Email Marketing & Digital Ads: 5 Tips For Beginners

Looking to create a buzz around your business? Email marketing and digital ads are a great way to increase brand awareness, generate leads and sales, and drive consumers to your website. However, advertising for your brand can be overwhelming, especially if you’re just starting out.

Ready to learn the basics? Below are 5 tips for beginners on email marketing and digital ads:

1. Identify Your Target Audience

Before initiating any advertisement or email marketing campaign, it’s important to first identify your target audience. Who did you create your product or service for, and does this match the profile of your average customer? Demographics can include any of the following:

• Age
• Gender
• Race or Ethnicity
• Geographical Location
• Income
• Education
• Marital Status
• Employment
• Home Ownership

Not all of the demographics above must be identified, as it depends on what kind of product or service you’re selling. However, if you fail to identify your target audience, you run the risk of wasting time and money on an unsuccessful campaign.

2. Research Pain Points

Once you’ve identified your target audience, research the major pain points surrounding your industry. What problems do your customers have, and how can your product or service solve them? Pain points can be identified in a number of ways, including:

• Joining social media groups related to your industry
• Conversing with existing customers
• Surveying existing/potential customers

Understanding the woes existing and potential customers face allows you to better relate to them. This relatability will allow you to gain a better understanding of the best way to pique their interest with your email or social media message.

3. Create Your Message

With your target audience and their pain points in mind, it’s time to start writing your message. Whether you’re writing an email or a social media advertisement, make sure that your subject line or first line of text is what you spend the most time on, as this line is what will often draw customers in or drive them away.

Your message should also contain a call to action. This call to action should provide individuals who are intrigued by your business with a link to a landing page. This landing page can then encourage them to sign up for more information or schedule appointments to learn more about your service.

Finally, it is important to make sure you speak to your audience in the right manner. While you might feel inclined to ramble, don’t give away too many details and keep your message as concise as possible. Make sure you’re not overdoing exclamation marks as well, as this can appear as spam. Overall, try to construct an advertisement or email that would draw you in. Think about ads that were successful in getting you to make a purchase recently, and take notes from them.

4. Target Social Media Platforms

If you are advertising on social media, it is important to choose the proper platforms for your ads. Certain platforms attract certain demographics, so it’s important to make sure you are targeting a platform that will reach potential customers. Below are some of the top social media platforms for advertising:

• Facebook’s largest user age group is 25-34, with 44% female and 56% male users. Due to its popularity, Facebook is generally considered to be the best place to advertise.
• Instagram’s largest user age group is 25-34 with 57% female and 43% male users. This platform along with TikTok is likely to attract Millenials and Gen Z.
• YouTube’s largest user age group is 15-25. 72% of all female internet users and 72% of all male internet users use YouTube. This platform is a great way to promote video ads, especially long video ads.
• LinkedIn’s largest user age group is 46-55, with 51% male and 49% female users. This platform is a great tool for industry-specific targeting.

5. Start Small and Track Your Metrics

It’s nearly impossible to know which ads will work ahead of time, and pay-per-click ads can become costly. So, while you might be tempted to create a large advertisement campaign, it’s best to start off with a small budget as you test different messages.

Finally, keep track of your metrics. Which ads are converting the most customers, and which are falling short? You’ll typically want to monitor your campaign for a period of 2-4 weeks in order to identify successful campaigns. Scale up your budget for your successful campaigns once they’re identified, and let go of unsuccessful campaigns.

To learn more about how to navigate social media for your business, check out our Soapbox Corner blog post, Expert Soapbox: Social Media Q&A with XrossWorld’s Julio Cerne Chaves.