There are so many ways to market a business nowadays that it can be challenging to find exactly the right approach for your enterprise. Whether you offer your service locally in person or online, nurturing clients and building a relationship with them is key.
One approach that often gets overlooked is email marketing. It may seem a little old-fashioned in the age of social media and pay-per-click advertising but it’s still a strategy that delivers a strong return on investment.
Email Marketing Benefits and ROI
According to Statista, we’re sending over 300 billion emails a day and it remains a common tool for business marketing around the globe for reaching out to customers.
When you know that someone is interested in your service, contacting them directly and building a relationship is critical. There are different ways to do this but email provides you with a flexible and cost-effective approach that, when done right, delivers great results.
Here are just a few of the benefits:
You can promote your business to a large audience quickly and efficiently and target potential clients with a variety of offers, advice or other information.
If you are looking to build a closer relationship with a client, email can be used to create personalized communications that hit all the right buttons.
Email marketing usually comes with great metrics if you use the right software. This provides important information such as open and click-through rates, and conversions, allowing you to track success and help you make more data-driven decisions.
Email marketing is a relatively low-cost way to reach your audience compared to traditional advertising methods.
It can be used to share various types of content, such as newsletters, event invitations, and special offers. You have the flexibility to choose exactly the right message, delivered at the right time.
Automated email campaigns can be used to send targeted messages to clients at specific moments, freeing up your time to focus on other aspects of your business.
Of course, it’s all well and good to understand the power of email marketing but you do need to build a list of potential clients who are willing to give you their contact details. The good news is there are a variety of ways to do this.
How to Build an Email List of Clients
In short, people are not going to give you their email unless you give them something back in return. We’re all a lot savvier about identity theft and reluctant to tie ourselves to a website online. So, if you’re a therapist, the ‘hook’ you offer needs to be relevant and meaningful to your potential client base.
What is a Lead Magnet?
Marketers call this type of approach lead magnet generation. It’s where you offer something for free in exchange for a few details, in this case, the individual’s email address. There are several ways you can do this. Here is just a couple:
eBook Giveaway
While writing a 5-10,000-word eBook can seem like a lot of work, it can provide great results and also help you build trust with a potential client. Let’s say your therapy services include Jungian shadow work then an eBook that explains the process and includes a few prompts is a great option for a free download.
Alternatively, if you offer aromatherapy services, a free list of oils and their benefits or the research behind their use could be a good option.
Monthly Newsletter
It’s easy enough to add a side panel on your website to allow people to keep up to date with the latest about your business by signing up for a monthly newsletter. This gives you the chance to develop targeted information and increase brand loyalty at the same time. You can also add in special offers such as discounts and access to new products or services before they are more widely released.
A monthly newsletter doesn’t always need to try and sell something. If you run yoga classes, for example, you might want to give clients other health and well-being information such as dietary advice. What the newsletter allows you to do is build a relationship and connect with the individual so they identify more strongly with your brand.
Top Tips for Building a Relationship with Clients Through Email
Making your emails as personal as possible should deliver great results. That means understanding your customer base and tailoring messages to them. You need to be relevant and send out information that is going to be helpful. What you don’t want to do is constantly bombard your customers with irrelevant information and make them annoyed.
It’s not about promoting particular products. You’re looking to nurture a healthy and long-term relationship with your customers and that means not being overly sales orientated in your approach. Don’t think ‘what can I sell?’ but ‘how can I help my customer?’.
Segmenting your email list is a process where you put particular customers into certain groups or categories. For example, you may have clients of a certain age or gender or ones that have come to you for a particular type of counselling. This allows you to better tailor messages and hit the right buttons when you do your email marketing.
Automation is sometimes a dirty word in marketing circles but is very important if you are reaching out to a high volume of clients. Not only does it take the edge off getting emails out, but it also gives you extra time to do things like grow your business.
It’s critical with any type of marketing to have some metrics to measure your success or failure. Getting to know what these mean and how to use them effectively gives you a foundation on which to experiment and find the most cost-effective approach.
Whether you’re a life coach, counsellor, aromatherapist or yoga teacher, building a relationship with your clients is essential. Email marketing allows you to reach beyond the confines of your website and build authority and reputation in new and exciting ways.
Are you looking for a fully managed website for your therapy business? Contact our team today to find out how we can help.
