4 Hard Truths of Email Marketing for Professional Services
The volume of commercial email marketing is astounding. Every business sends emails and some do it multiple times a day. It’s making it harder to cut through the noise.
Professional services marketers must accept these 4 hard truths about email marketing in 2024.
The Medium is the Message - Use it Wisely
Email Marketing is now a medium associated with noise. Too many messages from the same vendors often multiple times a day, have made it an annoyance. Unsubscribe, delete, route to junk, and categorize as ‘spam.’
The hard truth marketers need to know is that too much email is a bad thing. Small businesses, consultants, and professional services firms need to be purposeful in the use of email marketing campaigns or they risk losing credibility. Email marketing should be consistent but focused on meaningful messages — such as invitations, links to new content, or upcoming actions that need to be taken.
Frequency can change based on what’s going on, but professional services firms should aim for no less than once every three weeks and no more than 2x a week. Every other week or once a week is a sustainable cadence. Utilizing digital marketing tools to analyze open rates and optimize timing can further improve effectiveness.
2. Only One Call to Action (CTA)
Professional services marketers have a lot to say. The second hard truth is that marketers shouldn’t say it all at once.
This is where content calendars come in handy. Map out all the messages or calls to action that you want to express. Then, carefully assign priority to the messages. Those with concrete deadlines such as an event or promotional offer come first. Then, major announcements. High-value content such as white papers, case studies, or insightful articles are third. And then, the rest can fill in the blanks.
Your call to action should be singular, clear, and with a sense of urgency: Download Now, Register Today, Join Us, Sign Up. Implementing marketing automation can help ensure these actions are followed up with personalized and timely messages.
And of course, your email message should also be tied to your other mediums such as social media, website, sales development, and broader digital marketing campaigns.
3. The 8-Second Skim
This is a hard truth for those marketers, like me, who like long-form content.
Your email must be able to tell your story in 8 seconds or less. The reader should quickly know: who it is from, the primary message, and the call to action. That’s it.
Email isn’t for details anymore. Short chunks of content, imagery, simple language, and the right placement of bold headlines rule. You don’t want your reader to have to scroll down or click on HTML images to see your message.
So, get right to the point in your communication.
4. Email marketing is regulated (somewhat)
Businesses in the United States must comply with the CAN-SPAM Act. Launched in 2003, CAN-SPAM is a set of federal email marketing rules to protect consumers. Some states, such as California and Virginia, have their own set of rules governing email marketing and privacy. There is additional governance for emailing outside the United States such as the GDRP in Europe.
Every commercial marketer must be aware of CAN-SPAM. Seven essential rules of the act focus on transparency such as having an accurate headline, an honest subject line, being clear about commercial intent, providing a physical mailing address, and having unsubscribe and easy opt-out options.
No marketer wants to get a non-compliance flag or worse, a substantial fine.
The easiest way to be compliant is to use commercial email automation software like Mailchimp, Hubspot, Constant Contact, or the hundreds of other services on the market. These services check for compliance before sending and provide easy ways for customers to unsubscribe. Integrating these tools into your email marketing strategy can streamline the process and help keep your firm on the right side of the law.
It’s not the end of email marketing. It’s just not the same as in 2008. So, do it smarter and then average all your mediums to get the message out.
