Even in the manufacturing industry, having a targeted email list and sending marketing emails is an important part of finding leads and making sales. However, building an email list that will produce sales is the tricky part.
According to the 2020 Small Business Email Marketing Statistics Report, 79% of small businesses say email marketing is important or very important to their overall business strategy. If you struggle with your email marketing strategy, having the right email list can make all the difference.
We will explore the benefits of targeted email and how you can build an effective list that turns into sales.
Key Takeaways
- A targeted email list focuses on people who have already shown an interest in your brand.
- You should not buy third-party email lists, which can cause serious problems.
- Unique, customized CTAs on blog posts and web pages can lead to increased leads.
- Your “About Us” page is an ideal place to entice interested parties with a CTA.
Why Do You Need a Targeted Email List?
Email marketing is still one of the leading marketing channels across nearly every industry. According to Litmus, email marketing can also be an impressive source of revenue. Its 2020 survey showed an industry average ROI of $36 for every $1 spent on email marketing.
To achieve that high ROI, you can’t simply send out emails to every possible address. You need a carefully targeted and segmented email list that goes to the people who are most likely to buy from you.
Do Not Purchase Email Lists
It takes a lot of work to create an effective email list. Because of this, some businesses think it will be easier and faster to buy a third-party email list. Unfortunately, these lists can create many problems:
- These individuals did not give you permission to email them.
- These addresses will most likely not fit your ideal customer profile.
- You could be violating email compliance rules.
- Your emails might get filtered and sent to spam.
- These lists commonly include inactive or fake email addresses.
In addition to these problems, using third-party email lists could potentially cause irreversible harm to your email reputation and overall brand.
7 Strategies for Building a Targeted Email List
An effective email marketing strategy helps your brand stay in your clients’ minds. This is particularly important in the manufacturing industry because your sales cycle is longer than other types of products. Continuous reminders of your benefits will likely lead to more sales through targeted emails.
Here are seven strategies you can use to build your targeted, sales-focused email list.
1. Use Unique CTAs for Each Landing Page or Blog
Visitors usually have something specific that brought them there when they come to your site. Perhaps they are interested in industrial generators. Instead of having a generic “Sign up for our newsletter” CTA on the page, you could have something like “Join our community to stay up-to-date on our latest generator technology.” A customized CTA is almost always going to be more enticing than something generic.
You can even go further and include smart CTAs that use individualized data from each visitor to create the ideal CTA. According to HubSpot, smart CTAs convert 202% more often than default CTAs.
2. Create a Timed Pop-Up Survey
If the term “pop-up” fills you with early 2000s anxiety, don’t worry. Modern marketing pop-ups are much smarter and less annoying. In this case, you could create a simple one-question survey that appears after a visitor has spent a certain amount of time on a page.
For example, if someone has spent at least five minutes browsing your air filter selection, a message could pop up that says, “You seem interested in our air filters. Would you like to sign up for more information?” They can answer yes by typing in their email or selecting “No,” and the box will close.
Collecting emails through this method gives visitors time to engage with your content and offers a relevant CTA.
3. Use social media to promote your email newsletter
Most manufacturers have at least one social media account. If you don’t, you should start one. The most popular sites for B2B companies include LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. You can use your social media platforms to share your email newsletter. This gives your social media followers a chance to join your email network.
4. Add a Newsletter Link to Your Email Signature
You send a lot of emails each week. Add extra value to your email signature with a link to your newsletter. Alternatively, it could be a link to a landing page or blog post with a subscription CTA.
That link gives the people you correspond with an easy option to learn more about your company and its products.
5. Create More Landing Pages
Landing pages exist specifically for marketing and advertising campaigns. They typically only appear when a person clicks on a link that is part of a campaign. Landing pages have a single goal – to give the person who clicked on the ad a short piece of valuable information along with a bold, relevant CTA.
The more landing pages you have, the more email addresses you collect. According to HubSpot, companies that increased their landing pages from 10 to 15 saw a 55% increase in leads.
6. Add a CTA to Your “About Us” Page
When a person wants to learn more about a company, one of the first places they will go is the “About Us” page on a website. Make this page easy to find and include valuable, interesting information.
You want this page to pique the interest of your visitors and leave them wanting to learn more. This makes it an ideal place for a CTA to stay informed with your email newsletter.
7. Offer Gated Content
Gated content is content that requires users to submit their contact information before they can access the content. If you require users to submit their email to read your blog, you likely won’t get much of a response. Gated content is ideal for high-value information like unique studies, white papers, training videos, or templates. Many people are willing to trade their email for these types of high-value content.
Put Your Email List to Good Use with Marketing from Shanahan Strategy
Collecting valuable email addresses takes a lot of time. We are guessing this is something you don’t have enough of. To accelerate your email marketing strategy, you need expert help. However, most marketing agencies don’t really understand marketing for manufacturers. At Shanahan Strategy, that is all we do.
We understand the hard work and expertise that goes into your business and want to share that with your customers.
Ready to experience email marketing designed specifically for manufacturers? Schedule a free consultation with Shanahan Strategy today.
