With so many professionals working from home this year, communications reps like me are using email in campaigns more often than not. As the year lags on here’s the question: Are we suffering email fatigue?
Perhaps. But I believe when used properly and well, email newsletters and updates can be effective to meet goals in a public relations strategy. Why? I have proof.
One of our global clients work in an industry that’s been extremely dynamic this year. We support writing and sending email updates on industry trends and impact to their clients’ business. Last week an email was sent, and their sales team had email replies from prospects asking for appointments. This tells me people are still opening and reading emails. And in this case, it means new business.
Here are five tips for creating effective email campaigns as a tactic in a larger public relations strategy.
The list: Constant Contact, Mail Chimp and other like email systems allow users to create segmented lists. A public relations strategy should outline your target audience and the segmented lists should line up with those targets. Think clients, prospects, trade associations, chambers and so on.
Sign-ups: Have a sign-up segment set in your email system and link via your website. Then be sure to see who signs up. Promote the sign ups in social media, in your store front, on your business cards and any other communications tool you use.
Content: This is a fancy word for what you want to say to your readers. For our retail-oriented clients, we write about products and things to do. For our business to business clients we write about topics and trends that impact customer business.
Think visually: It’s true, not everyone wants to read a long blog. Paring down content into a graphic tends to help readers grasp the content even if they don’t read the entire article. Canva is a great online tool that’s affordable, user friendly and helpful for creating visuals. Also visually think about your fonts. Consider different sizes and colors for readers to easily see what you’re saying.
Open Rates/click throughs: After you hit send in your email tool, you’re not done. Look at the open rate and how readers clicked to articles/links. Consider about how you can make improvements in the next email.
If you’re interested in making email work for your public relations strategy,
let’s find a good time to talk by phone, Zoom or in-person.