One of the most difficult of starting your own dog training business is understanding what marketing efforts are worth your time. I say, email marketing is critical for long-term success. Unlike social media, once you collect a list of emails – they’re yours! If social media were to disappear tomorrow, you’d still have the ability to contact your future and current customers.
Think about this, if you’re not ready to purchase a service or product from someone’s website, but you like their blog or their mission, you’re likely to sign up for their email newsletter. Same goes for your future local dog training clients! Setting up an email marketing list is key! This way, by landing in their inbox once a month, you’ll stay top-of-mind for whenever they are ready to hire a dog trainer. You’ll also be able to demonstrate your expertise and share your success stories!
Here are the most important parts to an engaging email newsletter that will keep your clients coming back.
Intriguing Subject Line
It doesn’t matter if you have amazing information in your email if no one opens it. The subject line is probably the most critical part of successful email marketing. Think about all the emails you go through in one day. How many do you quickly delete without openning them?Your clients are in the same predicament. Make sure the subject line of your email is interesting and just vague enough to create curiosity about what they might find inside. Recommended reading: The 6 Step Secret Sauce for Awesome Email Subject Lines
Use Action Words
When you write an intriguing article, people are often left with a desire to do something about what they’ve learned. They either want to try out what they learned or learn more about it. Use action words such as “take,” “download,” “reserve,” “ask,” and “buy” to give your readers something to do once they’ve learned something new.
Get Personal
Studies by eMarketer show that being specific and providing information related to reader’s lives helps with engagement and customer acquisition. MailChimp allows you to create multiple lists in order to funnel readers into a list that suits their lifestyle. Take advantage of this feature! Actively ask your readers questions to learn more about their situation and let them volunteer for email lists that might be more beneficial to them.
Talk to the Reader
Don’t get stuck talking about yourself or your business. Email marketing is all about providing valuable and actionable content to your readers so that they begin to see you as an authority figure and call you when they’re ready to use your services. Talking in the second person helps them relate. Who likes reading an email that is only promoting products or services? No one, and that’s called spam.
Keep It Short and Sweet
People are extremly busy and have short attention spans. Give them information they need briefly and effectively. They will thank you for it! Make the benefit of reading the email one of the first things they see so they are encouraged to keep reading. Keep your newsletter short and sweet by staying under 400 words.
Hopefully you’ve enjoyed these tips on creating a great email newsletter. Email marketing is the best way to connect with your clients. It allows you to communicate information to someone who has already shown they are looking for your services. You can’t beat that kind of targeted marketing!
