By cdelprincipe@hubspot.com (Curt del Principe)

“Email is the only marketing channel that offers an equal playing field for all marketers,” says Jay Schwedelson.

With email marketing, your brand’s message has just as much chance of being viewed as Apple’s, or Google’s, or [fill in your favorite big brand here].

Today’s master is here to help you not waste that chance.

He’s recognized as one of the foremost experts in email marketing. His website, SubjectLine.com, is ranked in the top 1% of sites worldwide. His marketing podcast regularly lands in the top 5 in the U.S. He founded GURU Media Hub, is the president and CEO of Outcome Media, and, oh yeah, he’s also an adjunct professor at the University of Florida. (Whew!)

Which is to say… y’all, I believe him.

Jay Schwedelson

Founder, SubjectLine.com; Host, Try This, Not That! For Marketers Only!

• Fun fact: Jay’s never missed a season of any show in the Bachelor Franchise. The Bachelorette, Golden Bachelor, Bachelor in Paradise, you name it.
• Claim to fame: Did you see the list in the intro?! Ok, one more: His tool has tested over 15 MILLION subject lines.

Lesson 1: Think of the inbox like a social scroll.

“Your email database is the most valuable thing in your company,” Schwedelson says. “ Email is the only form of marketing that exists on the planet that at any given moment you can communicate with your entire audience.”

So, how does a smart marketer make the most of that opportunity? Well, it ain’t spamming promos, that’s for damn sure.

“If ‘cold email’ is your go-to-market, or you only send out promotional emails, you will fail miserably.”

Instead, Jay advises that you “think of the inbox as a social scroll.” Your job is to catch your audience’s eyes and then give them something valuable enough to keep coming back.

“The majority of the time you hit send, you’re providing value without asking for something back. Here’s a new stat. Here’s a new tip. Here’s a new trend in the industry. Then every third or fourth email, you’re layering in the ask.”

It’s an effective strategy, but one that takes a little bit of courage and a whole lotta faith, because… well…

Lesson 2: Attribution is garbage.

“I think attribution is garbage,” Schwedelson confesses. “Marketing is surround sound. When they  finally click on that offer,  it wasn’t because you sent that amazing email.  It’s because over the last few months you’ve been sending content, so now that that person’s in market for the thing, they’re thinking of you first.”

Here I start to fantasize about all the time I’ll save not measuring anything.

“ Of course you wanna measure all the stuff, and should,” he qualifies. (Dammit.) “But that’s not enough, because it’s not telling a holistic picture.”

Schwedelson tells me that his team fills in the gaps using a tactic he calls “holdout groups.”

…read more

Source:: HubSpot Blog

Author: Aaron