While this strategy works well … there's now a “smarter” version I recommend you checkout by clicking here.
In this post I layout an email marketing blueprint for nearly any Brick & Mortar store to follow.
Let's get into it!
Brick & Mortar Email Marketing Blueprint
We will build this type of email series for you! Click here for more info!
1st Step
The very first step is to “categorize” your customers into a few broad categories.
This categorization is accomplished by following the 3Ps: People, Products, and Problems.
- People: Demographics, interests, hobbies, etc. (age, gender, religion, marital status, job title, etc.) Who comes to your store.
- Products: The products/services you offer. What people come to your store to buy.
- Problems: The problems your products/services solve. Why people come to your store.
For example, let's pretend you run a pet grooming business with grooming services for both cats and dogs. You can segment your customers into 3 categories: cat owners, dog owners, cat and dog owners.
Why? Well, cat owners don't care about the same things dog owners care about and vice-versa. And people that own both, care about both.
The point is, you want to capture everyone and try to fit them into a category so you can send more relevant content to those individuals.
Lead Magnet
The Lead Magnet is the “free gift” you give to someone in order to entice them into joining your email list. (I know, some people don't like how “entice” sounds because they think it sounds like “trick”. I'm not saying that at all – never, ever, trick someone into joining your email list. Businesses “entice” people all the time with sales, new products, limited availability, etc. – which is what I'm referring to.)
A great Lead Magnet for a Brick and Mortar store is a coupon. A coupon is great for two reasons – people like them and are willing to share their email address in exchange for one, and they drive sales … the only way to take advantage of a coupon is to buy something.
Otherwise, I've already written plenty about Lead Magnets here.
Welcome Series
The Welcome Series is the email series that delivers the Lead Magnet and also introduces your business to the newly subscribed individual.
There are two purposes to this email series: establish a relationship and to segment.
Also note, segmentation can occur before the Welcome Series even starts. For example, on the signup form you can ask them for their email, and what type of pet they have – cat, dog, or both. It's a simple, easy to answer question – but, it allows you to immediately segment. In turn, you are more relevant to individuals.
It can introduce …
- Picture(s) of your business and/or workforce and/or you
- Facts about your business
- The community you support
- Your social media accounts
- Top products your business offers
- Top posts on your blog
- Testimonials
It can also ask for any questions the new lead may have – which can be a great conversation starter if you sell a more complicated product or service.
The point is to introduce people to you and your business and for them to become comfortable with what you all do.
And, if you didn't segment via the signup form, the Welcome Series helps with segmentation by “watching” how people behave.
What are their interests? What are they clicking on in your emails? How are they behaving?
Grab a Pre-Written Welcome Series Template from The Vault!
Example
The lead receives a “top blog articles” email. The purpose of this email not only serves to introduce the lead to your content, but also to segment the lead based on which article they click on.
Back to our example, we have three categories: cats, dogs, or both.
If the lead clicks on the dog blog article – we now know that they have an interest in dogs and we can segment them as such.
3 E Series
The 3 E Series are all about building and maintaining a relationship with your leads and customers, while simultaneously spurring action.
Depending on your business model, these email series can be incredibly long (100+ emails), span years, and be truly massive. Of course, they don't start this way, but are built over time – a good starting point is around 7-10 emails.
So, what are the Es and what do they mean?
- Entertain: These emails are meant to entertain. Videos, pictures, stories, etc provide great entertainment.
- Educate: Helpful emails that solve problems, answer questions, and provide guidance.
- Earn: These emails drive sales by bringing customers back to your business.
Ultimately, your 3 E Series is continuous. Maintaining the relationship through entertaining and educational emails, while also driving people back to your store by offering different promotions, sending reminders, sharing events, etc.
Example
Let's pretend someone joined our list and has been self-segmented (did it on the signup form) as an individual who has a dog:
Entertain
We can send them this video with a subject line: How I felt this morning
Sure, it's not “our” video, but it's cute, funny, entertaining, and relatable. (BONUS: if you can make a similar video … do that so it's kept “in house”!)
Educate
We can send them this article with a subject line: Dog have mats?
We can also include the steps in the email and give our own professional twist on the subject. And, like the video above … if you can write your own content … do that so it's all kept “in house”!
Earn
We can send a coupon for a 10% off dog grooming. Or a nail trimming, or anything similar to that. The goal is to drive people back to the store.
Mini Action Series
A Mini Action Series is an automatic follow-up to an action someone takes … that spurs even more action!
For example, the link we included in our “Educate” email about how to brush mats out of dog hair could have a Mini Action Series tied to it.
So, if someone clicks the link, we know they're interested in removing mats out of their dog's hair … so, we can send them a special promotion on “dog hair mat removal” or an email recommending a great brush we sell for removing mats. Something that spurs follow on action related to the action the individual just took.
Broadcast Emails
These emails are not in a series.
They're “one-of-a-kind” emails, sent once.
Think of a monthly newsletter.
Or maybe a weekly update.
Or even a one-time promotion or event.
Something along those lines.
They're simply “real time” emails that help keep in contact with your leads and customers.
Conclusion
Email marketing isn't just for Ecommerce or online stores, but ALL types of businesses that want to build and maintain relationships while driving sales.
Above I outlined a proven email marketing strategy for Brick & Mortar stores that automatically increases the lifetime value of their customers.
All that's left to do is implement it … which … by the way … we'll do for you!