How has technology changed the way that we communicate with one another on a daily basis? With the introduction of technology, it has become easier for business to communicate and rely information in a fast, effective manner across the world. However, it poses the question of what is the appropriate communication tool to use? You may have heard of a term called Email Marketing. Email Marketing can be an intimidating concept if you have never worked with any email distribution tools before or do not even know where to start. We put together a helpful guide below to help you learn about Email Marketing and begin to implement it into your business. 

1.    Why is Email Marketing important? 
Email Marketing is important because to this day a lot of people use email as a way to communicate professionally. Whether it is sending an invoice or simply confirming a recent booking, people use their emails for both their personal life and for business-related matters. Emails are a great way to introduce your client to a new product or simply provide them with resources to become familiar with your agency. The other beneficial part about emails is that you are able to receive statistics and track your conversions, which we will discuss further down in this article. 

2.    Who should receive Email Marketing? 
When focusing on Email Marketing, you need to first focus on who your key demographic is. Do you specialize in luxury travel? Are there certain characteristics, such as age that is a trend among your clients? When picking a form of communication, it is critical that you understand exactly who you are communicating to, the message you are trying to get across, and how the message will be perceived. One aspect is understanding your clients. Due to the difference in generations, a lot of people prefer different forms of communications. Older generations tend to prefer a phone call, while younger generations use text messages and social media. By understanding your client and their preferred method of communication, then you can better adapt your message. This allows you to ultimately decide who you should be focusing on for Email Marketing and who you might need to reach out to via a different form of communication. 

3.    What are the benefits of Email Marketing? 
As previously mentioned, one of the major aspects of Email Marketing is the ability to access statistics. After sending out an eblast through a third-party tool, you are usually able to see the Open Rate (how many people opened your email), the Click Through Rate (how many people clicked on any links in your email), the amount of people that unsubscribed, the bounce rate (how many people did not receive the email), the amount of people that did not open the email, and the conversion rate (how many people completed what you wanted – called your agency, completed a form, etc.). You are also able to track trends and see which emails performed best.  This allows you to better understand your audience and find out what grabs their attention. It also allows you to compare your stats to the industry averages to see how you compare. 

If you are interested in learning about Email Marketing and implementing it into your business, then we recommend following the steps below: 

1.    Determine your purpose of Email Marketing. Are you trying to provide general information to your clients, increase the amount of calls to your agency, follow-up on a potential lead, etc.? 
2.    Determine your budget for Email Marketing. If you want to get the most out of Email Marketing, then we recommend setting aside a budget and using a database third-party. You can also send out emails from your business email; however, you will not receive the same feedback and stats as you would from a third-party. 
3.    Setup a Constant Contact (constantcontact.com/account-home) or MailChimp (mailchimp.com) account. These are the two third-party Email Marketing platforms that we recommend. There are others out there as well, so we recommend doing some research and finding what fits your business the best. The pricing usually depends on how many people are within your database. 
4.    Start building up a database. You want to start using the information that you collect from your potential clients, such as on forms, at trade shows, etc. You want to make sure that the contacts you are adding to your database have opted-in or confirmed that the agree to receive your emails. 
5.    Begin building a brand. For your emails, you want them to all look universal and within brand. Therefore, determine ahead of time a template that you are going to use for your emails, including the text and colors. This will allow all your emails to look the same and let your clients become familiar with your brand. 
6.    Create the Email and Focus on the Message. Read our article about crafting your emails and messages here
7.    Try different days/times to see what works well in your market.

• Best open and click through rates
• Typically, Tuesday through Thursdays in the mornings work best

8.    Review the statistics. Look at how your emails performed after about a week of sending them out. Over time, look at how your emails compare to one another and start to determine what works best for your business.

These are starting points on how to start using Email Marketing for your agency. If there are any other topics or subjects that you would like us to write about, then please feel free to email us@agentworld.com