Corresponding with your customers and leads via an email newsletter is still one of the strongest marketing activities the Web has to offer. However, increased competition for your readers' time and attention demonstrates the importance of not resting on your email marketing laurels.

As marketing over the internet evolves towards a more mobile and social medium, it is important to evaluate whether your email newsletter campaigns reflect how and from where your content will be viewed.

Advanced Techniques for Improving Your Email Marketing Activities
Email still serves as an important medium for corresponding with your customers – it's versatile, delivers instant results, it can be easily personalised, and is cost effective. However, it is no longer enough to just send emails – you need to employ techniques to help increase the effectiveness of your email newsletter marketing. Here are some of them:

1. Relevant Content
Content is still king – especially well-prepared content. Deliver articles, PDF white papers, case studies, MP3 downloads and videos that will enhance your readers' business skills and leave them in no doubt why they should stay subscribed to your newsletter, and where to come if they need some help.

Not all the above content formats can be embedded in an email, but the true purpose of the email is to encourage readers to click through to your website, where the complete message can be accessed.

Another effective way to deliver relevant content is to segment your list and deliver a personalised message that matches your subscribers' interests. A professional email newsletter-marketing engine provides tools to identify readers' interests from previous campaigns and allows you to segment your contacts accordingly.

2. Monitor the Quality of Your Email List
Having a qualified list of targeted email addresses can make all the difference for your email marketing campaigns. Remember, quantity does not always mean quality. If a large number of recipients have never opened your email, you may want to consider removing them from your list – or prepare a message to target these contacts directly.

Recipients unsubscribe from an email list for a number of reasons, such as:

• The content is no longer relevant
• Your email frequency is too high – you've become a bother
• Your email frequency is too low – they have forgotten you
• Too many emails are crowding the recipient's inbox
• The subscriber's situation changes

The quality of your email list will have a significant impact on the success of your campaigns, so your efforts to keep your list updated will bear fruit.

3. Review Your Design
Your email design should not only reflect your business branding; it should also present your content in an intuitive, professional layout. When preparing your HTML email design, you should assume that your images will be turned off by default, and so make sure your message is not lost without the images appearing.

When people view emails in a preview pane, they see only a fraction of the message. This makes the top section of your email the most important area. Try to use this area to instantly present your brand and share your main message or offer.

With an increasing number of people accessing their emails via a mobile device, you may want to use images sparingly to ensure that your main message is not missed.

4. Co-ordinate Your Landing Pages
The landing page is the page on your website the subscriber clicks through to from your email. With ever- increasing message competition it is important to instantly make it clear how the content from your email continues onto your website.

The headline (and images) on your landing page should have a direct correlation to the link the subscriber clicks on. Your landing page should also make it quite clear what your site visitor should do next: make a purchase, fill in a form, call you, make a download etc.

5. Integrate with other Content Marketing Activities
As social media is embraced by businesses genuinely participating in the global community, it is possible you will develop more than one internet presence. While your website should always be the centre of your online marketing messages, it is advantageous to provide additional ways for your target audience to 'join the conversation'.

Your newsletter can play a key role in promoting your multi-platform approach. Consider dedicating a small section of your email design to include a 'find us on Facebook' link or a 'follow us on Twitter' link, as well as links to your latest blog posts, YouTube videos and more. This will enable you to co-ordinate your message and develop a cohesive marketing strategy.

The best marketing strategies incorporate ways to measure their effectiveness; email marketing campaigns provide ample analysis to enable you to identify and cultivate potential buyers and then track whether they respond to your marketing messages and ultimately make a purchase. If you would like help improving your email marketing activities, please contact us.