ImagesMagUK_Digital_Edition_March_2018

www.images-magazine.com MARCH 2018 images 21 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT How to optimise emails for your customers customers and sort them by interests/industries etc into small niche mailing lists and send them a highly personalised email specific to their niche. For example, don’t send all your customers emails about every workwear style. Instead, filter the businesses into different groups – that way you can send beauty and health businesses information about the latest tunics rather than the latest hardwearing, canvas trousers. 6 Reduce text and optimise calls to action: As much as marketers hate to hear it, people won’t spend a lot of time reading your email once opened – consumers decide within a split second if it is of interest or not. Be short, sharp and concise. Focus on providing clickable calls to actions. 7 Make social sharing available: This is a simple but very over-looked one: ensure your email can be shared using social media buttons. Many email providers make this a simple click of the button. Providing clear share buttons for readers to engage with helps grow the reach of any campaign beyond your customer database, reaching potential new leads. Andrew Langridge is from ETrader, one of the industry’s leading suppliers of websites to garment decorators across the UK. www.etraderwebsites.co.uk H ave you got a proper marketing plan with clearly defined objectives for growth? Many organisations spend money on various initiatives to help build a larger customer base without really evaluating which work and which don’t. Doing a SWOT analysis on your organisation, where you identify its Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, can be a great start to defining your plan. You also need to survey what your direct competition is offering and where there are potential gaps. The goals need to be measurable and realistic. Businesses that set goals are more successful than those that don’t. If you exhibit, for example, what are your goals? To see 50 existing customers and present new products to them? To reach out to 100 new ones with the aim of securing an appointment? How many new customers do you hope to gain this year with an average spend of X and an average margin of Y? What other marketing initiatives have you planned? Are you talking to the right audience? Are major influencers sharing your content? (If not, ask them!) Just broadcasting on social media is not enough, and it’s certainly not selling. You need to be seen as an authority. Do you have a loyalty or referral programme to retain more client spend? How about direct mailings with product, If you would like to be involved in the group and are a member of the BPMA, please email editorial@images-magazine.com with BPMA in the subject line. BPMA: SWOT YOUR WAY TO THE TOP could you trial two different styles of mailing to measure the response to each? Are you on a ratings site such as Feefo or Trustpilot? Any feedback, good or bad, could be invaluable. One of the biggest challenges facing promotional clothing and product companies is trying to create a simple, clearly defined message of who and what they are. A proper marketing plan will have a mission statement and a place for vision and values. Anyone who says ‘we offer great customer service’ is deluding themselves – that’s not enough. It needs to be quantified. For those who want a helping hand, the BPMA will soon be offering its members an extensive marketing plan blueprint. 1 Focus on the subject line: The subject line is the most important thing to consider as this is the first thing the recipient reads and is make or break for whether they open your email or chuck it straight in the junk folder. Test out your various email subject lines and analyse which achieves the highest open/action rate. 2 Strive for inbox placement: A difficult one to measure, but not all email campaigns need to be actioned straight away, they just need to leave a lasting impression on readers. Just focus on the brand, the core product and the services you’re offering, rather than super salesy jargon – you don’t want a reader to think it is spam. 3 Ensure the email is mobile-optimised: Most email software will provide a mobile view of your email, ensuring it can be optimised for any device. Approximately 65% of emails are read on a smartphone/tablet (Marketing Land, 2017) so ensure your email looks the part on any device. 4 Personalise where possible: Use tags to deliver a personalised message to your customer. Using their name or business name gives an email a more personal feel. People understand that emails are often being sent to hundreds at a time, but you don’t want to make them feel like they’re just another name on your mailing list. Personalisation encourages better engagement with readers! 5 Segment your email database: Go one step further and provide an even more personalised touch by segmenting your database. Funnel down your