How to Boost Your Readership With Opt-In Email Marketing
Gone are the days of waiting for the newspaper boy to hand-deliver today’s headlines. Thanks to the rise of email, we no longer face the inconveniences of snail mail. Instead, we constantly receive top stories, shopping offers, and even spam directly to our inboxes and devices, eliminating the hassles of postage, wait times, and lost letters.
For example, estimated U.S. daily newspaper circulation in 2020 was 24.3 million for weekdays and 25.8 million for Sundays. Each decreased by 6 percent from 2019. Newspapers are a critical part of the publishing and media production landscapes, but they continue to take a hit as more consumers turn to digital news.
The answer to this publishing problem was digital marketing, specifically email and newsletters, which provided a middle ground between traditional publishing tactics and the increased use of online content. While virtual mailing seems to have eliminated the middle man, newspapers and other publications had to pivot their marketing strategies to take advantage of digital readership.
Every second, digital newsletters detail the latest blowout sale, a recap of the week’s most newsworthy stories, or a sneak peek into the latest fast fashion. It’s one of the most effective ways to grab readers’ attention, especially if a brand builds a substantial opt-in list of leads. By implementing an efficient email marketing strategy, you can boost your brand’s awareness and increase reader loyalty.
Download Free White Paper Now: Everything You Need to Know About Email Marketing
What is opt-in email marketing? Opt-in email marketing is the method of sending marketing materials, including newsletters, to a digital list of leads who specifically subscribed to your brand’s content via a form on your website.
Making the Switch to Newsletters
Pull out your phone, open the mail app, and look at your inbox. The majority of emails are likely from companies you chose to receive emails from. You elected to be a part of their designated online audience by filling out a form and checking yes to “wish to receive emails from them in the future.” Emails that include newsletters, which can be developed across all industries, including magazine and newspaper publications.
The secret is understanding what your target audience is interested in. Each newsletter is like a questionnaire for your subscribers. To turn them into customers, pay attention to which newsletters work by looking at click and open rates.
From fashion to food and beverage to publishing, companies continuously use newsletters to expand upon branding and to optimize their B2C revenue stream. While long-term email campaigns are often trickier to navigate with complicated workflows and messy subscriber lists, newsletters are a favorable, easy marketing tactic. They’re a one-off, consistently timed email that connects with subscribers and includes information they opted into receiving.
That’s the basic logic behind implementing a digital newsletter campaign into your marketing strategy. Now, how can you create an effective opt-in email marketing list to boost readership?
Building Your Brand’s Opt-In Email List
While the idea of starting an opt-in email list of promising leads seems daunting, it’s not impossible. A few basic marketing strategies can ensure your subscribers continue to grow in an organic and efficient way.
Remember: Utilizing these marketing strategies to expand your database of leads allows you to take advantage of insights and explore revenue to be gained from newsletter marketing.
1. Showcase your brand’s value with the content you create.
Grow your list of leads by understanding the value of content creation. Attract leads to your email list by creating original creative content curated to your target audience. Both new and loyal subscribers want content specifically made for them, and personalization is key.
Different marketing channels allow you to customize your content marketing strategy depending on your brand’s buyer personas.
- Blogs: Interesting and relevant blog topics catered to the interests of your target audience
- Social Media: Relevant channels that feature slideshows, videos, infographics, images, and/or interactive events or contests
- Premium Content: Exclusive industry reports, special editions of e-books or whitepapers, catered guides and helpful catalogs of relevant information
The goal of content marketing is to showcase the true value of what your brand can offer, and what’s in opt-in email newsletters is no exception. Give your target audience an incentive to subscribe to newsletters, and get them excited about seeing your brand in their inboxes.
2. Ask people to subscribe to your content … and deliver!
To ask for a potential subscriber’s information without being too needy, place forms on highly visible and easily accessible parts of your website. Create pop-up boxes (with exit options and a link to your privacy policy) to display on your homepage and other interactive pages. It gives your interested audience an effortless way to subscribe without having to look for a form.
3. Create premium and exclusive content for your subscribers.
Another way to captivate the interest of potential leads is to create exclusive content that can only be accessed by your subscribers. This marketing strategy is known as gated content and requires a user to enter their email address through a form to gain access. The best part is, you likely have a database of existing content to offer.
Gating content is a great way to increase your email list of opt-in subscribers. By incentivizing, you are able to see what content attracts readers and what doesn’t. This can help inform your overarching content marketing strategy, too.
It’s About Getting Plenty of R&R (Readership & Revenue)
As publishers continue to find new ways to attract prospects, many are realizing that digital marketing tactics like newsletters are becoming more valuable. The challenge is finding the right channels and strategizing marketing methods to get your brand the clicks it deserves.
For years, publishers have seen surges in revenue via online newsletters. Additionally, 81 percent of B2B marketers say their most used form of content marketing is email newsletters.
Today, companies are more invested than ever in creating customized digital marketing strategies for their consumers. Creating an opt-in list for your newsletter marketing is an easy way to attract potential leads and increase readership and revenue.
To learn more about the basics of email marketing, download A Beginner’s Guide to Email Marketing by Mirabel’s Marketing Manager. Click on the button below to download your copy:
SEE FOR YOURSELF
Watch an overview to learn how B2B marketing automation by Mirabel Technologies can help you increase traffic, optimize your funnel, drive more leads, improve conversions, and boost ROI — at a price you can afford!
