Top E-mail Marketing Strategies for B2B Companies

On a daily basis, we receive tens if not hundreds of emails. For businesses, these emails vary from delivery receipts to emails sent from other brands who would like to connect with you.

Which begs the question, why are they still sending B2B emails?

Simple.

Because they work.

• Just look at it this way, email is a better method than others.
• It has a longer life span than social posts.
• Costs less than traditional marketing.

Can easily be tweaked and customized at any given point to suit your needs.

Email might seem like an archaic way of doing business, but it has retained its place in the playbook for a reason. People swear by it as one of the easiest way in bringing customers to your doorstep. If you've tried to employ a B2B email marketing plan in the past and failed, it's not enough reason for you to stop. Failing is essential in creating an effective email campaign along with other effective strategies. Interested in knowing more about these strategies? Then read on.

Strategies That Will Elevate Your B2B Email Game 

1. Curate your Subscriber list -

It all starts with the list. There's no point in writing a letter when you don't know who you will send it to, right? While the need for a large subscriber list is not necessary, you must ensure that what you have is an organized one. Curate your list and tag them accordingly. Curation will help you plan out your future campaign. This will also ensure that what you are going to send to the people on the list will be something they can appreciate.

2. Don’t be afraid to automate –

While the perfect B2B email campaign may need some form of personal touch, it’s not a bad idea to automate the whole thing. Automation allows you to plan your campaign ahead and have it delivered promptly. It does all the grunt work for you so you can focus on tweaking and perfecting your campaign. The first step in automation is getting an ESP or an email service provider. An ESP allows you to use your email account through an interface. Through this interface, you can prepare newsletters, create schedules, and plan out triggers for auto-responders.

3. Be ready to offer free content –

People love anything that’s free. Business owners are no exception - especially when you give them something of value. Share your blog posts, white papers, or eBooks to your list. Make sure to keep all the content relevant to the industry or connection. The idea behind this is simple, most of the emails these businesses receive usually contain the predictable “specials”. Take a different route and offer something that adds value to the email. Offer them tips, show them tricks, or give them ideas. This will separate your email from the chaff.

You can also share latest best practices for digital marketing to your subscribers through email campaigns. This not only keeps your current subscribers happy, it grows the list as more and more people sign up to become subscribers for the free information.

4. Be prepared for the long haul –

A lot of the businesses who failed in B2B email marketing have one thing in common – they were impatient. Most of them sent 3 or 4 emails, and when they didn’t get any response, they junked the whole project. While the dream outcome is to get a conversion after one email, that rarely happens. So make sure you create a campaign that won’t just focus on getting a sale but also in nurturing a lead. Your priority is to build a connection with your audience. The conversions can always come later.

5. Get to know your audience –

As you send your emails, your next task is to segment your audience. Categorize them depending on how they react to the emails you send. Prepare different strategies for each segment. This is the part where you have to tailor-fit each email you send depending on their previous behavior. It can be quite tedious, but it will benefit you and your company in the long run.

6.Test everything –

While you may see this as additional work, the most successful B2B email marketing campaigns weren’t exactly perfect on their first run. Find out what makes your subscribers tick. Do they like their emails sent at a particular time? Do they favor one type of design over the other? Do they appreciate the long ones or do they have enough time for a few lines? Do A/B split tests on your emails if you can. This is the best way for you to come up with a sound strategy that can promise conversions in the future.

7. Optimize for mobile –

Everybody is going mobile nowadays including the person who will most likely read your B2B email, so you better make sure your email is optimized to be read on a tablet or smartphone. Luckily, most ESPs offer templates that you can just customize that are mobile ready.

For businesses both big and small, B2B email marketing is a cost-effective way of creating opportunities and conversions. While perfecting it can take some time, it’s a worthy endeavor for any brand. Just make sure you learn from your mistakes and you listen to your subscribers. These are key in making sure your campaign will hit the mark.

The Author:

Growing up, Elena used to help in her Father’s magazine distribution business. After graduating from the University of Oxford, she wanted to take her father’s footsteps and get involved into the marketing/advertising world. Currently she works with Keen.com.mt as a marketing executive, responsible for CRO and client acquisition for customers. Her other interests are travelling and reading.