If you are like the majority of business owners I speak with, you are very, very busy. You wear many hats and are hard pressed to find time to reflect on how you can market your business. What I suggest may sound radical, but it’s not painful; in fact, you may find it quite therapeutic.

Here it is: Print out this article, turn off your cell phone, walk away from your computer, and find a place where no one can find you. Take a couple of deep breaths and think about your email marketing communications strategy for 15 minutes.

According to Wikipedia, a strategy “is a long-term plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal, most often ‘winning.’”

Why do you need to have a communications strategy? Because you want your email marketing to “win” and the reality is that your emails compete against all the others in your recipient’s inbox. A strong, ever-evolving communications strategy will help you to stand out from the pack for years to come.

Here are four questions that will help you develop your strategy and set you up for success:

1. What image do I want to portray through my communications?
   When your customers, clients, or members think of your business or organization, what words do you want to come to their minds? Here are a few ideas: knowledgeable, available, professional, reliable, and respectful. You are building a brand among your constituents and your email marketing efforts can go a long way to support it. Let the values and personality traits of your business or organization guide you as you plan and create your marketing communications.

    

2. What information can I give to my readers that will have them awaiting my next email communication?
   If you provide content your subscribers value and rely on, many will continue to open, read, and respond to your emails. What content will you offer this year? How will you keep your content fresh, interesting, and engaging?

    

   A good starting place is to understand what it is your subscribers love about your current content and how it is helping them in their daily lives. They turn to you because of your expertise. Think about ways that you can share more of that expertise with them over time.

   Remember, you can still be perceived as the expert if you are collecting and compiling the knowledge and not creating it. People don’t have time to find all the useful information available out there. You can make their lives easier while simultaneously boosting your credibility by doing it for them.

3. How can I get my readers invested in my content?
   One of the ways to make sure your content is valuable to subscribers is to give them some influence over what topics you will cover. How will you involve and engage them? You could add a question and answer section to your newsletters or promotions, conduct an ongoing survey focused on content, or simply ask for feedback in every issue. Giving your audience opportunities to be heard and even seen will make their experience more personal and help you to forge a greater connection with them.

    

4. How can I expand the reach of my organization or business with email marketing?
   You want to find more people who are interested in what you have to offer and you want to more deeply engage with those you have a relationship with. How will you use email marketing to do it? It starts with list growth. Who do you want to add to your list? How will you ask them to join? How will you promote your email communications and engage others in promoting them as well?

    

Okay, you can turn your phone back on now. It’s time to head back to your busy life. I hope these questions got you to start thinking about how you can set yourself up for success with your email marketing.

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