“Email has an ability many channels don’t: creating valuable, personal touches—at scale.” - David Newman
In today’s startup—driven world, the challenges are endless. Since 2020, the sustenance of startups has been questionable. With covid taking a toll on the global economy, many startups are going through financial struggles, if not more. As a result, all startup owners are looking to maximize marketing strategies with the resources they have at hand.
Marketing isn’t always the focus of startups, considering the efforts and budget constraints. With limited staff and resources, founders have their plates filled to their maximum capacity. For startups, it is always better to let your audience know you, even before you give the green light to operations.
Email marketing in the form of newsletters is a direct and cost—effective method of getting your audience’s attention. It is a fact that people check their emails more than once on weekdays. In this highly digitalized world, it makes sense to use marketing techniques that keep up with the time. Email newsletters can be an indirect marketing tool that doesn’t directly aim for sales but brings people along on the journey.
Why does your startup need an email newsletter?
1. A platform to share your story
People love stories, especially of businesses and entrepreneurs who have just started. Although you could get a PR consultant for broader media coverage, email newsletters are an effective marketing technique, to begin with. It is a low—cost option where you can document your entrepreneurial journey for your audience.
The biggest factor for successful storytelling is honesty. Share your startup’s journey right from its ideation. Share the challenges that keep you awake at night. You could also ask your readers for advice. The goal is to start a conversation that will continue way beyond the launch of your startup.
2. Make a group of potential customers
An email newsletter helps you to bring together like—minded individuals. The newsletter doesn’t need to be a pitch. It should be a space where your potential customers get to connect with the brand and be aware of its offerings. You never know which reader of your newsletter keenly purchases your products/services because they have witnessed your startup’s journey from its genesis.
The focus of an email newsletter should be on creating and maintaining relationships. You could get people to sign up for your newsletter. You could put in extra effort and send welcome emails to each new subscriber. The more people are familiar with your startup and all that it stands for, the more chances there are of them getting into business with you.
3. Deliver value to customers
Email newsletters should be able to deliver value to the audience, even before any of the company’s products are out for the world to see. The easiest way to do this is to provide information that will be useful in the form of articles, online guides, and videos. It is important to spread information connected with your brand but indirectly to avoid sales—y language.
The content could be about business trends of the year or an insightful talk by an industry leader. Your audience is always on the lookout for valuable information, even if it’s not as per their tastes. The influence could be such that a reader may find something exciting and become a loyal subscriber to your newsletter. Make sure to have a go—to pool of material you can share with your audience from time to time.
4. Enable product improvisation
Customer feedback is needed for a brand to sustain itself in the market for a longer duration and to ensure a product’s success. For startups, feedback is equally important even in the pre—launch phase. But generating feedback about a product or service yet to launch is quite impossible. This is where an email newsletter can help.
An email newsletter helps you know your audience’s likes and dislikes well ahead of product development. You can use surveys and polls to understand customer trends and their challenges. Depending upon the results, you can develop a product as a solution or improvise on a product still in its nascent stages. As a result, you will be able to solve customers’ problems quickly, get their attention, and market your brand at a minimal cost.
5. Establish brand voice
People like to purchase from those brands with which they seem to have a personal connection. For startups, it is crucial to establish a brand identity and a brand voice from the start. Writing a newsletter regularly can help accomplish both. Notice the nitty—gritty details of your entrepreneurial journey and use them as topics for each newsletter.
The action steps you can take here are to include photographs and behind—the—scenes snippets that can act as a visual aid to the content you put out. Anything simple and interesting enough qualifies to be in your email newsletter. While perfection is something each brand aspires to be, being honest and transparent is what your audience would find relatability in.
6. Strengthen your sales strategy
Even though the sales motive takes a backseat in a newsletter, it is one of the motives that a brand hopes to meet. Creativity should be visible in a newsletter, but it should also act as a catalyst for sales and income. An essential objective of email newsletters is to generate more leads and potential customers.
When a customer is about to place an order, it is the customized newsletter that can make them decide faster. A newsletter can leverage a buyer’s final step in the purchase process in the following ways:
- Attaching exclusive subscriber coupons and discount codes
- Giving a sneak peek of the new launches before others
- Providing early access to sales and preorders
- Adding compelling CTAs
- Adding positive customer reviews and feedback
7. Establish trust in your brand
An email newsletter doesn’t only help sales or news but also increases the trust of the customers in the brand. Newsletters are an excellent way for a brand to let its customers know that the company thinks about them. When you share your story and encourage feedback, you are connecting with them on a personal level.
A newsletter needs to have high—quality content. The readers should look forward to receiving these newsletters. Additionally, customizing newsletters can go a long way in establishing trust. You can segment your audience and design the newsletters in such a way that it connects with each individual. Your audience wants to be treated like it's more than just an email address, a number, or a contact for your brand.
How does email marketing benefit a startup?
Here are some ways in which email marketing can do wonders for your startup:
1. Easy to use, track and measure
Amongst all online marketing strategies, email marketing is the one that has the least hassle. You can also analyze the success rate of each email marketing strategy and change its course to suit your brand. You can effortlessly carry out email marketing using an email marketing platform such as Constant Contact. If you have specific requirements, click here for Constant Contact alternatives.
2. Emails are versatile
Emails are highly adaptable as per the requirements of your brand. You can attach images and videos where needed and can also include links to other relevant content. Although the startup staff would have less time on their hands, personalizing email is a sure—shot method of tapping into each demographic of your audience.
3. Easy automation of email marketing
With automation software making tasks more manageable, you can also automate your email marketing campaign. You can send targeted emails to your subscribers, audiences, and clients at a suitable time. Email marketing automation can assist startups as they note transactions, boost revenue, and keep leads engaged.
4. Higher ROI in email marketing
The higher the ROI, the better the marketing method. Out of all, email marketing promises the maximum ROI. Startups can use email marketing to their benefit as they are inexpensive and more promising than the other techniques.
5. A/B testing to improve CTR
Startups find it challenging to convince their subscribers to open the email newsletter. The A/B marketing method can be applied to understand customer behavior in such a situation. The A/B marketing method is where you send two versions of the same emails to analyze which one performs better. The results can help you tweak your emails here and there so that more people can open and read through your newsletter.
In conclusion to email newsletters
The results of email newsletter marketing may not be seen swiftly. But if you continue being thoughtful and consistent in your approach, email newsletters can keep your brand relevant and authentic for the longest time. So they are worth the investment, especially for startups who don’t have big bucks to shell out in their initial phases.