Email Marketing – The Struggle for Consistency

Do you struggle with being consistent with your email marketing?

>>>How often do you send email campaigns out?

Create a Schedule

Creating a schedule for all business needs is essential. WHY? For a number of reasons, one is because we juggle so much at one time as a busy business owner. Another reason is that Consistency, with all tasks, is important to build brand awareness and an audience. No where is it more important than with your email marketing?

“Consistency, with all tasks, is important to build brand awareness and an audience .”

-T .Durden

>>>What tips would you offer someone else struggling to be consistent?

In a recent Business Management workshop I discussed a way to use calendars to ‘block’ times off for scheduling your work/tasks/client work, etc… Some quick screenshots show you a little about this.

Setting Up Your Calendar

You will see I have set up MULTIPLE Calendars – on my Google Calendar – on purpose. This is so I am able to color block and time block my day. For instance, if I have Appointments from Facebook (when someone on my Facebook page books a meeting with me directly), I can see it by the color block of light blue or lime (depending if it is for Tammy’s Office Solutions or Fearless Boss Babes).

If you have not taken the time to set this up (Facebook Appointments, that is) I encourage to do so. It can connect directly into a Google Calendar or an Outlook Calendar and syncs with them when something is booked.

Follow Through

I create different calendars for different tasks, not just for other people, and I color code them. Part of keeping up with our email marketing, however, is to do as our calendar says. This is an area I struggle with myself, in all honesty. As you can see from the calendar example below I have lots of different tasks (blurred on purpose).

“The success of most processes and systems is in the implementation and then the follow through.”

-Tammy Durden

For example, if a Business Management task is set up on a recurring basis (in order to do my calendar management, planning, etc…) and I do use that time for this task, I am only hurting myself. It is important once the task is set to be sure to do it just as you would any other appointment or meeting. Envision it as an appointment with a Doctor, Dentist or Colleague. These would certainly be kept and that is how the calendar should be treated.

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I meet client deadlines, yet, often when a deadline or ‘appointment block’ is for myself, I can find reasons to put it off if I’m not motivated that day or simply get busy with client work. This is why staying motivated is a big part of being consistent.

Another Tool

Another great tool is Airtable. It is kind of like an excel worksheet on steroids! Tons of templates and uses to help you keep up with email marketing themes, writing, and much more.

I really like to use Airtable for planning out my writing content. I can set up areas for theme, keywords, hashtags, writer’s name (if not me) and more.

Email marketing is often scheduled in stages. For instance you may set it up for the entire week or the month, depending on how often emails are planned to be sent out in a month.

Stages of Email Marketing

The Stages of an Email Marketing Campaign can include:

1. Copy – writing the email content
2. Photos – collecting a picture(s) needed to represent the writing well
3. Creating a template if there is not one
4. Inputting the content into the template
5. Setting up all of the blocks, headlines & other content properly
6. Reviewing and editing the email
7. Approval – if the client needs to approve it
8. Preview and Send a test – always send a test email
9. Send the email campaign to recipients
10. Check the bounce & unsubscribes
11. Review Analytics
12. Report to Client (or file, if for yourself)

All of these are not usually completed within one day, although if rushed it may happen this way. It is much better to plan it out. The copy and photos may be one day, creating the template & inputting content could be another day. Perhaps you and the client have specific days of the week that each task is done. This continues according the schedule set up. Scheduling (or marking the calendar) simply helps us focus and stay on target . It is also a great way to meet goals and deadlines.

Coming Next Time

Next time we will discuss ‘Motivation’ in regard to Email Marketing. Hope you will join me again.

Thanks so much for reading and if this helped you at all please let me know. Please let me know the type of tips and information you would like see here – I really do listen!

NEED EMAIL MARKETING HELP?

If you need help with email marketing and want to be free to do what you do best, give us a call at 804-723-5491. Remember to See our budget-friendly pricing for email marketing and connect with me. I look forward to helping you.

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