Marketing : Using email (2)

Alan Gayle is a sales and marketing consultant specialising in the construction industry and working in the stone sector for more than a decade. In this column he offers advice on how to make an impact in the market. This month Alan continues his review of email marketing.

This is the Part 2 of a two parter on email marketing. In the first part last month I covered why email marketing is often a good option for small businesses looking for growth in the building industry and the basics of how to use email marketing effectively.

This time I shall address:

  • Frequency – How often should you send out your newsletter?
  • Timing – What’s the best time of day to send it?
  • Length – How long should it be?
  • Usability – Can it be read on mobile phones?
  • Analytics – What do I do with all this data after the campaign?

Frequency and timing are subjective. Although there is no definitive ‘right’ answer to these questions, I agree with most of the research for B2B (business to business) marketing that Monday mornings and Friday afternoons are rarely good choices if you want to maximise your open rate. Common sense really.

The same goes for bombarding your database with too many emails. Despite what many internet marketing gurus say, use email marketing sparingly. In the building industry, people are quick to unsubscribe if they think you’re sending them too much.

The length of your email should be determined by how much content you’ve got that your database will find genuinely interesting – and their attention span.

People will take the time to read anything if they’re interested. Conversely, even an award-winning design will not save an email with poor content. Though important, images and design are secondary to the content.

These days, most business people stay connected using mobile devices, so your emails must be optimised for easy viewing on tablets and smartphones. If you’re using an agency or a reputable email house for your campaigns this will be covered. If you’re sending them yourself using your PC’s email client (eg Outlook), which I don’t recommend, your emails won’t work properly on mobile devices.

The various online email marketing organisers (Campaign Monitor, Mailchimp etc) will provide you with a lot of feedback data. These data (analytics) are a huge subject in themselves but you should view them in conjunction with the objectives you set for the campaign (see Part 1 of this article last month for more about that). Don’t get overwhelmed by the figures. Focus on the three or four information sets that are important to show whether your emails are delivering the results you’re looking for. Review what has and hasn’t worked and make the appropriate changes to improve next time.

In addition to setting specific objectives, make sure you give your campaign enough time. Email marketing is unlikely to change your fortunes overnight but over time you can raise the profile of your brand and put your company at the forefront of your customers’ mind when they’re next in the market for your products or services.

If you go down the DIY route, make sure whatever you send properly represents your business. Poor quality emails can do you more harm than good. It’s better not to do anything than to risk damaging your reputation by doing it badly.

Here are some email marketing KeyNOTES:

  1. Only include what your customers want to read.
  2. Images and design are a means to an end – use them to draw attention to your text not as a substitute for a message.
  3. Remember that every industry is different. It’s important to know your customers well, and test and measure your results to see what works best for you.
  4. Make sure what you do is aligned with achieving your objectives.
  5. Outlook etc are great for sending ordinary emails but not for promotions and newsletters. Use an agency or an established email provider.

Alan Gayle has worked in sales and marketing roles in the construction industry since 1993. Following a successful career with some of the UK’s leading building product manufacturers, he has worked in the stone sector more than a decade. He now runs keystone Construction Marketing, a marketing agency specialising in the construction industry. The agency works with building contractors, subcontractors and building product suppliers to help them increase their sales and improve their margins.