marketing year planner

Email marketing year planner

Email marketing

year planner

Email marketing year planner

Contents

Introduction

Defining your goals Defining your audience Define your cycle Defining your content Planning considerations Build your timeline

Creating your calendar Cut out 2012 Calendar Examples of calendars Conclusion 3 4 5 6 - 8 9 10 - 11 12 - 13 14 15 16 17

Email marketing year planner

Introduction

Email marketing can be both simple to execute and complicated. Simple because the creation of content and the production of a suitable distribution list is not rocket science. Complex because to do it consistently and effectively over a period, requires deeper thought, analysis, and an and understanding of your company marketing policy. Above all, it requires planning.

In a recent article discussing broadcast reporting analysis and email marketing audits, stress was laid on the need to regularly examine your email results and change elements of your strategy as the assessment of the metrics dictates. This thinking must be central to both your strategic and tactical planning. Your planning must also contain inbuilt flexibility to cater for the unexpected. In this guide we have provided information on how you can plan your email marketing activity for the year. From defining your goals, building your timeline and creating your calendar, it’s all here.

Email marketing year planner

Defining your goals

The type of company you run and the product/services you offer will dictate what kind of website you maintain and consequently what email campaign structure you wish to plan for. It’s very likely that over the course of time you’ll have more than one goal with your email marketing. Even a reference website may eventually want to sell a product, or perhaps promote a product through an affiliate program. Below are some things you may wish to consider when defining your goals.

Success parameters

An essential element of your goal planning is to decide at an early stage what level of ‘success parameters’ you are looking to achieve. That is the levels of open rates, click through rates, ROI and others you may wish to incorporate. Depending on your service provider you may be able to set any parameters within your reporting mechanism, some ESP’s will enable you to use DMA parameters taken directly from their quarterly ‘Tank’ report. This information should be looked upon as an important of any post broadcast analysis.

Lead generation

You may want to start a “drip campaign,” where you set up a series of auto-responders starting from when a visitor subscribes. You might send out daily, weekly, or even monthly emails in a specific series, as part of a campaign intended to build trust and eventually generate leads.

Product/Service sales

There are very few organisations or businesses who, in one way or the other, do not have a product or a service to sell. In a sense even a charitable organisation has a service which is measured via donations and, in some cases, sales of products. The PDSA, who I talk about later, is a perfect example, their emails promote their charitable activities but also their shops which give them an opportunity to gather more revenue.

Email marketing year planner

Website traffic

These days a website is a vital element of a company’s digital marketing and one of the important functions of email should be to drive readers to it. Being a believer in short, functional emails I would strongly advocate that attracting high measurable traffic to your website is an important goal of your email broadcasting.

Increasing your data lists sizes

Data is the life blood of email marketing and increasingly the use of rented or bought in data is being looked upon unfavourably. It is then important that one of your goals should be to increase these lists over the year. Of course a strategy within your emails can assist with this, links to a sign up site for example or facilities for sign ups on a Facebook page. Other tactics might require you to liaise with other departments to ensure that an email sign up is an integral part of all customer or prospect interaction.

Defining your audience

Before you start creating your email campaigns, you need to clearly define your audience. Once you get a good idea of who exactly will be reading your emails, it’ll be easier to decide what you want to say to them and to plan additional series of emails throughout the year. Who do you want to be the primary readers of your email campaigns? Industry leaders and peers? Current and potential customers?

At this point making the final decisions on this is critical and necessary to plan the construction of all the lists and segmented lists you will need through the year. So think about list building programmes – what you are doing in terms of welcome emails, preference centres etc.

Email marketing year planner

Deciding your reasons for emailing this audience

Why does this audience want to hear from me?

What useful information can I provide to this audience?

What do I want to accomplish with my email marketing to this audience?

Planning additional list acquisitions

List building is a vital component of any email marketing story. Lists, at the start and the end of your campaigns are you lifeblood without which little would happen. So if your lists are up to date and relevant at the year’s beginning, excellent, but do make plans to review, assess and start other list building projects as the year advances. Make this an integral part of your quarterly review session.

Define your cycle

In every year there are a series of natural cycles that will assist in creating a structure for your plan. Some of these will apply others may not, for example for an organisation that specialises in selling summer-wear clothing, certain seasons of the year will be much more important. For another selling children’s school clothing the school holiday cycle may be crucial. Below are a selection of periods and events you should consider, bearing in mind that some of these will overlap.

Holiday periods

Unlike some European countries, most working British have the flexibility to take their extended holiday time whenever they like during the year. I use the term extended because other countries notably the USA have far less holiday than we do, for example the almost month long shut down over the Christmas and New Year period does not occur in the States.

Therefore if your email marketing plan is going to include broadcast to any international area you should also take this into account. Many would also question the wisdom of sending emails around holiday periods in the UK itself. But this will depend on your goal plan and range of products/services.

Email marketing year planner

School holidays

Apart from the teaching professions other demographic groups are affected by school holidays. From any previous campaigns you may have done in earlier years you should be able to detect whether these holidays periods have any effect on your results and therefore what degree of activity you should maintain during these times. For example when the children’s Summer Holidays are approaching it would be a good time for a travel company to promote breaks aimed specifically at this market.

Adhoc and special events

Apart from the generally recognised holiday periods, throughout the year events occur nationally which may affect your business activity. For example for suppliers of flowers, chocolates, and champagne, Mothers Day and Valentines Day may have a particular significance.

This year is especially important as there are several special events relevant to the UK which all marketers will need to take notice of:

The European Football Championships The Royal Family’s Jubilee

The London Olympics

These types of events may impact not only creative ideas but also when to send and whether people are most likely to be at a desktop or a mobile device when picking up their emails. For example, if England were to make to the European Football Finals then ensuring an email advertising a special drinks promotion would benefit from being fully optimised for the mobile phone.

Some organisations, take for example a charity may wish to respond to a national or international crisis that has occurred.

For example, if a summer flood in middle England may generate an urgent need to assist or raise funds, again email is a perfect way.

Email marketing year planner

The seasons themselves

Some companies are entirely based on seasons for their marketing activities, or at least should be. The classic and obvious example is for a garden centre chain. Garden products can be marketed on a seasonal needs, both tools and plants have their special uses at different times of year. Email is a perfect device for doing this, one could also include editorial content for tips and hints relevant to the season. This same would perhaps apply to a restaurant chain in that particular dishes and recipes are relevant to time of year. Who wants to eat scotch broth in summer?

Your organisation’s buying and product cycle

Most companies will have an existing plan for a buying cycle and have a programme for future launch of new products or services. It is very important that the marketing team is made

aware of these as far as possible to build the necessary degree of flexibility into their plan. Your brand and pricing strategies play a significant role in your marketing efforts, so nail down those strategies before launching any major campaigns. If you sell through multiple distribution channels, don’t forget to create campaigns for each. You’ll also refer to your sales process to estimate revenue and ROI for each campaign.

Marketing activity

The marketing team as a whole may be planning outside events such as trade shows, seminars and other such activities. Factor this into the plan to ensure you can react via email to response generated from these activities.

It may be, depending again on your business activity that you might have to adjust your

broadcasting cycle during these events as they may distract all or part of your target audience and your messages ignored.

Email marketing year planner

Defining your content

One important result of pre-planning content definition is that you can establish a continuity for the year. By that I mean continuity of appearance. For example a series of matching templates can be produced which will enable you to change content to suit the particular broadcast at the same time retaining a similar look. Both those in business and consumers are comfortable with the familiar and this continuity will retain that and assist in creating a brand identity for you. Ensure your content matches each stage of your cycle, think about who will be reading your emails and tailor your content accordingly. For example, if you are a Fitness Club and you want to go on a New Years join up drive then consider tailoring your emails with dynamic content to include the details of your recipients’ local Club. Recipients will find this personalised approach far more appealing than blanket emailing.

Finally plan where your content is coming from? As a general rule email communications should be kept short and sharp as you will want to drive visitors to your website so think about whether you will need to create a new landing page for example, or perhaps it already exists.

The more detailed content planning should be slotted in with your broadcast calendar plan to be actioned as each deadline approaches.

Learning from the past

No matter how successful previous campaigns were there will always be something to learn. You should take into account all of the usual parameters but also consider the possible effects of newer technology. For example do you now have the ability to automatically post emails to Facebook and Twitter? Can you isolate readers using their mobiles to open emails, if so what impact might

this have.

You should review why, if it was the case, some of your emails attracted higher metrics, if you can isolate reasons then think to apply any lessons to the coming year. Whilst on the subject of new technology do something simple which many marketers omit at this point. Check with your ESP to ensure you are operating the most up to date version of their system and if there are any

Email marketing year planner

Planning considerations

I am sure we have all encountered a situation where the metrics of a given campaign are beginning to falter and perhaps the ROI is declining. There is always a reason for this and often it can be found within your own structure. Post broadcast you should be conducting report assessment and logging the appropriate data. A good ESP will provide you a way of summarising metrics, opens clicks etc. so you should use these tools within an established and regular audit time. These are vital so you can detect any fall off in responses and correct these so as not to harm the ongoing campaign plan.

Using your CRM or CMS systems

Increasingly ESP’s are providing their clients with the means to automate email broadcasting, via automated and triggered emails and integrating CRM systems. If you are using an integrated programme your strategy should reflect this right from the start. It will certainly reduce the time each broadcast will take and allow you an additional degree of flexibility.

Emailing to mobile devices

If your ESP has the functionality to show emails viewed on mobile devices you will be able to assess the percentage opened. From there you can make a judgement as to whether you should consider emailing those readers who regularly open this way with content calculate to read well on those devices. If you consider that this year smartphone use is expected to grow by 80% then you have to take this into account during your strategy planning.

Time requirements

As part of the plan you will have to work out timing for the creative structure, proof reading, testing, data list procurement and loading, broadcasting and finally report assessment. If you are already operating a regular emailing broadcasting plan you should be well aware of how much time each broadcast takes up.

Email marketing year planner

Don’t put things off

I’ve already indicated that the email marketers markets worst enemy is time, a related and close second enemy is putting things off. Just don’t do it!! If you plan properly to begin with you will leave sufficient leeway to allow for the inevitable glitches. From experience I know that sometimes testing is put off to an extent that has allowed a glaring error to go unnoticed, and you can never put the broadcast back in the bottle. Too often I’ve heard of subject lines being written at the last moment to the almost inevitable detriment of the open rates.

As in all other fields playing catch-up is hard, avoid having to do it.

Reengagement or Reactivation strategy

It should always been an important part of your email marketing strategy and consequently your planning, to send regular mailings to encourage laggard subscribers to either start opening you emails or unsubscribe. It could be part of a data cleaning strategy conducted during your regular audits.

Social media cross marketing

Many organisations operate an extensive strategy for using a variety of platform and some, notably Facebook and Twitter are often very successfully combined within email themselves. Some ESPs will have automated email postings on Twitter and Facebook company accounts.

I would strongly recommend that if you have a team or a person that deals with your social media, that they be a a part of your planning group and are fully appraised of the timelines and calendars.

Email marketing year planner

Build your timeline

If you take a typical broadcast, perhaps the first one you intend to send, you can use this to create a timeline which can then be used to slot into your calendar for subsequent campaigns. Using the first one as a template will allow you to assess time required and allow for any additional time to cater for issues raised during testing. It will also be easier to to insert any unscheduled broadcast into the calendar should the situation demand them.

At this point your strategy should be clear, your goals and aims clearly established and your content templates and other structures available.

10 timeline top tips

Obviously timelines will vary, depending on your industry, type of content, audience and calendar dictate. Below is an outline example of how you might devise your timeline:

Note the topics you want to include in your content and the images you might wish to include and create a mock up of the text layout you will need to create and note what you want to say about each topic. Identify and locate all the images you want to use locating them into a single labelled folder.

At this stage your first testing procedure should happen. Have someone proof read your text, it will save time later, have them read through it looking for any grammatical errors or typos.

Identify and have access to the appropriate list being paired with the content.

Access your account for your ESP and load up your main list, if there isn’t already one loaded ensure you have a test list ready for broadcasting.

If you are using templates I would now check that these are available and carry out a preview check to make sure there are no errors.

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Email marketing year planner

Load the topic contents and insert the required images.

Carry out all the standard testing procedures; spam checking, inbox preview testing, a full broadcast to your test list to check all of your links are working. Remember it is important that you carry out all checks at least two days prior to any

planned broadcast.

Allow additional time to correct any perceived errors, for example any spam warnings. Your ESP should be considered a partner so if you are seeing odd spam warnings consult them.

When all testing is completed and verified then you can send the broadcast. Finally decide when you will view the report and allow time to do this and any necessary assessments.

By establishing the work and time involved in this broadcast from start to final assessment you can create a model to insert into your calendar.

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Email marketing year planner

Creating your calendar

You have now reached that point where all the strands of activity can be brought together to create your calendar.

We have inserted a useable sample calendar in this guide but as stated before there are lots of ways to do this, the choice is yours. The essence is that you construct it following the plans already devised.

Do’s

Publish the finished calendar to the relevant team members thus conferring accountability

Date stamp the final deadlines, you are more likely to achieve them and again confers accountability

Create checklists within it, a tick in a box can feel good Allow space and time for revisions and last minute additions

Allow space for reporting assessments and additional testing if needed

Don’ts

Assume that because your group is in the picture everyone else is, make your calendar freely available available to other departments

Minimise the scope of the calendar, thoroughness and scale now will make your year easier

Underestimate time taken for editing and amending especially in reaction to your reporting. Create space within the calendar to allow for this work

Email marketing year planner

Examples of calendars

And animal charity the PDSA plan in detail, their yearly calendar has to encompass their additional contents for different divisions, their annual events and regular newsletter.

In addition they have special fund raising campaigns, e.g. At Christmas, when many animal charities make a special plea on behalf of pets.

Fund raising via special periodic raffles and of course triggered emails have also been shoehorned into their busy email marketing year, and it goes without saying that in an organisation like the PDSA cross channel marketing plays a huge role.

RHS (The Royal Horticultural Society)

As one might expect the RHS out of necessity have to mindful of seasons and also special events, after all they do run the Chelsea Flower Show. But this is just one of the many shows the RHS run throughout the year and so email content and broadcast must be planned well ahead of time whilst at the same time allowing scope for last minute change.

Obviously seasonality must also play a big role for the RHS and some of their newsletters will be orientated towards the time of year. This all takes time and planning from the whole marketing team which the RHS achieves quite successfully.

Park Holidays

This company uses automated and triggered emails to great effect and while it saves loads of time it has to be planned and then monitored very carefully. In addition they are also see more activity at peak holiday times. Bank Holiday bargain breaks, promotions for summer and Christmas holidays are all part of their yearly schedule.

In addition to this busy schedule they also have a programme of emails for individual holiday parks e.g. Felixstowe Beach Owners Area.

Email marketing year planner

Conclusion

All of the companies on the previous page are ones that have busy and sometimes complex schedules and without successful prior planning would be hard pushed to achieve all they wish to. As I stated right at the start of this guide email marketing is both straightforward and complex depending on your company, it’s goals, the numbers of your target audiences in terms of data lists and of course your overall marketing strategy.

Do not be put off by the length of this guide, my intention is to ensure that there is something in it for all types of organisation. If there is anything I would want you to take away from here it would be the emphasis on planning.

Who do you want to email? What do you want to tell them?

When and how often do you want to tell them? How did they react to your information?

What will be your reaction to their input?

From these simple questions a planning structure and marketing calendar can be created, a simple one or a highly complex one incorporating cross marketing plans as well. Take what you need from here, use it, especially the sample Calendar provided and see how you get on throughout the year.

Email marketing year planner

Author of this guide,

_{Michael Bairstow}

Pure360 is an email & SMS marketing provider who specialise in helping businesses get the best results from their campaigns. Pure360 work with over 1000 organisations including brands such as Rightmove, Virgin and innocent drinks. Our customers stay with us through choice, not contract, and they tell their friends about us – but never

their competitors!

We’ll work with you to improve your email marketing and SMS results.

You’ll get the best from your campaigns without being tied into a long contract, because your success is our success. You’ll get full training, support and regular free advice supported by email marketing and SMS software that’s developed in-line with customer feedback.

Pure360 customers have access to the largest UK-based customer support team of all email marketing providers because our whole focus is on improving your results by working together. Members of the DMA, we’ve recorded a 10% higher open rate for our customers than the DMA average, leading to higher clicks and conversions for your email marketing campaigns.

You can find the team working to improve our customers’ email campaigns, down in Brighton, pop in or give us a call on 0844 586 0001 to discuss how we can help you get excellent results from your email & SMS campaigns. Or email us at [email protected]