As a digital marketer, it’s perhaps impossible to begin your day without tweaking a content piece or automating an email marketing campaign. And, when you prudently combine these two, you end up concocting a powerful marketing cycle that earns you higher ROIs and customer loyalty.

Even marketing purists who don’t engage in multi-channel marketing swear by the benefits of integrating content and email marketing.

So, if you are not combining these two powerful marketing mediums yet, allow us to equip you with a few tips to get started. But before that, let’s quickly look at the basics of content marketing to understand its integration with email marketing better. 

Get long-term ROI.

We help you grow through expertise, strategy, and the best content on the web.

See Client Results

Content Marketing: The powerhouse of customer engagement

In a nutshell, content marketers create, publish and distribute content online for a target set of audiences. Instead of directly promoting a product or brand, content marketing educates potential customers about an offering’s benefits.

Content marketing includes:

• Blogs
• Educational articles
• E-books
• Videos
• Webinars
• FAQs

And any other material that answers product-related questions or addresses potential customers’ pain points.

To stay true to their values, every brand requires a distinct content strategy that helps them achieve their business goals. Before developing your brand’s content action plan, ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you want higher visibility and recognition?
• Do you want to boost sales?
• Do you want to rope in investors to expand your brand?
• Do you want to educate your audiences about need gaps they don’t know of?

You may answer yes to one or all questions and customize your content strategy accordingly. 

Three mantras to generate awesome content

Whether you operate in the B2B, B2C, or B2B2C space, your content should accomplish these three dictums to become consumable and engaging.

Make sure your content is seen at the right time by the right audience

Ask and answer the following questions to decide where you should publish your content:

• How often do your leads or customers check emails?
• Which is their most preferred online medium for advice?
• What keywords do they search for on Google?
• What does their social as well as professional media usage look like?

Figuring out the answers to these questions will ensure you higher brand visibility and, subsequently, better engagement rates. 

Offer highest quality content that answers your reader’s burning questions

The genius always lies in the details! Figure out your target audiences’ thought process by studying their keyword searches – whether they are asking a specific question, trying to learn about the general subject matter, or are looking to make a purchase.

It’s simple, really – once you know the intent behind a lead’s search, you can understand the content they want to consume and the medium through which they wish to consume. But, how do you figure out the intent? 

Create a repository of keywords you feel your ideal lead would focus on → Google them → Glean through the top 5 content results → Check out the comment section and collect questions that readers have asked → Include the answers to said questions in your blog.

Align your brand’s values to your customer’s

Figure out the values potential customers usually look for in a brand within your industry.

 Perhaps trust is an issue, or customers wish to deal with humans rather than technology when it comes to problem-solving. Anticipate such value-gaps and, through content, inform your customers that you can bridge them.

Combining content marketing with email marketing to maximize customer engagement

Sure, you are creating great content – it’s elegant, witty, and right! But, all of this remains underutilized if you don’t expand your readership. And a sure-shot way of boosting your content marketing efforts is integrating it with email marketing.

This synergy strengthens your outreach, ensuring your content, from elegant blogs to informative newsletters, effortlessly reaches your target audience through personalized emails. Remember, the effectiveness of this integrated approach is measured by your response time. Don’t forget to leave a lasting impression by incorporating a professional email signature that reflects your brand’s identity. For legal professionals, a well-crafted lawyer email signature is more than just a closing line; it’s an extension of your professional brand and a trust-building tool. Think of it as your digital business card, prominently displaying your name, title (e.g., Attorney at Law), area of expertise, and contact information. For extra credibility, consider highlighting relevant awards or memberships you hold. Remember, every email is an opportunity to leave a lasting impression, so make your signature count.

Fortify your email campaigns with content marketing with the help of these five tips:

One size doesn’t fit all! Segment your email list and personalize content for each segment

Perhaps until now, you were using a strategy known as “mass email marketing” which means you were sending emails to your entire subscriber list. Don’t! Not all your customers belong to the same demographic and psychographic. They may be younger or older, reside in different locations, and have varied interests, aspirations, buying triggers, etc.

To enhance your email marketing strategy, consider moving away from generic email blasts. Instead, leverage the power of email sequence software. This allows you to create targeted and personalized email sequences tailored to different customer segments. By doing so, you can deliver content that resonates with each group, increasing engagement and boosting the chances of conversion.

Remember, as a digital marketer, your job is to cater to customer diversity. To do so, divide your email list into various segments such as:

• Age
• Previous buying behavior
• Location
• Occupation
• The type of content they had engaged with in the past

Essentially, finely segregate your customers into categories before integrating content and email marketing. You can use email marketing software to segment your email list and personalize content for each segment. This will help you to ensure that your leads only receive the content they want and not something that would go to spam.

A recent study revealed that segmented emails deliver 760% more revenue than non-segmented ones. Simply put, share incredibly relevant blog posts, articles, product promotions, and create newsletter that will resonate with your readers over email.

Not sure about each segment’s content preferences? Ask them directly

There is no shame in directly asking your subscribers the content they wish to read. All big content companies like Pinterest, Mix.com (previously known as StumbleUpon), Inshorts, etc., do it! When you send out a welcome email to potential customers, ask them the content they like through an interactable image with buttons they can click on. 

Let them take control of the content they will receive through your email campaigns and experience a drop in your unsubscribe rate. Look at this welcome mail from Refind below. It breaks the ice by asking the subscriber their content preferences.

(Image Source)

Ensure your content carries a consistent tone and reflects your brand’s voice throughout

Imagine receiving a playful email from a sports shoe manufacturer filled with pictures of zingy sneakers and trainers. But, when you click on their blog link to learn more about their new design range, the content tone suddenly becomes formal and dry! It would seem odd, and you’ll lose interest.

Consistency in content is often underrated when it should be a big deal. If you want to boost customer engagement through content, ensure the brand’s voice remains consistent – be it on email or any other platform. Even if you use templates to craft your emails, for instance, the reader should still feel that the brand is the same human person who writes all the blogs, emails, website landing pages, etc.

However, you will encounter certain target groups that prefer a slightly more sophisticated tone in emails occasionally. In such a case, you can switch a few words that seem too colloquial or straightforward. But, make sure your overall tone carries the same familiarity most customers associate with your brand’s content.

Offer CTA buttons with all your emails that allow customers to share your content on social media

Know that email marketing is a potent medium to get a brand conversation started on different social media platforms. This is why, make sure you offer your subscribers a tool – in this case, a CTA or Call to Action Button that encourages them to share content on various social media websites.

Additionally, consider leveraging an email survey tool to gather valuable feedback from your subscribers. By understanding their preferences and opinions, you can tailor your content and offerings to better suit their needs, ultimately increasing engagement and brand loyalty.

Doing this will get your content and, subsequently, your brand high visibility. Each post, flash sale, product launch, etc., shared over email with an already engaged user list will get distributed on multiple social channels. Keep in mind, when loyal customers or subscribers share a brand post with their friends, they too can become your loyal clients.

Use content to collect more email IDs and emails to deploy more content

One of the critical reasons behind combining content and email marketing is that one promotes the other. Your blog or guest posts are a ripe opportunity for indirectly promoting your email marketing. How? If readers get hooked to your content, they will happily hand over their email addresses for more. 

When a brand produces incredibly relevant and high-quality content without oversharing or overproducing, customers assume they will only receive high-value posts in their inboxes as well. 

Further, ensure that you seamlessly merge opportunities for readers to subscribe to your email list through special plugins or CTAs present in your blog posts. You can also use gated content, meaning, offer a valuable case study, e-book, or white paper in exchange for a customer’s email id.

(Image Source)

Lastly, if possible, use data analytics to track at which point your subscribers decided to join your email marketing list. Was it a price or trend update within your industry or an educational article about a medical condition? The point is, there are SaaS tools available online that can help you figure out the type of content that is a hit with your readers.

To get a hold on data analytics, you may consider getting a professional degree, say MS in Data Analytics in USA.

And, it’s a wrap! 

It’s clear as day that email and content marketing are vital tools for a result-oriented marketing strategy when they work hand-in-hand. Email makes your content more visible, and visible content brings in more email subscribers you can nurture into loyal customers.

So, use the tips and tricks listed above on combining these two powerful mediums to gain insight into what your customers want. Isn’t that the very first step towards successful conversion?