Yesterday was a very painful day… necessary but painful.

Over the last few months due to a house move and lots of other stuff going on, I’ve kinda neglected my health.

Don’t get me wrong, I try and be aware of what I eat and my physical activity (although I’ll never be a gym bunny)… but things have slipped recently, and so when a friend offered me the chance to join them at a session with their Personal Trainer (their usual accomplice was ill), I thought it was a good way to kickstart things and get a bit back on track.

…but after several months of minimal physical activity, it’s fair to say that the session was hard work… and this morning I’m feeling muscles that I’ve not felt for a while!

My physical fundamentals had been neglected and I was suffering because of it.

…which is like most things.  If you don’t have solid fundamentals on which to build, you’re likely to struggle.

It reminded me that it’s easy to get ahead of ourselves and forget that we all need solid fundamentals when it come to  our email marketing set up before we can develop things further.

So with that in mind, I want to go “back to basics” and highlight some of the fundamental things you need to have in place to win at email marketing… the foundations you need on which to build success (and this applies to any email marketing activities you do, regardless of whether you’re using Mailchimp or another tool).

What is Email Marketing?

Who doesn’t love technology… it makes life so much easier (in theory).

The issue is that when we dive into the technology it’s so easy to actually forget the reason we’re using it in the first place – and email marketing is no different.

Let’s be clear, sending emails nowadays isn’t rocket science, as all you need is an email address to send from, a message, and an email address to send to. It’s just the same as old fashioned snail-mail.

…but email marketing is not just sending an email. It’s sending the same email to lots of people at the same time – and there is “legislation” that puts some limits on how we can do this.

• Can we actually send the email to the person, i.e. do we have consent?
• How do we legally get their email address in the first place?
• Can the person “unsubscribe” and stop us sending them these emails?

These are things we need to consider when we start “mass emailing” people, and this is why we need to use a tool (like Mailchimp) to do things for us.

But it’s really important that we remember that just because we’re using something like Mailchimp, and just because the communication we’re sending is “digital”, all we’re doing is communicating with someone.

Sometimes, it’s easy to forget this as we get absorbed with the tech… but we can’t – it’s a foundational pillar of marketing and especially email marketing.

Why do we need Mailchimp… or any Email Marketing Tool?

OK, so why do we actually need to use Mailchimp, or any email marketing system (EMS) to handle things?

Can’t we just use Microsoft Outlook and bcc everyone in our database?

No… because as we’ve just mentioned, there are rules that we need to abide by.

Tools like Mailchimp ensure that we’re doing things by-the-book.

They handle the database of the people we’re contacting (and allow us to store different types of information to all for more targeted communication) and give these contacts the ability to update their information themselves – so we don’t have to.

They work to ensure that the only people we communicate with are those who’ve given us consent. Plus, they manage the process of unsubscribing so that any email you send complies and gives people the chance to opt out (and makes it hard for us to cheat the system and ignore this).

Tools like Mailchimp ensure that we’re compliant with the rules and regulations.

…but they do so much more…

• They help us create visually appealing emails.
• They assist in data collection, making it easy for us to grow our database
• They store info on how people interact with our communication, so we can learn and improve how we communicate.
• They let us automate the sending of emails

… and so much more fun stuff!

To do all of these things without an EMS to handle the heavy lifting would be impossible – and that’s why we need to use Mailchimp.

OK, so that deals with some fundamental understanding of what email marketing is and why we use systems like Mailchimp… but we need to now focus on your organisation’s relationship with email marketing.

Why are YOU doing Email Marketing?

OK, so we’re all on board with what email marketing is and why we need to use something like Mailchimp to manage things?

…so why are YOU doing email marketing?

It seems like such a simple question and when I ask prospects this question the answer is very, well, meh.

“To grow our business” is the typical response.

The thing is, in most instances doing email marketing won’t grow your business.

OK, so I’m being a bit disingenuous here, and obviously one of the goals of any marketing activity is to grow the business – but why are you using email marketing specifically? What purpose does it have in your organisation?

This is a bit more nuanced… because email marketing doesn’t work alone. Email marketing is likely part of a process – so you need to be very clear where it sits in your process.

In many Business to Business (B2B) organisations, email marketing is not about selling the product/service… It is likely more about education, building value and driving a sales conversation.

In fact a recent client was very clear on email’s purpose – it was to make the phone ring.

Are you as clear as you can be with your email marketing and why you’re doing it/where it fits into your overall marketing plans? If not, then chances are your efforts aren’t anywhere as good as they could be.

Ensuring Email Marketing has a clear purpose in your organisation is a foundation of great email marketing.

Where does your email marketing start… and where does it end?

Building on the purpose of email marketing in your organisation, let’s dig a bit deeper about how it fits with other marketing activities – because email never works alone.

To do email marketing, you need to have someone’s email (and their permission)… so you need to think about how you’re going to get that?… in other words, what happens before that makes email marketing happen?

Forms, Pop Ups (have you seen the new pop up tool from Mailchimp, it’s very, very cool!), integrations, or just uploading contacts who’ve directly consented are all ways of adding data to your system and then using email marketing to take the next step.

…but what happens prior to that? For example, website forms and pop ups need traffic – without traffic, all you’re left with is crickets.

You also need to consider what happens after email marketing?

Again, relating to the purpose of your email marketing, you need to consider the next step in a prospect or customer’s journey. If it’s a phone call, how can you “hand-off” to the next step…. And how do you stop promoting a call, when it’s happened? All things you need to consider.

If you’re not clear where email marketing starts… and where it ends… you’ll end up in a mess, with nothing “flowing”.

Which of your emails are “email marketing”, and which emails aren’t?

..and this brings is back full circle to what email marketing is – and why some organisations struggle with their foundations.

Email marketing is using a system to “mass send” emails… but that doesn’t stop you from sending emails as part of the sales process… or as part of ongoing customer communication.

The key though is being clear what emails come from where, so there’s no clash and confusion on behalf of the recipient.

I’ve seen too many instances where someone has set up an email sequence in Mailchimp, and then proceeded to send more emails directly to recipients, many of them replicating the message that Mailchimp was delivering.

To avoid email clash, make sure you’re clear on what emails are email marketing ones… and what emails aren’t.

Who are you sending emails to?… and what’s in it for them?

Everything up to this point has been about what you want to do with email marketing. It’s purpose, how it fits with other marketing activities and what emails it sends.

…but as any good marketer knows, it’s not about you.

It’s about the person who receives the emails. In fact one of the best things you can do with every email marketing email that you send is to consider that it’s not you sending an email… but rather someone receiving communication. It’s not your email… it’s theirs.

If you’re not considering what’s in it for the recipient in every email you send – your chances of winning with email marketing are going to rapidly vanish.

One of the key foundations of successful email marketing (and in fact every bit of marketing you do) is to understand who receives the email and why they would want to get it

Concluding Thoughts

All too often we see organisations struggle with their email marketing. They’ve crafted beautiful emails and fantastic automated sequences, and have multiple forms for capturing information about potential customers or contacts.

…but they’ve forgotten the fundamentals.

• They’ve not understood what purpose email marketing serves in their organisation.
• They’ve not developed a clear idea of where email marketing fits in with other marketing activities as part of a customer journey.
• They’re not clear on what’s an email marketing email and what isn’t.
• ..and they don’t consider who’s getting the emails and what they want – and are more interested in their own messages.

The fundamentals underpin everything we do in email marketing – and it’s something that we need to be reminded of from time to time.

Can you clearly answer each question about your own email marketing? If you can, then you’re well on the way to having a solid foundation for success.

If not… then maybe you want to have a chat with us to help clarify things and get those foundations sorted.