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Nailing Email Marketing: Simple Steps to Get It Right

Email marketing remains one of the most effective ways to connect with your audience, nurture leads, and drive conversions. But with inboxes more crowded than ever, how can you ensure your emails stand out?

Whether you’re new to email marketing or looking to refine your approach, these simple steps will help you get it right.

1. The Obvious One, Know Your Audience

Understanding your target audience is the foundation of a successful email marketing strategy. Before hitting send, ask yourself:

  • Who are your ideal customers?
  • What challenges do they face?
  • How can your emails add value to them?

Segmenting your audience based on interests, behaviour, or past interactions can help you tailor content that resonates.

2. Craft Compelling Subject Lines

Your subject line is the first impression your email makes. A great subject line should:

  • Be concise (under 50 characters is ideal)
  • Create curiosity or urgency
  • Use personalisation where possible (e.g., “John, Don’t Miss Out on This Special Offer!”)
  • Avoid spammy words like “free,” “guaranteed,” or “act now,” as they can trigger spam filters.

3. Focus on Value-Driven Content

Every email you send should have a clear purpose. Instead of just pushing sales, provide value with:

  • Educational tips or industry insights
  • Exclusive offers or early access deals
  • Customer success stories or testimonials

Keep your message short and scannable – use bullet points and bold text to highlight key information.

4. Design for Readability

A cluttered email can lose readers quickly. Stick to a clean, responsive design that looks great on all devices. A few tips include:

  • Using a single-column layout
  • Try simple text-based emails for a more personal feel
  • Adding plenty of white space
  • Keeping CTA (Call-To-Action) buttons clear and easy to click

5. Optimise Send Times

Timing matters. Studies show that emails sent on Tuesday or Thursday mornings tend to perform best. However, testing different days and times will help you determine what works for your audience.

6. Test, Analyse & Improve

Email marketing isn’t a one-and-done effort. Regularly analyse key metrics like:

  • Open rates
  • Click-through rates (CTR)
  • Unsubscribe rates

A/B testing subject lines, CTA buttons, and content structure will help refine your approach over time.

Email Marketing Made Easy with TLC Business

By understanding your audience, crafting engaging content, and continuously testing your emails, you can transform your email marketing strategy into a powerful tool for business growth.

Need help with your email marketing? Call us on 01962 600 147 or email us at info@tlc-business.co.uk for a free virtual marketing ideas session with our experts.

#MarketingTitbits – Twitter, Alzheimer’s, advertising

twitter-alzheimers-advertising-smaller1. Tips to help your business gain more followers on Twitter
 If you’re using Twitter the chances are you will be tweeting content as often as you can – and if you’re not you really should be. With this in mind, you don’t want to be tweeting to an absent audience; no one wants their tweets to get lost somewhere in cyberspace.

But do not fret, there are a few things you can do to help your business gain new followers. Ensuring that you have some personality is a great way to entice people into following you, tweeting Christmas party images and news about the team is a great way to make things a bit more personal! Searching for people in your industry is another great way to find relevant Twitter followers – not only are they more likely to follow you, they’re more likely to retweet and favourite your posts.

To have a look at more tips for helping your business to gain new followers on Twitter, click here.

 

2. The Facebook campaign that simulated Alzheimer’s disease

 If you’ve ever had anyone close to you suffer the misfortune of Alzheimer’s disease, you might have a better understanding of how terrifying it is to lose your memory of where you’ve been, who you’ve been with or even who the people are around you.

However, it can still be hard to understand what it really is like for those suffering. For that reason Alzheimer Nederland set up a Facebook campaign to give people a taster of what it can be like for Alzheimer’s suffers. They created images of people, who hadn’t even liked their Facebook page, in places where they had never been and tagged them in the images. The image captions read “Confusing right? You’re now experiencing what it’s like to have Alzheimer’s disease” and then prompted the Facebook user to send the app to a friend.

To have a look at the heart-warming campaign, click here.

 

3. Six trends in advertising you need to know for 2014

Are you ready for the New Year ahead and the trends that have been predicted for advertising? If not, we’ve found a great article that highlights the six key trends that are likely to affect advertising this year, predicted by the Chief Executive of Econsultacy, Ashley Friedlein.

From real time bidding trends, video advertising and mobile advertising, to read the full article, click here.

#MarketingTitbits – Coke Life, social media demographics, productivity

cokelife-socialdemographics-productivity-smaller1. Coke Life is the harbinger of death for Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola’s attempt to launch their new brand, Coca-Cola Life, has had the question raised byMarketingWeek, about whether their latest product a dud? Filled with 89 calories per can, Coca Cola Life has been described as a ‘half-way house’ between the regular 139 calorie can, and the zero calories of Diet Coke and Coke Zero.

Although Coca Cola have made a good attempt with their 50 calorie reduction, the drink still contains a high amount of sugar that could result in consumers shying away from the new introduction as the world’s population strives to be healthier.

The new flavour is stated to be extracted from natural sources, but take one look at the listed ingredients on the new green can and you’ll see that the soft drink contains a number of less than ‘natural’ substances and is certainly no more ‘natural’ than its ‘full-fat’ sister drink. So, maybe Coca Cola aren’t being 100% truthful in their claims.

It begs the question, is Coke following in the footsteps of rival Pepsi’s previous attempts at bringing healthier options into the market?

To read more, click here.

2. The social media demographics report

Social media networks’ population profiles are constantly changing – some are cultivating millions of younger users, whilst others are reaching more mature audiences. But how are the demographics changing?

In a new Business Insider report, we see that Facebook is still the most popular among teens in the USA, whilst 6 out of 10 Snapchat users are in the 18 to 34 age group, making it the youngest social network of all. Another interesting revelation is the growth in male users on Twitter, whereas previously, the site had always typically been gender-neutral.

Is this a signal of further changing times in the world of social media?

To find out how other social networks are faring, click here.

3. Get it done: 35 habits of the most productive people

We all only have 24 hours in a day and sometimes all of us go through times where this just doesn’t feel like enough for us to accomplish everything we set out to do. But Anna Vital, co-founder of Funders and Founders, has now compiled a number of tips on how to become more productive.

The infographic she has created consists of a number of actions you can adopt to improve your productivity. Not wasting time on wondering what to wear, eating healthily, assuming you’re always right and limiting your email replies to one per minute are just a few.

To see the full list, click here.