Marketing

The Marketing Strategy – Yes, You Do Really Need One

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We get asked ALL THE TIME by prospective clients if they REALLY need a Marketing Strategy. After all, they only want to grow and promote Product/Service A so what do they need a comprehensive strategy for. Having a strategic plan for the next 12 months is just smart business and it doesn’t matter if you are a solopreneur or a Fortune 500 company – you need one.

Spontaneity has its pluses – last minute road trip to the beach, AWESOME – throwing spaghetti at the wall to figure out your marketing strategy for the next year – not so awesome. A marketing strategy takes time, research, and planning to be effective. It takes creative visions, thinking outside the box at times, understanding your ideal client(s) and validating all that good stuff with in data and research.

The strategy also sets the objectives and timeline – putting those goals on paper and being accountable. However, a marketing strategy is fluid and can change as new opportunities present themselves or new challenges come into play. A Strategy is NOT meant to sit on the shelf until it’s past its expiration date. Tasks need to be assigned, executed, and measured!

This one is a big one, so pay attention! A marketing strategy also defines who your target audience is going to be. If you don’t know who that is – WE HAVE A PROBLEM! You can’t market to everyone – it’s just not possible. Targeting your audience is the only way that your marketing strategy is going to make any sort of impact. You can’t market Skinny Jeans on Snap Chat to 65-year-old men and expect to see results, right? If your goals aren’t aligned with your target audience, then you can’t expect to move that revenue needle.

You don’t build a house without a budget, set of plans, timelines, etc. So, why would you build a business and its success without a solid plan? It just doesn’t make sense! There are a lot of moving parts and the strategy keeps you organized, on track, and knowing what to do next. When you organize your strategy, you’re ensuring that you won’t miss important opportunities to convert leads.

It’s not just the marketing person\’s job to make the strategy work. That’s right – it’s all hands on deck. If you want success, everyone must believe in the plan and work towards those goals. Sales, writers, designers, client facing staff – everyone needs to be on the same page and working that strategy.

A strategy also keeps your budget in check. Ever do a home remodel without a set budget – probably not. Same goes for the strategy. You estimate your costs and try to stick as close to them as possible to eliminate any surprises. This also goes for allocating resources too. You can make sure staff aren’t overworked while others are underworked.

At the end of the day, a marketing strategy will help you capitalize on your great ideas, stick to a budget, keep everyone accountable, and improve your ROI. Now let’s address the elephant in the room. A lot of people have no clue how much a strategy costs. It’s ok – be honest if you didn’t either.

Depending on your company size, the nature of your business, and what you are looking to accomplish in the next few years, you can expect to invest between $5,000 and $40,000. Now, those high-end ones usually include a business plan complete with a competitive analysis and a product gap analysis. If you are looking for just the basics like messaging, channels to market, ideal clients, and campaigns and initiatives to support your goals, that’s closer to the $5k price, and even lower for some smaller businesses.

Don’t look at the cost as an expense though. Because a good marketing strategy can earn you a significant return on investment. You never want to throw spaghetti at the wall and hope it sticks, you might as well just flush that money down the toilet.

Have questions about how a marketing strategy works, or want help putting one together – give us a call!

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Content Marketing – How to Get Started!

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Let me just start by saying, Content Marketing is all about telling stories, giving away a ton of FREE relevant and valuable content and educating your customers and prospects to the point where they intellectually come to the conclusion that you know what you are talking about.  In other words, you are building trust through content.  

 It’s not rocket science, it is brilliance AND in today’s crazy marketing world – it’s the way to go.  People no longer will buy from you because you tell them to, because you tell them you are the best, you have the best product/service,  because you tell them you are knowledgeable.   

DISCLAIMER:  Content marketing takes time – at least 9-12 months before you see results and some serious work, but it is by far one of the most effective ways to build your brand.   

 Here’s the process we walk our client’s through or if they choose – we do it for them. 

  1.  Deep dive into your core values, your company and your WHY.  You need to know who the hell you are, what you are about before you can tell others.  Don’t skip this part.  Create a list of your core values – why you do what you do, what matters 
  2. Identify who your ideal client is – I’m talking tons of details. 
  3. Create Benchmark Goals.  What do you want to happen 12 months from now – what are your goals.  Do you want increased revenue?  Increased client retention?  Brand awareness and/or expansion – a combination thereof?  You need to know how you will measure success.
  4. Customer Journey Mapping.  (READ MY BLOG HERE).  You need to understand the type of content your prospects and customers would like to read during each part of their journey and HOW they will get that content.  Also, identify the roadblocks and motivations they have going through their journey.
  5. Overarching strategy and editorial calendar.  Get the whiteboard or use an excel sheet – list all the months on one side, and the marketing channels you are going to use.  Now start filling in what you need – types of content, assets needed (writers, videographer, designers etc).
  6. Start writing based on your editorial calendar.  You want to get ahead of the game – at least 3 months.  Make sure you include social media into the mix – this isn’t load some content on your website and they will come.  You need channels to get them there.   
  7. Use email – use email marketing to get your word out – share your content.  Strive to get opt-ins. 
  8. TEST.  Are people reading it?  Is it working?  If not –  mix it up. 

 Most people don’t comment on our blogs ON OUR WEBSITE. We get some – the real magic happens when we share them on social, we get asked to speak at events based on content we’ve written, we build credibility with our prospects.   

This isn’t rocket science, but it’s science.  If this is completely overwhelming to you – hire it out.  Don’t spend time on something you aren’t great at – spend time in your business doing what you do best! (Yea, I suppose that was a sales plug for Red Barn here – but it’s the truth.) 

Content Marketing works.  It’s not a fad, it’s the way of the world and you should be part of it!! 

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MK’s Cake Theory

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I always learn something from my clients – always!  That’s what makes my role as CEO at the Red Barn so fascinating and well, fun!

One such client is Mary Katherine (MK)  Moore, Director of Marketing at NeuGroup.  She is a quintessential southern, fierce red-head with some great stories and tons of great analogies.  MK is a firm believer in do what you do best and stop wasting time on what aren’t your superpowers.  I call it her Cake Theory.

As MK tells it.

I’m a great baker.  I know the process for making a fabulous cake. The perfect texture in the crumb, delightful filling, and frosting that doesn’t mask the taste of the cake but compliments it.  I also have all the right tools – Kitchen-Aid mixer, scale, measuring gadgets and of course an oven that doesn’t burn everything that’s put in it.  Oh – and add in some fabulous cool aprons  – because you have to, of course, look the part.  I also ALWAYS have the perfect ingredients on hand at all times so when the urge hits me to whip up a cake – boom, I can do it and have that baby in the oven in 20  minutes.  Depending on the recipe and the size of the pans (of which I have every which one you can imagine) my cake is out of the oven and cooling in 25-60 minutes on the perfect cooling racks.  45 minutes later it’s ready to frost.  Of course, it’s displayed on a delightful vintage cake stand that every southern grandmother would be proud to put on her linen covered porch table, with a pitcher of sweet tea on the side.

The result – no stress, a perfect cake, and super happy guests who have been invited over for afternoon tea and cake.  BOOM!

Now – ask a non-baker to do the same task.  No tools, no ingredients on hand, and hell no on the knowledge that you need to alternate the flour mixture (sifted not once but two or three times) with the milk, and that you need to beat it just the right amount – not too long, but not too short to get the perfect cake.

The result – STRESS, hot mess, bad cake, unhappy guests, and super unhappy baker.

Now equate this to business.  When you ask someone to go WAY OUTSIDE not only their comfort zone but their skill zone you will indeed get the unskilled baker’s barely edible fallen cake – one like you would see on a Pinterest FAIL list versus MK’s fabulous coconut cake with 7 minute frosting that would win a blue ribbon at any county fair.

Moral of the story:  Do what you do best, outsource the rest.  No one is GREAT at everything, but we are all great at something.  Stop wasting time, money, and energy trying to be something you are not.

Be like MK, be a blue ribbon winner not a Pinterest Cake Fail.

MK’s Cake Theory Read More »

You’ve started your Facebook group – Now what?

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You’ve set up your Facebook Business Page, and you are ready to create your Facebook Group – but: What should I call it? How do you get members? What do you post about? Should the group be public, closed, or secret? How do you prevent trolls? Should I set rules or questions to join the group? All great questions, and things you need to consider before you get your Group off the ground.

Before you launch your Facebook Group – you should determine what the primary goal of your group is. Yes, the ultimate goal is to increase sales for your business, but people won’t join your group if they think it’s just a continuous sales pitch. Many businesses create Facebook Groups as a place to share some free advice and tips and tricks. It’s a place where you can be seen as an expert so that eventually the group becomes a feeder for your sales pipeline. SO, choose a name that conveys what your group is about. No one will join a group that is the name of your business. Name it something that relates to the topic or theme of what you want your group to be. You can incorporate the company name if it makes sense, but it doesn’t have to be included. Once you determine what you want the look and feel to be, pick a cover photo, create your description, etc.[/cs_text][cs_text]You also want to determine if your group will be public and anyone can join, they need to request to join, or it’s by invite only. Public groups are great for certain things, but if you only want your ideal clients or target audience in the group – I’d suggest a private group where you must manually accept requestors. There are a few instances where secret groups make sense – but those are usually part of a paid membership offering.

Many private Facebook Groups require members to answer a few questions before they can join. This is a great way to learn more about your members. Some sample questions may be: How did you hear about this Group? Have you viewed our free training or downloaded our Free XXX workbook? This helps you weed our spammers or trolls as well. They typically won’t take the time to fill out questions. BUT it allows you to get some insight into how much your audience knows about you, if they’ve viewed any of your lead magnets (free downloads or trainings) or any other info you want to gather.
[/cs_text][cs_text]It’s important to set the stage from the launch on the Group expectations. Create a pinned post at the top of the page so that the first thing new members see are the rules and expectations of the group. A few good housekeeping rules to post are 1. Keep things courteous – be respectful to others in the group. 2. No spam or plugging your business. (You will get trolls who try to join every group and post about what they are selling.) 3. This is your group too, please engage, ask questions, etc. 4. Give value – post things relevant to the group and its members. 5. Be open and share your own personal experiences, struggles, suggestions, etc. If you come across a troll or all around rude person, it’s ok to delete them.

Gaining a following in your Group can take time. Don’t get discouraged and give up. It’s important to get the word out about your group. Some easy ways are inviting people you are already connected to who might find interest it in. You can also send out an email to your list of contacts to see if they have any interest in joining. Why not add a link in your email signature or on your website as well? If people don’t know about your group – they can’t join!

Lastly, and probably most importantly, is posting engaging content. Get the engagement started with some posts of your own related to the Group topic. Don’t post salesy stuff about your own business. Share some of your own wins or loses, ask questions around areas that you may have personally struggled with. Share some 3rd party articles you found interesting or infographics. Once you get the ball rolling, others should follow.

As your group grows you may want to enlist others that you know to help moderate the page by making them an admin. It’s important that someone is always watching the group, letting in the right people, and encouraging participation.

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Should you start a Facebook Group?

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If you are on Facebook, the odds are that you are probably part of a Facebook Group. Facebook isn’t just about connecting with friends and family anymore (or people you went to high school with and haven’t seen in 20 years, lol), it’s a way to stay more connected with everything that matters in your life. Facebook Group and Facebook Pages make it possible to follow businesses you like, public figures and even common interests and hobbies. So why should you have a Facebook Group if you already have a Facebook Page for your business and a personal page – well, simply because it gives you more ways to interact.

Before you start a Facebook Group, it’s important to know the difference between a Group and a Page. Similar to a personal profile, a Facebook Page enables you to create a profile for your business. BUT, pages are visible to everyone on Facebook. Everyone on Facebook can connect to a Page by Liking it and new posts will show up in the News Feed. Facebook Groups on the other hand are a place for people to come together around a common cause, issue, activity, or interest. They allow the members to discuss issues, post photos or video, and share relevant content. You can also choose the privacy of the group: public (anyone can join), closed (requires admin approval to enter), and secret (can join by invitation only). Like Pages, new posts in the group will show up in the News Feed of it’s members.

So, the real question is, if I already have a Facebook Page, why do I need a Facebook Group? With all the changes to the Facebook algorithms, to really make a Page work, you need high engagement from your followers, so your posts keep showing in their New Feed. It sounds simple, but it’s tricky, so most businesses are forced to run paid ads that target their ideal client audience. Also, most consumers look at a Business Page on Facebook as an advertisement for the company – they are only seeing information that the company wants them to see. More and more companies are turning to Facebook Groups instead of abandoning Facebook as a whole.

Using Groups, you can create a community that isn’t based solely around your business, but a topic within your business that others will also find interesting. Say you own your own car repair business, but you love working on Corvette’s from the 1990’s – so you create a Facebook Group for 1990’s Corvette owners. With over a billion users already using Groups – it’s a win-win to keep potential clients engaged with you.

Here’s the top 5 reasons why your business needs a Facebook Group:

  1. You can engage with your followers. This is where you will get all the likes and comments vs your Facebook Page. If you are asking questions, providing good content, and encouraging others to contribute – this is where the magic will happen.
  2. You can teach and build trust. This is your group and you are the leader. After all, you started the group because you know about the topic and can explain, motivate, inspire, and teach the content that you love. This is where you can be seen as an expert and influence people’s lives. You aren’t pushing your business but are sharing your knowledge and encouraging people to share their questions, problems, and successes.
  3. Stay top of mind. With a Facebook Profile or Page, there is no guarantee that your content will be seen unless people go directly to your Profile or Page. With a group, anything that is posted in the group will 100% be seen in the members News Feed. So, the more you post, the more you are seen by potential clients.
  4. Get feedback. Within your group, you can create polls, ask for feedback, and determine what type of content is more relevant to your members and ideal clients. Your group can be a testing ground – if you get positive feedback – move forward. If you missed the mark, then you know you need to move on to the next idea.
  5. Announce special offers. If you’ve tried to announce a special offer on your Business Page, you’ve probably been met with very little engagement. Unless you put some advertising dollars behind it, the odds are most of your followers aren’t even seeing it. BUT when you post in your Group – 100% of your members will see your offer.

Building an online community is an important step for any growing business. It can help you get in touch with your key demographic, gather insights, promote your business, increase consumer loyalty and more. If you want to start building a community, look no further than the world’s most popular social network: Facebook. If you want to start your own Facebook Group from your Business Page: CLICK HERE.

Want to check our Red Barn\’s Facebook Group – Entrepreneur Masters? Click Here to Join!

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Market Research 101

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Just because YOU think your business idea, product or service is brilliant and worth a gazillion dollars doesn’t mean the rest of the world will.  The sad truth it, something is only worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.  Ask any Real Estate agent – they deal with this on a daily basis.

When it comes to launching a new business or a new product you have to test it.  That means market research.  How that is done will vary dependent on your product or service.  If you’ve just developed the latest greatest ice cream, then you better hit the streets and give away a lot of it, ask for feedback. Rinse and Repeat.  Next you need to do tastings in stores, farmers markets, flea markets anywhere you can get in front of your target audience.  Get feedback. Rinse and repeat.  If you have a target price in mind – ask the people who liked your fabulous treat if they would be willing to pay that price.  If the stars align – you are ready.

Say you have a service – like what we do here at Red Barn.  We are a business and marketing consulting firm.  When we decide to tap into a new market or launch a new program we do a crap load of market research.  We will do workshops, bring in beta clients, write articles, talk to people – all the while collecting valuable data.  Just like the ice cream we are not only looking for the good feedback, we want to hear the negative.  We want to know how we can improve.

Next you really need to understand your market – how large is your potential market base?  Who is your ideal client?   If you need 1000 customers to break even yet in your research you find you only have 2 that would be potential clients, well – Houston we have a problem.

Here’s the process we go through

  1. Identify our Target Client Profile. We are very specific on the socio and psycho demographics of the people, business etc.  I want to know every detail – do they like dogs, do they live in the US, what is their income, do they travel, what is their age, did they go to college…the more details the better
  2. Crystal Clear on our Deliverables. Based on our market research we hone down on exactly what the customer WANTS and how they want it delivered.  So what does their customer experience and journey look like.
  3. We make sure we are profitable.  Giving a good deal isn’t worth it, if you are losing money.  We may offer extra perks or even slight discounts to our early adopters, but our cost…is our cost.  We spend a lot of time ensuring that we understand our COGS and our time.  If we aren’t in a margin that works, then the project doesn’t fly.
  4. We want to spend time with our early adopters to ensure things are going smooth and we scale slowly.  The worst thing any company can do is scale to fast, and get into a situation where you can’t deliver what you promise.

Morale of the story:  Do the research before the launch. This goes for launching a new business or a new product.  The process is essentially the same.  If you don’t, you’ll end up with the proverbial egg on your face.

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Client retention issues? I bet I know why.

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I often get calls from business owners telling me they need marketing because their sales have “dipped”.   I dig a bit deeper asking questions about why they think revenue and retention have dropped.  I get the following:

  • My competition is eating me a live
  • I need better employees
  • My customers don’t value me like they used to
  • I’m not competitive anymore
  • No problem – I just need marketing!

When I get these type of responses, it’s the red flag zone for me.  99% of the time there is a deeper issue and marketing is the last thing they should be focused on right now.

My next step is to head to their office – I want to be there first thing in the morning when employees are showing up.  I want to just watch, listen… and learn.  What I typically find is an unhappy situation, a morgue with Stepford Wife type employees who fake being happy there.  Where’s the boss?  In his/her office drinking coffee, with the door closed.  It’s Monday and there is work to do.  The Grind. The Misery.

In my line of work, the #1 reason most companies fail to thrive is due to their culture and the lack of a leader who understands the importance of TEAM.

When you hire the right employees into the right culture with a leader who embraces a culture of learning and mentoring– your customer experience will soar.

It all comes back to the Core Values of the company – the driving principals. The Ten Commandments – it’s how you act internally and how you project yourself externally.  When there is a disconnect with the Core Values of the owner and those of the employees – it becomes a hot mess and those dissatisfied employees become a cancer – which then trickles down to the customer experience.

If your retention and revenues are dipping – please take a hard, holistic look at your business and ask WHY.  WHY are customers not sticking?  It’s rarely because of price or your competition – it’s because of their experience with you and your brand. They left because they didn’t feel the love and someone else was loving them more than you were.

Employees matter.  Culture matters.  Most importantly, how your employees express your culture to your customers matters.

Until you fix this – don’t spend a dime on marketing. You are tossing dollars out the damn door.

Client retention issues? I bet I know why. Read More »

Never have I EVER…. Automation!

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It seems like lately technology has gone into hyper drive when it comes to marketing and sales – even life itself. 

Chatbots, Artificial intelligence, Alexa, Drones…and even in the world of marketing: Automation. 

I’m old school and tend to not be an early adopter of automation.  I had a paper calendar up until 3 years ago when I finally started using my iPhone calendar.  (I know – right?)  I still read the Sunday paper – as a paper and not on my phone, I still get magazines…the list goes on. 

One thing I have adopted though is automation for our marketing and sales processes. Why?   

Self-serving mostly.  I guess the same reason I still read real magazines – I like to. 

I’ve never liked cold calling – EVER.  I would find any way around it. 

Email Marketing – WIN 

LinkedIn – WIN 

Networking – WIN 

Lately – I’m all about Facebook ads, webinars, lead magnets, landing pages, funnels, CRM tagging, automated workflows – can you say flow charts on steroids? 

The point is – it makes my life easier and I close more deals.  More importantly I get to be super and I mean SUPER targeted where my message goes and who sees it.  I’m not wasting time on someone who doesn’t fit my target client profile. 

Automation using tools such as Active Campaign or Infusionsoft. Creating courses in Thinkific and using tools such as Zoom, Click Funnel, and Zapier.  (ps – not getting paid for those plugs).  It’s all about tapping into the genius of automation – stuff other people have already thought out and I don’t have to! 

Do I still do email marketing – of course!  But I’m far smarter about it now. 

LinkedIn – you bet!  But it’s not just my resume. 

Networking – Oh yea. But I’m more about the mastermind groups than the big ole networking by tossing a fishing net.  

Times are changing.  Embrace the technology that WORKS for YOU! If you still like to curl up in your jammies and read the REAL Sunday Times vs. reading on your iPad – then do it.  No harm, no foul.   

What’s your favorite automation tool or technology hack? 

Cindy 

Never have I EVER…. Automation! Read More »

The Evolution of Marketing

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Marketing has undergone some drastic changes in the past 10 years. Well heck, even in the past year, or 6 months! I’m sure you know firsthand that people are being overloaded with data everywhere they turn – on their phones, computers or tablets, watching TV, and even just driving down the road. It’s everywhere!

So how did this evolution come about and how is it affecting YOU and your business? Let’s look at cell phones as an example of evolution. More specifically, the smart phone.

Think back to about 15 years, the smart phone was just starting to evolve, and Nokia phones ruled the landscape.  You know, the phones that only made calls, had texting capabilities, and offered the solitary game of “Snake”. EVERYONE had one, and the only way to really customize it was to buy a different faceplate for it. Bluetooth – what’s that?!

10 years ago, the flip phone was all the rage and phones started offering alternative capabilities other than making a call. New apps were offered with the ability to access the internet as well as take and store photos. OMG – the selfie revolution is upon us! But seriously, your phone started becoming a tool that could make your life easier. And accessories, they started flooding the market!

Now think back to just 5 years ago, all 10 of the top phones where flat touch screen models noticeably larger than today’s phones but we have a trend going. The possibilities became endless – new apps were being created daily, your phone became your life line to the world, and something you couldn’t leave home without – and social media was literally at your fingertips – pics or it didn’t happen!

Over the past 15 years the cell phone industry has evolved rapidly and it’s still evolving. Cell phones changed shape, sizes, colors, and function. Could you survive without your cell phone today – of course you can, but most people wouldn’t want to.

So, what does this have to do with Marketing? EVERYTHING! Why wouldn’t your marketing have to evolve just like the cell phone did and is still doing? Traditional marketing used to include newspaper ads, AM/FM radio, billboards, mailers, etc.  – which are all still relevant today. BUT – and that’s a big BUT, only if you are hitting your target clients. The biggest draw to digital marketing (to me anyway) is the trackability and the demographic specification.

With conventional radio, you never truly know how many people are hearing your ad or if they are your actual target clients. Online or streaming radio (think Pandora or Spotify) can actually track how many people are tuned in at the time that your ad streams and you can set your target demographics. Ads on social media can provide analytics as to how many people saw your ad, clicked on your ad, and reacted to your ad. The possibilities are endless and always changing!

Now folks, this is my kind of advertising! Gone are the days where you need to throw spaghetti and the wall and hope something sticks. One of our favorite tools here at the Red Barn is email marketing! It’s incredibly affordable, easily automated, and you can receive analytics of how many people opened your email, who clicked the link, who read the blog and the list goes on.

Times change, make sure your marketing efforts are keeping up! Have questions on what marketing initiatives will work best for your company? Or maybe you just need some training on what’s new and how to incorporate it into your business? Call me!

The Evolution of Marketing Read More »

Prospecting with Email Marketing

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Email is 40 times more effective at getting new customers than Facebook and Twitter combined. — McKinsey. We do a ton of email marketing for clients and Red Barn – some of it is thought leadership focused like my Thursday morning Tribe Mail. (sign up here), but much of it is done primarily for prospecting.

So how do we get consistent above average open rates and click through rates AND conversion with our email marketing?Consistency, Great Content, and yep – a lot of trial and error with subject lines.

Consistency. They don’t call them “Drip Email Campaigns” because you just do it once. Effective email campaigns do just that – drip like a leaky faucet until someone takes notice and takes action. AHA moment – you immediately thought annoying leaky faucet. But think deeper – most sales people give up after 1 or 2 connections yet people don’t take action until after 10-12 touch points.

For thought leadership emails, I’m a fan of weekly. Same time, same place. No visuals – just great content that spurs thinking. It’s all about building your personal brand and connecting it with your company brand. Having people see you in a different light – you know, showing off your secret sauce.

For Drip Campaigns, you need multiple touches weekly and they run over several MONTHS. Visuals happen when they take action – so going to a landing page or your website, otherwise I keep them text only. WHY? One word: mobile.

Content.  Once someone clicks on your email – you need to give your prospect something valuable to read!  Remember people buy from people they KNOW, LIKE and TRUST – in that order.  So, if you are prospecting to a cold list – don’t go in for the kill immediately.  Let them get to know you and like you first – this can happen all in one email or it can get built up over time.  Why should someone take the time to know you or even like you?

I’m a fan of giving something to get something.  Offer a free download, give them some “tool” for free or some free insight into what you offer.  Again – you need to build up to the Trust phase before they will buy.  Toss in some testimonials, send them back to read a blog you’ve written.  Give them something valuable.

Subject lines. Depending on what stats you look at – up to 50% of people will decide to open or not open an email based on the subject line. More daunting, subject lines can also toss you in a SPAM folder depending on what you write and to whom you are sending it to! In the end – it takes some A/B testing depending on your Target Client Profile. Here are some quick stats from our friends at Hubspot:

  • Emails that contain the word \”you\” in the subject line are opened 5% less often than those without.
  • Emails that contain the word \”tomorrow\” in the subject line are opened 10% more often than those without.
  • Emails with subject lines containing 30 or fewer characters have the best open rates.
  • Emails with personalized subject lines are more than 20% more likely to get opened.
  • Emails with the word “Meeting” in the subject line were opened 7% less than those without.
  • Emails with the word “Newsletter” in the subject line had a 18.7% lower open rate than those with out
  • Use the word “Alert” – and see 61.8% higher open rate
  • The top 5 subject lines in recent studies all included “Re:”

Of course, these are some general observations – you need to try and see what works for you!

Email marketing works.

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