeline as we speak. Ours will be in the form of eBooks. In return for an email address, subscribers will receive an eBook on a specific topic. In your business this could be a definitive guide to “designing for your process”. If promoted and publicised in the correct way, potential leads can be drawn in from many directions. Through Google search, from Social Media, from your website, from your direct marketing activities and tradeshow appearances. All fantastic places to promote and capture emails.

A word on being ethical. It’s not OK to trick people into signing up. The lead magnet has to be good quality, and you have to make it clear they are signing up to an email list in order to get the lead magnet. Any level of deceit is likely to reduce your chances of building a trusting relationship later down the line. That’s if they make it down the line!

Lead magnets aren’t just eBooks and downloads, but it could also be a sequence of emails. Anything that you can deliver to the user only after they’ve parted with their email address.

So how do you deliver the lead magnet? Your email marketing software will take care of this. If it’s an email sequence, that’s pretty simple. You’ll be using a sequence builder or sometimes referred to as “Email Automation” to send the string of emails. On the other hand if you’ve got a PDF eBook it’s a little more involved.

Mailchimp have recently up’ed their game on this front. You can actually add the file or PDF eBook to their server, then deliver this file in the final welcome email. This is such a slick way to deliver your lead magnet, I think you’d be mad to do it any other way. Unless of course you’re investing in Marketing Automation software like Infusionsoft or Hubspot that is! This is a paid feature of Mailchimp, but you can be on a Pay-as-you-go plan and still get access. Very low cost indeed.

See how to send a lead magnet with Mailchimp right here...

Want to hear more about building your email list?

Now I've given you a flavour, you may have some ideas of your own. List building is a fairly sizable topic, and if you do a generic search for "List Building" on Google you'll be sure to find a ton of resource. However, as I've already said in this article, and before, be careful. Much of this resource is not aimed at you, your business and more importantly YOUR customers.

We have an upcoming article that will dig into each tactic with some more depth. If you've got a preference on which tactic you'd like to see laid out in a simple step by step formula we'd like to hear from you. Equally, if you think we've missed a vital tactic from our list of 8, we want to hear about it!

When you get into email marketing, your list will be the centre of many discussions. After all the quality of your list is proportional to the effectiveness of each email marketing campaign. Big numbers do not mean big reward, quality sign ups do. So reach out, let me know which tactic you'd like to hear more about and we'll tune our content to your needs.

Reach out by commenting below, or email me directly, let's talk.

That’s it for Part 2...

It seems we’ve reached the end of Part 2 of this series. We’ve covered a load of important stuff to get you started, and hopefully you’re taking some action towards implementing your Email Marketing Strategy.

Remember, it starts with content. Once you’ve got that, you can move onto delivering that content through you email marketing software. I’ve now talked you through building your email list.

Next up in part 3 of this series will be

  • 27 Kick Ass Tips to get your email marketing firing on all cylinders
  • Email Marketing - The Possibilities in Pandora’s Box
  • Overview of Tools you can use for Email Marketing
  • Things to avoid getting sucked into when reading about email marketing in other articles not aimed at YOU

Once again this article has been a real pleasure to write. Email Marketing is a large topic, and I didn’t want to do it, and you, the injustice of “half-arsing it”. If you’re following along, and implementing as you learn then good on you!

Stick with me for Part 3 in the series and complete your education on email marketing for SME businesses. We aim to help you cut through the crap, so if there are any questions please ask in the comments below, we’ll provide the REAL answer for REAL businesses.


Why haven't you signed up to the blog email list yet?!

Once again, if you haven’t subscribed to this blog, now is the time. Get these articles directly to your inbox for reading at your pleasure.

Subscribing is the first step in your on-going Sales & Marketing education, you’re worth it.

Click Here to Sign Up to our blog today

Author

older posts

  • What Are Hashtags And How To Use Them Properly?

    The world moves on around us regardless of whether we're keeping up, a new year, new words in the dictionary, new hot tactics to move your business forward, and then some. As a result, the years can pass us by and the time to investigate or ask seems to go with it. But today we're unashamedly laying it out there, for those who don't know, for those who think they know, for anyone involved in marketing a small business. Hashtags may be old news, there isn't a person in business who doesn't know the word, but how about using them? Or how about using them effectively? Or Powerfully? Let's get into it...

    What Are Hashtags And How To Use Them Properly?

    January
    5
    posted in
    Sales & Marketing
  • Improving Your Web Presence Part 4: Create A Facebook Business Page

    Marketing your business is no longer simply about getting listed in the local directory and printing a few flyers and posters. In today’s tech-savvy age, you need to reach out to the millions of people in cyberspace and there are numerous FREE ways you can do that. In part 4 or our 10 minute takeaway series, I show you how you can create a FREE Facebook business page and attract customers using this social media tool used by millions. It takes minutes but will give your web presence a huge boost.

    Improving Your Web Presence - Free SEO with Facebook Business Page

    December
    8
    posted in
    Sales & Marketing