Haley Greene
You’ve probably heard the advice a million times.
“The money is in your list.”
“Email marketing is a must-have for marketing your business.”
Why is building an email list such a valuable asset for your printing business? Well, you already know you need to bring in new customers and drive repeat sales from your existing customers. Email marketing is a cost-effective way to make it happen.
When you build up a list of email subscribers, you gain instant access to your audience. You nurture relationships with potential leads who might not have been ready to purchase the first time around. And if they’ve already purchased from you? You stay in the top of their head, increasing the chance they’ll remember you next time they have an order to place.
With a strong email marketing strategy you can:
- Engage your customers and build intimate relationships
- Drive more traffic to your website
- Introduce new products
- Increase customer loyalty through repeat purchases
- Use analytics to better understand the needs of your target audience
Email marketing can help your printing services stand out from the local competition. If you run a quick search for your competitors right now, you’ll probably notice most of them aren’t utilizing an email newsletter. Here’s your chance to get ahead of them.
So how do you get started? Let’s dive in:
1. Define Your Plan
Start by establishing your email campaign plan and goals first. It sounds easy enough, but it’s an essential step. Think about what you want your newsletter to achieve. Do you want to drive more traffic to your website? Increase your sales? Gain 500 subscribers?
When you set clear, actionable goals it becomes easier to design a plan to achieve them. Set goals that are within your reach as a beginner. Instead of aiming to get 2,000 subscribers in 30 days, go for your first 100 subscribers. Once you achieve your first goal, you’ll be motivated to keep moving forward.
Remember: you want to keep growing your list with new subscribers, even when you reach your goals. Because people will unsubscribe or change their email address (the average number of subscribers lost from email lists per year is around 20%). It’s inevitable.
However, it’s key to not let unsubscribers discourage you. It’s natural to feel disappointed every time someone opts out of your list. We’ve all been there. Go into your campaign with the knowledge that this will happen sometimes, and turn it into a positive moment instead. When someone unsubscribes from your email list, it just means they weren’t your target audience. Now you get to focus more on engaging your loyal customers.
2. Choose Your Email List Provider
It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the vast amount of email marketing platforms. Here are 3 great email provider options suited for printing businesses when you’re just starting out:
- MailChimp: Small businesses who are beginners when it comes to list building love MailChimp for their free plan. Most email list providers charge for a monthly plan, but you can use their free plan (including automation features and pop-up forms) for up to 2,000 subscribers.
- Constant Contact: Another beginner-friendly platform is Constant Contact. They offer a lengthy 60-day free trial and affordable monthly plans that start at $20 per month. Beginners love their platform for its ease of use.
- AWeber: One of the most popular platforms for ecommerce websites is Aweber, thanks to their automation systems that make it easy to set up email campaigns that grow your list on autopilot. You can get started with a 30-day free trial, and afterward, the plans start at $19 per month.
Once you’ve signed up with a provider, you’re ready to start attracting subscribers.
3. Build Your List From Scratch with a Lead Magnet
Think about it like this. Why should your customer subscribe to your email list? A generic “Join our Newsletter” line might bring in a few subscribers, but in order to jumpstart growth to your list, you need to entice your readers with a powerful incentive.
Create an effective opt-in form that promises to give your visitors your offer in exchange for their email address (your opt-in form is an email marketing term for the form where visitors can sign up for your list).
What makes a good lead magnet? Since we’re selling a physical product with printing services, a great offer could be:
- A discount off your first purchase (stick around 10-15% so you don’t lose too much profit)
- Special deals exclusive to subscribers
- First access to new products/services
For example, The UPS Store uses a pop-up with a discount offer. They also segment their list by asking if you’re a business owner, which can help you send more highly targeted emails. Why does this matter? In this case, a customer using your service for printing wedding invitations probably wouldn’t be interested in designing banners. The more useful information you send via email, the more likely it is to convert to sales.
4. How to Write a Great Newsletter
Once your customer joins your list, you want to send them a follow-up email to let them know what to expect from you. Like how often you’ll be emailing them (hint: it shouldn’t be every day). Keep your newsletter schedule consistent and stick to your promise. You want to stay in your customer’s mind, but you don’t want to annoy them so much that they unsubscribe.
So what should you write about? You do want to send promotional offers, announce new products or sales…but it’s easy to make the mistake of sending TOO many promotional offers. Not everything should be a sales pitch.
Write emails that provide value to your customers. For instance:
- Interview one of your customers, like a local retail business or a graphic designer, and write up a case study on their project.
- Offer a useful business tip or educational content. Some potential topics could include how to get your company noticed at a trade show, why you may consider rebranding, or how to create inspirational product packaging.
The best way to find out what your customers need help with is to simply ask them.
In Conclusion
Email marketing is a powerful way to stay in contact with your customers. You get to build a connection with your audience that keeps your business at the top of their mind.
All it takes to get started is four simple steps: find your email list provider, set your first goal, decide what lead magnet to use, and brainstorming newsletter topics that help your customers solve their problems.
What’s your biggest struggle with email marketing? Share in the comments below.
Thank you, I am learning every day, reading this article is like taking a crash course.
Thanks for checking our article out, Sidhesh. We’re glad to help.
I’ve got the Mailchimp account, I’m sending out messages, but I’m in need of worthwhile content that is not just a sales flyer, but educational. What would be my best source for printing or promotional product content?
Hi Doug, it’s great to hear that you’re using email marketing for your business! For educational content, here’s a little trick: check out the blogs of other print companies. Of course, you won’t want to link to their blog if they’re your competitors, but you can take just a few educational points from them to put into your own emails. You can also find a lot of good content from the blogs of companies that are not targeting the same customers you are (and not in competition with you), such as small print shops in the UK.
Here’s a list of resources to start you off:
PsPrint’s Print Marketing Is The Key To Success
Staples’s 7 Print Marketing Ideas to Promote Your Small Business
The Marketing Strategy Company’s 5 Print marketing facts you should know
Hackworth’s 3 Print Marketing Ideas That Will Increase Sales
DigitalPrinting UK’s 5 great print ideas for marketing your small business
You can also find good content on marketing and design websites. For example, Business Know-How’s The Best Ways to Use Promotional Products to Market Your Business and Designhill’s 7 Ways You Can Use Promotional Products to Drive Consumers.
Hope that helps!