The process behind a successful EDM

Electronic Direct Mail (EDM) is one of the key marketing tools that companies and brands can use to directly connect with their stakeholders on a personal level. EDM campaigns can either be used to interact with internal members or to external corporate members and potential customers. EDMs are crafted to generate brand awareness, create traffic, increase new sales or leads, and provide the business an opportunity to grow by keeping communication lines open and transparent to stakeholders with updates, announcements, and offers they can easily access.

There are still companies that are resistant towards EDMs either because they have experience from the receiving end and didn’t think it was worth the time and money, or because they may not understand the process in creating a successful EDM campaign and the benefits that come with it.

1. Distinguish your database

The database for your EDM is imperative to a successful marketing campaign because this can dictate who receives the email and who doesn’t. You need to define audiences and then sub-segment them so information will be relevant to those individuals. For example, are you targeting Australians separately to New Zealanders or are you sending out different information to different level corporate sponsors? It is vital to set up these lists because you could be sending the wrong information to a group of people and losing out on those sales, when you could have easily avoided this if databases and target markets had been distinguished from the beginning.

2. Give it the ‘relevancy’ factor

EDMs are about relevancy. Stakeholders don’t want to read information that isn’t relevant to them, so make sure what you are sending is somewhat personalised and makes them interested! Often external subscribers have chosen to sign up for your EDM, so there is a level of trust that they have provided to you. A good way to acknowledge the subscribers’ trust, is by incorporating value and substance into the email marketing strategy, rather than consistently distributing ‘selling’ and ‘marketing/advertising’ emails. In regard to internal stakeholders, there is the opportunity for transparency between the head management team and employees, therefore this type of communication can help develop and grow relationships.

3. Distribute, redefine and resend

Ok, so you’ve determined your database and what content you should include in your EDM, now all you have to do is hit ‘send’. After your email has been sent into the world of the web, you will start to receive analytics, which will help you redefine your EDM and determine the open and engagement rates, the bounce back rates, and what to change for next time. This process may take a couple of tries, however once you get a steady database and consistent EDM, the results will be tangible.  

With years of experience in creating new or either improving previous EDMs for clients (internally and externally), Elevate offers a wide range of communication services that will deliver your key messages to your target stakeholders. Find out how Elevate can undertake your online marketing campaigns and contact us today on 07 3180 3666 or info@elevatecom.com.au.