The goal if email marketing is to get the message to your audience. However, if the message is reaching them effectively, you’re just playing tag. While the game is fun as a child, it can hurt your business as an adult. Check out these simple ways to avoid this tedious game.

First off, it is important to understand TAG. This acronym stands for Targeting Audiences Generally. When you TAG your readers, you send a general message to everyone. This is bad. As I said, TAG is fun when you’re a kid because you get to TAG them back. As an adult, very few people have time to play TAG so they brush it off and ignore it.

When you TAG your readers, this is exactly what is happening. They are unable to relate to the email, so they ignore it. Not good! If they’re ignoring your emails, you’re loosing them as customers. Instead of playing TAG with your emails, try remembering TCD.

Target Customers Directly!

Keep your customers listed in several different groups and be sure to separate them by a specific system. For example, if you sell several products each targeted at a specific age group, separate your customers by age groups. With this system, you can customize different messages for each age group. By customizing your messages for each group you’re far more likely to reach the targeted audience.

Just a reminder…
It is never a good idea to send a blanket email. It will never reach your audience.

Every so often, you’ll check your email and find a plain text sales promotion. It’s not eye-catching, interesting, or easily understood. What do you do? Delete it. That’s right, you delete this perfectly good email.

The reason most people delete emails such as the one from the example is because they don’t have the time, nor do they want to spend the time, to read the copy. They want headlines and pictures so they can look at it and instantly know what the email is about. So if you’re not using things like pictures and headlines,  your missing out. Big time!

The easiest way to grab a reader’s attention is with a picture. Most successful emails have one near the top of their email. The purpose is to draw the reader in, and it almost always works. The catch-22 is that  you have to be very careful about the pictures you use. For example, for a car dealership to include a picture of a puppy doesn’t make a lot of sense. But if that puppy is riding in the newest model of their top-selling car, that picture will be much more effective.

You also have to customize the photos to suite the audience the email is being sent to. For example, clothing manufacturers that target teens and young adults would not benefit from using pictures in which the models are in their 40s. The same is true on the flip side. If you’re targeting and older audience, don’t use pictures of 20-somethings.

A picture is worth a thousand words, and with a little thoughtful preparation you can make those thousand words count!

While the majority of our posts tend to focus on the larger picture – from opt-in list building to eye catching, comprehensive email templates – today we will focus on the details. Certainly, you need a solid game plan and attention grabbing presentation to succeed, but without attention to the details all of your hard work can be countered by minor, unprofessional touches. And this is where email signature templates come into the picture. With a solid email signature template you can ensure a professional look throughout your emails without having to constantly keep the little things in mind.

Those interested in applying an email signature template to their emails will find nearly a dozen different styles at Wise Stamp.com, offering a solid mixture of both professional and personal signature templates, allowing you to choose which is best to use depending on the individual situation.

If you would like to add a personal touch to your signature template, you may want to use a personalized signature creator, such as the one featured at Signature-Creator.Software.Snformer.com. Here, you will find the tools needed to create personal, handwritten-style email signature templates that can help you stand out from the pack.

For those that have no clue as to the exact style that would best serve their purposes, you may want to visit Hanselman.com and look over Scott Hanselman’s helpful article on proper email signature etiquette.

And as always, it is highly recommended that you use StreamSend to help organize any email marketing project you may have. Whether relying on the html templates provided by StreamSend, needing the security provided by an individual, private IP address or just needing an easy way to manage your email marketing strategy, you will find that StreamSend can provide help in every area.

Most people think that in order to be effective you must be memorable. In most cases that is true. In the business world, you must be memorable but that is only a small part of what it takes to succeed. There are so many aspects to business success that there is no way to possibly consider them all. There is, however, one that is understood to be one of the most important factors.

Are you able to complete your work quickly to the highest possible standards?

If you have the resources to devote to personalizing your emails and newsletters, then you are lucky. Most business do not have those vast resources, especially small businesses. That’s where we can help. By using our free email templates you put yourself in the same shoes as the big companies. Our email templates are tried and true and will help you send more effective emails and newsletters.

The best part (aside from being FREE) is that these templates save you time. After you download an email template you simply plug in the information you want to send to your subscribers or customers and ta-da! You just sent an effective newsletter or email update in no time at all. Isn’t it nice to know you can finish something quickly and finish it the highest possible standards?