Play a Different Angle:  What If You Weren’t Selling Something?

The way that companies engage with the public has radically changed thanks to social media.  With Pinterest and Tumblr eschewing promotions and choosing instead vibrant eye-catching or artistic content, brands have to drop their sales act and join in on the project as if they were simply another user.  Even in social media arenas that do have room for promotional materials, it comes in a careful mix of content.  Expanding this strategy to email marketing isn’t a far leap.  Many if not most email marketers have long since incorporated content that was meant purely for informational, educational, or entertainment purposes. 

So, here’s the question:  what if one arm of your email marketing campaign offered purely curated content?  No hint of sales in sight, no special offers, no great deals.  This looks different for every company of course.  From fashion to fitness to industry to technology, there are a lot of interest ranges from which a marketer could compile interesting newsletters that sought purely to amuse or educate.

The benefit?  This is a case of building your brand, and working towards being a trusted expert in your field.  It’s a long-term investment, but it pays off.  If you are the source of information or entertainment in your field, chances are good that you’ll be the first name that comes to mind. 

It’s not all or nothing; in using this type of email marketing strategy you aren’t giving up sales and promotions based newsletters.  Giving subscribers options regarding the type of content they receive allows them to choose for themselves.  This ensures that your efforts are appropriately distributed. 

This doesn’t necessarily mean devoting time to creating an entirely new stream of content.  If you already blog on a regular basis, you can simply use our RSS to Newsletter feature to streamline that into a newsletter that sends out without any further effort on your part!