Awesome content is an art. Awesome content for email marketing is fine art. Successful email marketing content requires you to be clued up on this specific type of content.
Content Email Marketing
Email marketing content is just one form of content your audience encounters. But it is a unique breed. Before we come on to the content ideas, let’s explain the basics.
How Email Readers Read
There are elements that affect how your audience perceives their emails. Over-riding all of them is a scan reading approach. You’ve got just a few seconds to catch their attention.
If you don’t hook them at the scanning stage, it doesn’t matter how fabulous the content is, they aren’t going to read it.
Therefore visuals matter. This doesn’t mean pile in a heap of images. It means readability. It is about how easy is the email to scan and grab some main points. This is achievable through short, punchy sentences, succinct titles, sub-headings of key points and clear Calls-to-Action (CTA). Bullet points are also your friend.
So, when you structure your email marketing content, remember:
- Captivating title and subject line.
- Make the first paragraph really
- Punchy breaks in text using succinct sub-headings.
- Use bullet points.
- Use bold where you really want to draw the eye.
- Use short sentences.
- Make the CTA clear and stand out.
The idea is to get your reader’s eye heading everywhere you want it to go.
The Use of Images
It’s tempting therefore to stuff your content for email marketing jam-packed with images. This is a very common mistake to make.
Yes, images are great and we all know that they can say a thousand words. However, this all depends on them being the right image used in the right way. That’s an art form in itself. The vast majority of people read emails on their phone. Use too many graphics and you get a clunky message they can’t see which doesn’t load properly. Bam, it’s heading to the trash folder.
Therefore, email marketing content requires careful use of images.
Fin out more on newsletter images and how to use them.
The Content Itself
Now, you’ve got the basics. Let’s head on to more important points to consider.
Each and every email needs one clear aim. Don’t try to do it all in one email. You just want one, possibly two, purposes. So, is the purpose building loyalty, showcasing a new product, offering a discount, or providing interesting and informative content?
This is why very few email newsletters should be taken in isolation. Each one contributes to an overall campaign. Fundamentally, email campaigns should be about building a relationship.
Therefore, you need to get clever with how you do this and mix things up. For example, each email could use one of these methods which form part of a whole campaign:
- How to guide, using step by step instructions.
- Success and customer stories.
- Video tutorials.
- Good practice information.
- Infographic sharing and discussion.
- User information.
This approach should be in place before we even consider the email marketing content ideas and subjects. That comes next.
Also at this stage it’s time to be absolutely crystal clear about your brand personality. This is all about how you want the reader to see you. This will set the tone for everything from here.
Email Marketing Content Ideas
Now you’re ready to consider what you’re actually going to create content about. These are the themes and overriding concepts.
This is actually trickier than you might imagine. Ultimately you need to be able to convey virtually the entire message in just a few words. So you’re going to have to get specific with the message and keep coming back to it.
At the heart of it all, you need to be meeting the customer’s need. You may need to stop yourself in your tracks at this point if you were simply heading down the selling route.
Instead, consider the long-burn of a fantastic email campaign. Rather than a strict sell, think about how you can help your audience in a way which causes them to truly value you. Selling will then happen as a by-product.
One way to do this is to use story-telling. Perhaps we are all harking back to childhood, but story-telling is immensely powerful and memorable. You will have plenty of stories to share: you just need to refine them. For example, a product should have its own story of how it came in to being.
There are different kinds of email marketing content you can send, just need to find a style that suit the purpose and your company.
The Absolute Rules of Email Marketing Content
We’ve covered the basics, and we're headed into the territory of well-crafted campaigns. Now let’s break it back down into the most important elements:
- Get the reader to open it: Your subject line should be intriguing and show immediate benefit to the reader. Urgency and thanks are tools of the trade here.
- Images: Make them relevant, small and limited. People and logos are winners here. Clear precise, non-fussy imagery is the way to go. Always use alternative text lines (ALT) with images so that if they don’t load you’re not missing out.
- CTA: Make it clear and purposeful. CTA buttons are a vital tool to use.
- Use text cleverly: Short sentences, headings, bold text and bullet points.
- Test it: Don’t assume, just because you’ve followed the above, that you can hit send and kick back. Instead, get testing. This isn’t just a technical test but test for the human factor using AB testing and analysis.
Make it Easier on Yourself
Having read the above you may think that email marketing content is akin to wizardry. Well, maybe. But it doesn’t actually need to be so complicated that you’re scared to get stuck in. The trick is to utilise tools to make it considerably easier.
By using email templates you can get the basics, like graphics, branding and responsiveness sorted without much effort so that you can concentrate on your actual message. To find out more about using the best email marketing content tools explore here.
