Email Marketing Do’s and Don’ts for the SMB Partner in the IT Channel

The IT Channel presents an interesting challenge when it comes to marketing. Often the small and medium sized (SMB) partner is looking to build their Cisco practice. While they are navigating Cisco, marketing to their end-user often becomes an afterthought. Yet, marketing is a critical component to success.

As a Value-Added-Distributor, Comstor not only helps partner navigate Cisco, but we also help our partners with marketing best practices that help you build your sales pipeline. In many cases, marketing best practices may be overlooked. But we are here to help you get it right.

Let’s take email marketing, for instance. If your email marketing is not producing the results you were hoping for, it’s probably you, not them. Email marketing is one of the must successful marketing mediums out there but must be executed properly to glean the best results.

There are several ways to ensure that your emails are not only getting opened, but also creating conversions. Below are just a few do’s and don’ts to improve your email marketing and help you grow your business.

Do:

1. Take the time to perfect your subject line. This is the first thing your reader will see, and often determines whether they will even open the email you’ve worked so diligently to create.
2. Write your preview text with purpose. The preview text should tell your reader the reason you are contacting them. Your preview text is the second thing your audience will see, and if written well, can increase the likelihood of your email being read.
3. Know your audience. By being selective in your audience target, you increase the chances that your email subject will matter to them and make it easier for you to personalize the message. People want to feel like you’re talking to them specifically, not 10,000 other people.
4. Have a clear Call to Action (CTA). Make your CTA noticeable and easy for your reader to perform.
5. Keep your email short and concise. Tell your reader your offer and give them an action. Email marketing is meant to entice your reader to reach out or do further research. Keeping your emails short also increases your odds of keeping their interest through the message so they make it all the way to your CTA.

Don’t:

1. Don’t YELL! Using all caps in an email or subject line can be viewed as overly aggressive to a reader, and honestly, it’s spammy.
2. Don’t overuse imagery. If you build your entire email into an image, you risk losing many readers due to email clients not displaying properly.
3. Don’t ignore your CTA clicks. If a reader does exactly what you want and clicks on your CTA, don’t make them wait to hear from you. Be sure to do your follow up!
4. Don’t overuse links. It may seem that the more links you put into your email the more chance you have of getting a click. However, too many links make mobile reading/clicking almost impossible. Keep it simple.
5. Don’t forget to offer an unsubscribe. Your readers should have a choice and unsubscribes help you further target your audience down to people that are truly interested in what you have to offer. Also, many states have specific laws requiring an unsubscribe option. See the CAN-SPAM Act.

Increasing your email conversion rates can be quite simple if you are willing to take the time to craft each section of your email with thought and constant consideration of your audience. It is all about offering your audience something they want and making it easy for them to convert. For SMB and organizations of all sizes, the bottom line is to offer products and services your customers want and need, not something they can ignore or delete.