Take a quick look at your inbox and it won’t be difficult to find a promotional email (or many emails) from companies trying to sell you their goods and services. Today, email marketing is a primary channel for generating leads and engaging customers. According to Litmus, 78% of marketers in 2020 said email is important to overall company success.
Email marketing is an extension of your brand image and can help differentiate your company from competitors and strengthen loyalty in an increasingly complex marketplace. As a B2B marketer, part of your email marketing focus will be on developing and growing high-quality email lists. The larger your list, the more opportunities you have for encouraging first-time purchases, repeat business and even referrals by regularly distributing tailored content.
So why grow your email marketing lists? Doing so gives your company a steady stream of prospects with which to communicate. Some of these prospects may be in the interest phase of the buyer’s journey. Others may already be to the consideration phase and are intent on moving to the evaluation and purchase phase. Whatever stage they are in, email marketing can serve a purpose by promoting your brand and providing valuable content.
Consider the following email marketing list building strategies to grow and strengthen your database over time:
One of the best ways to capture qualified leads is to embed a subscribe form on your company’s website. If a prospect has made it as far as your website, they’re interested in what you have to offer. The form can be included on your homepage, next to blog content, alongside product information and other relevant landing pages. When creating a form, remember that the simpler it is, the more likely they’ll be to complete it. Ask for each contact’s name, email address and company name – and think carefully about whether additional information is necessary.
Conferences, training workshops and other in-person events give your employees the opportunity to scan badges to easily capture attendee information. Because these people have opted in to receive information from your brand, they’ll likely find your content informative and helpful. Be sure to send these contacts a welcome email soon after they’ve subscribed so you can keep the lead warm.
Webinars are a great way to position your brand as a thought leader by addressing a particular challenge or trend and highlighting best practices for your target audience. These virtual lessons also give you another opportunity to capture contact information from qualified leads. Make your content evergreen, promote it via social media and keep your webinar registration and download landing page up after the live event to continually secure new leads. You can even execute a post-webinar drip email campaign to engage these specific contacts.
Ideally, you’ll be using your email list(s) to distribute a recurring newsletter that contains high-quality content, such as blogs, articles, infographics, videos and more to educate and engage recipients. Email marketing platforms enable you to share a sent email campaign. Promote the link to the content via social media or even your email signature. Catalogue the newsletter issues via your website so the content is always accessible.
Buying email lists for marketing is yet another tactic that your brand can use to grow your email database. However, it’s important to thoroughly vet email list providers and ask the right questions before you invest in a list of contacts. Inquire about the job titles and the types of companies represented to ensure the recipients are within your target audience. Determine whether the vendor will offer replacement emails or a partial refund if a set percentage of the emails are undeliverable. Asking for a sample list can provide greater clarity regarding the list before you make your purchase. While these contacts will have agreed to be marketed to, it’s important to remember that list purchase typically yields higher unsubscribe rates than the aforementioned strategies. This is because the contacts may be unfamiliar with your brand and uninterested in your products and services. Crafting a strong subject line and clear messaging can help increase opens and clicks and reduce unsubscribes.
According to Constant Contact, across all industries, the average email open rate is 19.8%. With the potential for nearly one in five recipients to open email communications, email marketing should be an important component of every brand’s marketing strategy. It enables your organisation to stay top of mind among prospects and customers. Additionally, by regularly sharing best practices, success stories, product information, promotions and more, your B2B brand can pull leads through the sales funnel and strengthen customer loyalty.
One of the keys to a great email marketing campaign is a strong list of qualified leads. Cultivating one or several lists typically doesn’t happen overnight. Follow the above tips for growing your email list to reap the many benefits of email marketing.
Looking to launch an email marketing campaign to engage your prospects and customers? Contact the team at Mulberry to discuss your goals and get started today!
Jess Messenger is an Account Director at Mulberry Marketing Communications, an award-winning full-service B2B communications agency based in Chicago, London and Australia. She enjoys developing PR campaign strategies and writing for B2B audiences across numerous verticals such as retail, foodservice and healthcare.