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1. The
Ultimate Guide
to Email
Marketing
For Local
Business

2. Use email marketing to inform customers of upcoming sales or special
promotions. You can also use email to update customers on important news
about your business that may interest them.
Even though you run a local
business, you can still harness the
power of email marketing to grow
your business and communicate
with your customers.

3. Why Email
Marketing?
These days, customers have come to expect online interactions with
businesses — even local businesses. In fact, 70% of active Facebook
users are connected to a local business. This statistic indicates that most
customers want to keep tabs online with the local businesses than they
frequent.

4. Don’t Be A Spammer
Instead, it will provide value to your customer by
giving them news they can use in the form of
coupons or special events. More than half of
customers will give you their email address, if you
ask them. And the overwhelming majority of these
customers (72%) do so to get special discounts.

5. Additionally, people love receiving email.
Relevant email, that is.
72% of us check our email in bed. And, while 91% of all customers check
email at least once a day, 77% of us check our email obsessively. As in,
you’ve probably glanced over at your inbox once while reading this guide. It’s
okay — so have I.

6. Deciding
What To
Send

7. The secret to getting
customers to value
your emails.
Before you sit down to craft your
email, think about what your
customer wants. Once you know
what it is, give it to them.

8. In one example, you use your email marketing to send a coupon
to the customer. The customer gets a discount, you get revenue
(minus the coupon), and the opportunity to upsell.

9. However, the same model of mutual benefits also works when you’re
not giving a customer a discount. It may be that the purpose of your
email may be to ask for reviews from your customers.
Instead of giving them a coupon in return (a questionable practice
that may be viewed as unethical by some), you can simply appeal to
the customer’s altruism, or sense of community.

10. How To Build
An Email
List

11. Buying an email list is
just not a good business
practice. When you buy
an email list, you’re
officially spam.
Why? Because no one on that list knows who you are, and did not initiate a
relationship with you. Jesse Mawhinney over at Hubspot gives eight
compelling reasons why buying an email list can destroy the soul of your
business.

12. When it comes to building a rich list of loyal customers, your best bet
is to develop it organically in-house. That’s because the customers
who visit you now are likely to visit you again, especially if you provide
incentive in your email marketing.

13. In her video, local business expert Carmen Sognovi provides a simple strategy
for getting customers to opt in to your email marketing. Carmen’s three step
approach is:
!
1. Offer them something awesome;
2. Assume that they want what you’re offering;
3. Ask for the best email address.

14. Carmen’s sage advice will work like a charm, and definitely better than the ‘ole
fishbowl of business cards strategy.
!
You can also capture emails on your website. Because 97% of all customers
search out local businesses online, it’s a good idea to have a well developed
website that provides basic information and an incentive to join your mailing list.

15. Copywriting is both a science and an art. Although I’m a big
believer in hiring a professional copywriter for this job, sometimes
budget dictates otherwise. If you’re attempting to write your own
copy, here are eight tips that you should stick to:
Writing Copy
That Converts

16. Research shows that goldfish have longer attention spans than
humans. It’s a somber indicator that you shouldn’t prattle on and
on. Get straight to the point in your emails. Lead with the most
important news first.
Keep it short

17. Run-on sentences are confusing and hard to digest.
Use Short Sentences

18. All email communication between you and your customer should have a
clear purpose. If you don’t know what it is, the reader won’t either.
3. Always have a reason for writing

19. If you wouldn’t use the same words in your face-to-face interactions
with that customer, don’t use it in your email.
4. Speak in a language that your customer
understands

20. Customer love to read or hear about testimonials. Add these to your
email as a way to persuade a customer.
5. Provide Social Proof

21. I know it’s about copywriting, but all text is no fun. Add images, or
graphical elements that keep your email engaging.
6. Use visual interest

22. A bad subject line can send your email to the spam bin. In fact, 69%
of people report an email as spam based on the subject line alone.
The folks at GetResponse have some good advice for creating a
compelling subject line.
7. Perfect on your subject line

23. A bad subject line can send your email to the spam bin. In fact, 69%
of people report an email as spam based on the subject line alone.
The folks at GetResponse have some good advice for creating a
compelling subject line.
8. Include a Call-To-
Action on every email

24. • Enjoy this Special Discount Tomorrow Only
• New Arrivals This Week
• 50% Off Email-Only Offer
• Last Chance: Get 50% Off Today
• Check Out Our Latest Flyer
• Email Exclusive:
• 5 Gift Ideas For Him
• Here’s An Exclusive Offer For You
• Share Your Stories For A Chance to Win!
• Introducing Our Latest (Deal)
• Tuesday Night is Family Night
Here are some examples of great
subject lines to get you started:

25. Choosing the
Perfect Template

26. Like the ones you send to your personal contacts. A business email should
be formatted, almost like a one-page website. It should be aesthetically
pleasing, engaging, and functional.
Never send out a bare-bones email

27. That means, the designed email template
should be respond to each device that a
customer views your email on. Avoid making
customers pinch-to-zoom in order to read
your emails by selecting a responsive
template.
!
Here are a few templates to choose from:
Research shows that 48%
of all emails are opened on
mobile devices.

32. Choosing An
Email Provider
There are a lot of fantastic email marketing
service providers out there, but our favorite is
MailChimp. It’s easy to use and supports over
6 million users. We recommend MailChimp
because its advanced analytics. You’ll be able
to see the health of your email marketing
campaign, who clicks on your links and who
doesn’t, and you can see all of it in real-time.

33. How to Avoid
Spam Filters
MailChimp wrote an engaging guide on how to
avoid spam filters.
!
Follow email marketing best practices, such as
never buying an email list. You want customers
who want to be on your list. The people who
find themselves on your list by surprise are
extremely likely to hit the spam button.

34. Use email analytics, like the ones built-in to MailChimp, to determine
the success of your campaign.
!
The averages vary, depending on
industry, but here’s a few statistics to
gauge by. Visit MarketingProfs for
the longer list:
Tracking Your Success

35. Healthcare:
Open Rate: 17.7%
Click Through Rate: 4.8%
Unsubscribe Rate: .11%
Business 2 Business:
Open Rate: 18.7%
Click Through Rate: 2.1%
Unsubscribe Rate: .47%
Retail/ Wholesale:
Open Rate: 14.0%
Click Through Rate: 1.9%
Unsubscribe Rate: .08%
Entertainment:
Open Rate: 18.7%
Click Through Rate: 2.1%
Unsubscribe Rate: .47%

36. is a great way to
share your products and services with
your customers. Get started with these
tips, and come back and tell us about
your
Email marketing
progress!

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