Building a sizeable contact database is the first step of any email marketing campaign and it’s perhaps the task that gets talked about the most. If you actually want to drive results though, you’ve got to pay as much attention to building a trustworthy relationship with your audience as you do to acquiring new contacts. You’ve got to continually create content that resonates with your target audience and turns passive subscribers into engaged readers and readers into guests.
These 3 tips for better email marketing are a great place to start.
1. Engage Your Audience With Value-Driven Content
We’re all inundated with a plethora of promotional emails everyday – special offers, limited deals, new product launches, you name it.
So while there’s nothing wrong with sending out emails promoting your hotel, you should put yourself in your guests’ shoes. They have all kinds of travel brands vying for their attention in their inboxes, and they’re not realistically going to buy from every one.
If you’re not regularly supplementing your promo emails with helpful, relevant, value-driven content, you can bet you’re losing the attention of your readers. To re-engage your list, try sending out a short series of emails that educate subscribers on a particular topic that’s likely to interest them - some quirky local history facts, for example, or engaging information on your city’s best ‘hidden gem’ attractions. The aim is to take the focus away from sales and provide something that is of real value to guests thinking of travelling to your city. If you can do this, a far greater percentage of them will want to learn more from you, and your open rates and click-throughs will soar.
2. Offer Exclusive Offers For Subscribers
As a small business, you have the advantage of being able to build a more personal relationship with your customer base in a way that huge global brands cannot.
By using email segmentation, you can develop a good idea of your guests’ core wants and concerns and create offers tailored directly to these needs. As people who have taken the time to sign up to your email list, your subscribers are hoping to see something special, so get creative with your exclusive promotions, and don’t be afraid to ask for feedback from your audience on a regular basis.
3. Use Cliffhangers To Spark Curiosity
As a marketer, one of the most powerful emotions you can play on is curiosity. And one of the best ways to spark this intrigue, especially when it comes to your email content, is to use cliffhangers.
This powerful strategy can be used in subject lines, in the main text body of your emails and as an exciting add-on in the P.S section of your messages. Here are some examples:
- Subject line: Your best summer holiday ever is just a click away…
- Body copy: Click here to find out how to (insert benefit)
- “P.S.”: Stay tuned, we’re about to launch something very special you won’t want to miss…
If you’re stuck for inspiration, subscribe to some of the leading properties in your hotel’s niche to find out how they’re using cliffhangers to keep guests hooked and coming back for more. Once you’ve picked up a few ideas, you can run tests to see which kinds resonate best with your particular audience.
Do you use any of these tips to keep your hotel’s subscribers engaged? Let us know in the comments below!
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- 5 Simple Steps for Powerful Email Marketing
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- The 5 Crucial Email Marketing Mistakes Your Hotel Needs to Avoid
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