Emailing marketing is still a hot marketing trend that when done right can transform the way your business attracts new business.

But if you don't have a marketing agency at your beck and call never fear, for we at FindGood have compiled this short guide to writing and planning effective email marketing campaigns

Who is it going to?

You don't need to be a marketing agency to know choosing the right audience for message is vital. Have they registered interest in your company are are you going in cold? Have you have previous contact or is this an introduction? Will they have a vested interest in what you're saying, i.e. is it relevant to them? All these things should be considered before moving forward, otherwise you are at risk at alienating warm leads.

What's it it for them?

In our experience, too many companies lead with 'we' over 'you', i.e. they focus on talking about themselves rather than what they're offering the reader. Every business, PR agency or brand needs to consider what the proposition (or offer) is to the opener. People are busy and have short attention spans, especially in B2B when they are effectively being interrupted. In other words, make your point clear and get to it quickly, lest risk being dragged to the drunk folder.

What do you want to get out of it?

Lastly, but by know means least, what marketing agencies are obviously great as is balancing what the market wants with what the desired outcome is. Every communication between your business and audience should have a clear and desire outcome or CTA (call to action). Otherwise, you are wasting both your and their time.

A useful way of giving campaigns this kind of focus is by asking yourself the following kinds of questions:

• What can the reader get out of it?
• Why are you disturbing the reader?
• What do you want from the reader (CTA)?

A bad email example:

Hi Jane,

The FindGood blog was founded in 1864 and originally created to share all the latest lemur news.

Our motto is: we find good lemurs and we work hard to match lemurs with lemur lovers. That's why if you like lemurs, we're great.

We have award winning zoologists writing for our blog all the time and our two or three weekly posts are written for lemur fans.

If you'd like to read our blog click here:<BLOG LINK>

Thanks.

A better email example:

Hi Jane,

I just wanted to let you know about our blog, FindGood, which is written by award winning zoologists specifically for lemur enthusiasts, like you.

You can find it here: <BLOG LINK>

The blog is always update at least twice (or if you're lucky, three) times a week and contains all the latest lemur news and facts.

Just on us, we've been matchmaking lemurs for about 200 years and have the pictures to prove it.

So, if you'd like help finding yourself a lemur, let us know.

Admittedly, this is a pretty facetious example but we hope the gist is clear.

In this case, the guidelines questions would be answered as follows:

• What can they get out of it? Information about lemurs
• Why are you disturbing them? You know from your data they have an interest in animals or lemurs
• What do you want from them (CTA)? To visit the lemur blog or even better, hire you to find them lemurs.

Our final tip is, ensure the tone of your emails matches that of your website or marketing collateral. It promotes clear messaging, encourages better leads, offers a better brand image and it's something you will (in theory) know inside out- no marketing agency required.