The development of the Internet has affected the whole world, including marketing. Although still, when we are talking about marketing, we think of traditional forms of advertising. Such as TV commercials and billboards, digital marketing is where business people made the most investment in recent years.

This type of marketing allows for better cost control through self-budgeting, targeting capabilities, personalizing ads, measuring results, and optimizing online campaigns. You know who you spent money on, how, and whether it paid off in digital marketing.

However, other forms of digital marketing have pushed email marketing into the background. It is still a powerful means of communicating with your existing and potential customers. The most excellent power lies in the fact that digital marketing primarily aims at users who have already shown interest in your business.

But also the ones that want to receive your content and follow the news about your products and services.

3 Phases of Email Marketing

Email marketing in practice consists of three phases:

• collecting email addresses of subscribers
• preparation of newsletter content
• sending newsletters

The hardest part is the first phase of data collection. And that is to create a good user base for your internet marketing. However, quality subscribers are not easy to get because users are less and less inclined to share their mail with just about everyone. But there are a couple of tested methods to help you compile a list:

• Subscribing to the newsletter and getting a discount – even small discounts of 10 to 15% can encourage users to sign up.
• Sweepstakes that require a newsletter subscription – sweepstakes are always an excellent way to engage customers. The primary step that you have to do is introduce them to your brand and see who wants your product.
• Offer exclusive content – in your call for applications, offer users the latest news, new offers, and sweepstakes notifications straight to their inboxes.

Whatever strategy you choose for your newsletter subscriber base, do not buy a newsletter list. This way, you will appear in the inboxes of people who did not want it, resulting in more harm than good.

You will also remove subscribers who have never heard of you even more right from the start. However, there is a possibility that emails will not reach subscribers at all due to incorrect addresses or addresses that certain subscribers no longer use. You will most likely miss the results.

Types of Newsletters

As there are three stages of email marketing, there are three basic types of newsletters that you should send to your users:

• Transaction emails

These are the most common messages that are automatically sent as confirmation of an action taken by customers.

• Mails that build a relationship with the user

This type of newsletter aims not to sell but to add value to users who have subscribed to your newsletter. It will add value in notifications of new blog posts, information, tips, and the like.

• Promotional emails

These emails are the kind of newsletter that most people think of when it comes to email marketing. About 2/3 of users make an online purchase after receiving the newsletter.

The Most Popular Email Marketing Tools

The choice of tools for sending newsletters today is enormous, and it depends on your goals. Please read below about the most popular free email marketing tools with their advantages and disadvantages.

MailChimp

One of the most common choices for sending newsletters worldwide is MailChimp. It is free to send up to 12,000 emails per month, for a maximum of 2.000 subscribers on the list. The free version is a good choice if you have a small subscriber base and don’t send the newsletter that often.

MailerLite

MailerLite offers a free basic package for up to 1,000 subscribers. Outstanding, right? However, its primary functions are creating campaigns with autoresponder messages, newsletters and using templates. Also, it is well known because it uses a simple drag and drop editing principle and editing images directly in the mail.

Campayn

Campayn is free for up to 500 subscribers and 12,500 emails per month. It is effortless to create a newsletter and comes with templates and your image gallery. Provides detailed reporting and the ability to share on social media. They also check your content so it does not end up in a spam folder and offer you practical solutions to a possible problem.

Few More Tips

The main advantages of digital marketing are the precise targeting of the audience.

To develop a good internet marketing strategy, you need to:

• Set goals.
• Create a profile of your customers.
• Identify what value you provide to customers.
• Analyze the competition well.
• Determine the channels on which you will advertise.
• Determine the metrics you use to monitor campaign results.

Good luck with your first email marketing ventures!