Author: Giulia Lenti

Email marketing: What to do and what to avoid

~ Giulia Lenti ~ Leave a comment

Email marketing can be one of the most effective tools in digital marketing, but it has to be done correctly, focusing on some key elements and practices, and avoiding others. In this report, I will focus on 5 great email marketing practices and 3 mistakes to avoid.

Photo by Webaroo on Unsplash

Create a solid contact list

The first thing to do when deciding to start an email marketing campaign is to come out with a solid contact list. Email marketing is a permission-based marketing strategy, meaning that it is crucial that people give their permission to be contacted. The best way to do it in to create a CTA from the main blog/social network profiles/etc, showing to users the chance to subscribe to a newsletter. If someone follows a blog this same person could be really interested in more content from the same person or organisation. On the other side, it should be clear that what is offered is valuable and worth sharing (Forsey, 2020).

Personalise your content

Once the contact list is ready it is time to start to focus on the content, but even before that is good to keep in mind that email personalisation is highly rewarded. It’s not only about inserting the customer’s name at the beginning of the email but foresee what they could be interested in. Some aspects to base your email campaign could be interests, geographics, demographics and psychographics (Beck, 2019). The more the target persona is clear the easier it is to direct the right product or service towards them, and this will be appreciated by someone whose needs are clearly taken into consideration.

Make it personal

Let’s pass to the content. Obviously, the emails need to be engaging and enrich subscribers. The main point of a good campaign should be to have the full attention of the audience, and the best way to do it is to create a community and make them part of the journey. Andy Puddicombe, the creator of Headspace, makes his audience part of his joys and difficulties, nurturing the bond with his subscribers (Daly, n.d.). This also makes people feel connected to a group of like-minded people (Delmore, 2020), a place where they feel they can share their passions.

Test it before sending it

When the email is ready there is a crucial step to take before sending it to subscribers, which is testing it. Even if it looks perfect on the computer screen, it doesn’t mean that it is going to show perfectly on other devices. Among other main issues, there are broken or incorrect links, grammar errors, problems with fonts and text displacement (Salmeron, 2019). If one or more of these issues are present in your emails, it can easily translate in a loss of subscribers, who will find your email not intuitive and hard to read.

Track your emails

Once the email has been sent it can be useful to track how people are responding to it. Like any tool in a marketing strategy, the efficiency of the email campaign must be tested, but to do is necessary to have in mind what is the aim of a specific email marketing campaign. Luckily, some KPIs are almost universal. Among these are: clickthrough rate, conversion rate, email sharing, list growth rate, ROI and unsubscribe rate (Kolowich, 2020). When you decide which metric is the most important for you it is possible to work on it and make that aspect of your campaign bulletproof.

Photo by Yoga Design on Unsplash

It’s now time to go through 3 mistakes that could undermine your email marketing campaign.

Don’t buy a contact list

Buying a contact list looks like the quickest way to have a huge audience, but it is the worst move you can make. Not only you will be contacting people that didn’t express any interest in what you have to offer, but it is also a violation of the General Data Protection Regulation. A new privacy policy came to use in 2018 and it was stricter about how companies get the consent from customers and how they store that data (Specht, 2018), meaning that the consent needs to come directly from users.

Less is more

One mantra of a good email marketing strategy should be: less is more. This should be applied to the number of emails sent weekly. It has been widely reported that receiving too many emails is one of the lead reasons why people unsubscribe to newsletters(Greenspan, 2019). One of the many benefits of sending email less frequently will be the chance to save time and work on some other marketing strategy that can be more rewarding.

Avoid the spam folder

The last mistake to avoid is to end up in the spam folder. There are some precautions that can be taken to make sure that your followers are actually seeing your email, like working on your contact list and keep that updated, not using caps or spam trigger words (it is possible to find online lists of words that should be avoided) and avoiding videos or Flash files (Dudeck, 2017). Not only people will not read your email, but it will negatively impact on your email reputation.

REFERENCE LIST

– Beck, Clara (2019) How Can Personalisation Increase The Impact Of Email Marketing? (online). Available at: https://www.digitaldoughnut.com/articles/2019/october/how-can-personalisation-increase-impact-email [6th May 2020].

– Braunstein, Alexandra (2019) 4 Reasons to Decrease Email Frequency (online). Available at: https://www.targetmarketingmag.com/article/4-reasons-to-decrease-email-frequency/ [6th May 2020].

– Daly, Jimmy (n.d.) Tips for Sending Dramatically Better Emails (online). Available at: https://www.getvero.com/resources/guides/email-marketing-best-practices/ [6th May 2020].

– Delmore, Tiffany (2020) How to Create Community Among Your Customers (online). Available at:https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/345661 [6th May 2020].

– Diana, Salmeron (2019) Test Before You Send: The Importance Of Email Testing (online). Available at: https://www.wpromote.com/blog/email-marketing/test-before-send-importance-email-testing [5th May 2020].

– Dudeck, Joe (2017) 17 Ways to Keep Your Emails Out of the Spam Folder (online). Available at: https://www.keyholemarketing.us/17-ways-keep-emails-out-of-the-spam-folder/ [6th May 2020].

– Forsey, Caroline (2018) How to Build an Email List from Scratch: 10 Incredibly Effective Strategies (online). Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/list-building [6th May 2020].

– Greenspan, Sam (2019) How often should you send marketing emails? (online). Available at: https://jilt.com/blog/email-marketing-frequency/ [6th May 2020].

– Kolowich, Lindsay (2020) Email Analytics: The 8 Email Marketing Metrics & KPIs You Should Be Tracking (online). Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/metrics-email-marketers-should-be-tracking [6th May 2020]

– Specht, Bettina (2018) 5 Things You Must Know about Email Consent under GDPR (online). Available at: https://litmus.com/blog/5-things-you-must-know-about-email-consent-under-gdpr [6th May 2020].

– Vaughan, Pamela (2019) 13 Things to Check Before Hitting ‘Send’ on Your Next Marketing Email (online). Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/32874/13-things-to-check-before-hitting-send-on-your-next-marketing-email.aspx [5th May 2020].

Content Marketing

~ Giulia Lenti ~ Leave a comment

Hello everyone and welcome back,
today I’m going to talk about three examples of content marketing that’s perfect for the travel industry.


Rough guides podcast is a great example of content marketing. Podcasts are quite new and not many companies focus on their great potential. First of all podcasts move in a less competitive environment, which means that the company can invest more in its listeners and in creating a loyal audience (Segura, 2019). Podcasts are becoming more and more popular, but people will stick with their favourite one. It is also a format that allows a great opportunity to engage the audience and address them directly, it is possible to answer people’s questions or creating a poll to ask directly for their advice.

Screenshot from Rough Guides website.

The second example is the Lonely planet Discover series. Videos are almost every time a winning content, this because users are more likely to check a video and share it with people they know. Lonely Planet’s series also works because it’s a series and people are normally attracted by what is familiar and will be naturally curious to check the new videos. The final kick is given by the partnership with GoPro which means that that content will be shared not only with who will check Lonely Planet for holiday advice but also to GoPro public, making this series a double win.

Screenshot from Lonely Planet Youtube channel.

The third example comes from Airbnb and its guidebooks. Guidebooks are a user-generated content, meaning that it’s made by who had a first-hand experience of the places the guide is about. Guidebooks are part of the “Live there” campaign whose aim is to make tourists live the places they are visiting. The main reason why this content is more effective than others are because it gives a personal touch on your holiday, and it really helps to create a sense of community where everyone is helping each other by giving tips that would not be possible to find in any travel guide (Econsultancy, 2019).

Photo by John Tekeridis on Unsplash.

These examples show how content marketing can be done in a great way, focusing on a personal approach and creating a community around a brand.

Check my presentation on SlideShare about content marketing and my Video!

REFERENCE LIST

Personal Branding

~ Giulia Lenti ~ Leave a comment

Personal branding is a marketing strategy that focuses on creating a strong and clear set of values around one person. The best way to achieve it is to have a clear idea of what your key message is going to be, and for it to be close to your truer self (Chan, 2018). People understand and value who is real and authentic. On such a crowded environment, like the one we are moving in now is, it is fundamental to show that you are willing to offer something real (Connors, 2018).

Photo by Patrick Michalicka on Unsplash

The Importance of Personal Branding

Personal Branding is the new business card. Where you are looking for a job chances are that the recruiter will check your Social Networks to have an idea of who you are (Castrillon, 2019). Your online presence is supposed to reflect your values and reputation.
Having a strong personal brand is a way to stand up in a competitive world. It is also an opportunity not only to show your skills and abilities but also to display what your interests are, which can turn out into chances to have a career that matches what you love to do.

How To Use Social Networks for Personal Branding

Social Media are the most effective way to show your identity. It is also the fastest and more objective way to have a view of ourself from the outside.
The first steps to work on your personal branding is by claiming your name, in this way it will be easier to find you and recognize you. Another crucial step is to find the niche you want to be part of and be extremely active and relevant with the content you post. While doing all of this is important to create a visual continuity, this is the easiest way for people to associate you with the content you create and to become familiar with your persona (Kunsman, 2018).

Good Examples of Using Social Media for Personal Branding

Michelle Obama: she is passionate about the causes she cares about and authentic, that’s why people love her. She used Snapchat to raise important topics, and she talked directly to a younger audience (Cawthorn, 2019).

Photo by Alex Nemo Hanse on Unsplash

Elon Musk: Musk’s mission is loud and clear, to focus on technology that will help human kind. He is also pretty famous for his constant presence on Twitter, which is used not only to talk about news about his company, but mostly for sassy comebacks (Popkin, 2018).

Bill Nye: known everywhere as “The Science Guy”, Bill Nye is a famous science communicator, who used his persona, created for his children’s program, to advocate pressing topics about science and the environment.

REFERENCE LIST

– Cardello, J. (2019) 18 effective personal branding examples done right [online.] Available at: https://webflow.com/blog/personal-branding-examples [30th March 2020].
– Castrillon, C. (2019) Why Personal Branding Is More Important Than Ever [online]. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecastrillon/2019/02/12/why-personal-branding-is-more-important-than-ever/#5d24bba82408 [28th March 2020].
– Cawthorn, S. (2019) How Michelle Obama Built Her Personal Brand (And What You Can Learn From Her) [online]. Available at: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-michelle-obama-built-her-personal-brand-what-you-can-sam-cawthorn/ [30th March 2020].
– Connors, C. D. (2018) The Most Important Principle for Building Your Personal Brand [online]. Available at: https://medium.com/@chrisdconnors/the-most-important-principle-for-building-your-personal-brand-dae76e41900e [28th March 2020].
– Miley, J. (2018) 16 Great Tweets from Elon Musk That Definitely Made Us Laugh [online]. Available at: https://interestingengineering.com/16-great-tweets-from-elon-musk-that-definitely-made-us-laugh [30th March 2020].
– Mimaroglu, A. (2019) 3 Executive-Branding Lessons We Can Learn From Elon Musk [online]. Available at: https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/341278 [30th March 2020].
– Popkin, H. (2018) Elon Musk’s Twitter Account Is Tesla’s $40 Million Marketing Platform. ‘Worth It’ [online]. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/helenpopkin/2018/10/30/elon-musks-twitter-account-is-teslas-40-million-marketing-platform-worth-it/#1bd9e2b77873 [30th March 2020].
– Thurston, A. (2016) First Lady Michelle Obama joins Snapchat in an effort to engage young people [online]. Available at: https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/flotus-michelle-obama-joins-snapchat/ [30th March 2020].

Inbound Marketing Analysis and Comparison

~ Giulia Lenti ~ Leave a comment
  1. Pandan Thai Kitchen (restaurant)
    https://pandanthai.kitchen/

It has a strong SEO, the website is easy to navigate and it has easy access to the main information that customers will be looking for. They do not offer a good variety of content, and Social Networks use and interactions could be improved.

  1. Curtis + Staub Golders Green (gym)
    https://curtisandstaub.org/goldersgreen/

The design is clear, but the information about contacts and Social Networks are not emphasized. The Facebook page is updated regularly with different kinds of content. Interactions with users are almost nonexistent.

  1. Holland & Barrett (health and wellness retail shop)
    https://www.hollandandbarrett.com/

Strong SEO and strong branding. The website is easy to navigate and displays offers and a wide range of products they have right away. They have link to their profiles on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. All profiles are updated with different formats and with content created for any recent holiday or manifestation (Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day), which shows how they focus of offering fresh content to their customers.
Offers, rewards and subscription options are highlighted in the Home Page, showing how their Inbound Marketing strategy is also focused on the engaging and delighting phases.

Pandan Thai Kitchen vs Curtis + Staub

Inbound Marketing Approach
Both Pandan Thai Kitchen and Curtis + Staub have a user-friendly website. In both cases is easy to find the information that potential customers are looking for (like booking options or timetables). Both have a strong SEO, all the links on the first page of Google Search are related to their businesses.
Pandan Thai Kitchen focuses a lot on the visual impact of its website, offering a lot of pictures and previews of the dishes offered. It’s easy to order take away, book a table, or check their menu. They also have their social networks links and email visible.
Curtis + Staub has a less dynamic template and a sober design, but it directs the customers immediately towards the timetable and the prices. Location, contact details and Social Networks are not highlighted too much.

Strengths and Weaknesses
Pandan Thai Kitchen has an appealing website, and gives straight away the main information customers will be looking for (menu, booking and online ordering options). All the key words are used in the title, making it clear what they do. The website also has pictures of the different dishes, and information about opening times, location and how to reach the restaurant. On the downside, Social Networks are not used in the best way, they are not updated and could be used in a more original way. Pandan Thai Kitchen could also benefit from offering new content formats, like videos or a blog.
Curtis + Staub has a clear website, showing immediately the timetable and the prices. Its Facebook pages is updated regularly with different contents: videos, articles, suggestions and motivational quotes. All in line with the identity of the business. Nevertheless, the interactions with customers/users are not the best, and the contents could take advantage from a more personal touch.

Which one is the best
Pandan Thai Kitchen is the best, even if it doesn’t use completely its potential. The business has an average website with the main information that concern that kind of business, but it could easily improve its presence online using different channels and creating more content.
Curtis + Staub can look, at a first glance, as the one which a strong social media presence, but with a closer look it is clear that their online strategy is not working. It is also clear that they know what they have to do to make it work (the do post contents, and videos, and recipes, bringing a lot of potentially good content), but they don’t do anything genuine (some of the pictures they used are not taken in their gym, the same goes for the recipes).

Improvements
Pandan Thai Kitchen doesn’t use Social Networks too much. The only ones that appear on the website are Google+, Instagram and Facebook, and they are not updated regularly. The Instagram account they have could benefit from a stricter content calendar, and it could be integrated with blog content. They could focus more on Instagram updating regularly culinary tips or recipes, and pictures of the dishes and with the latest newness of the menu.
Curtis + Staub website could benefit from a new design. Even if Social Networks appear on their website they haven’t been updated in months, the company should focus more on its online presence. Also, the only updates present, especially on Facebook, use pictures clearly taken online and not genuine content, which can damage the company’s image. There also have no interactions under their posts, showing clearly that the strategy they are using doesn’t really reach their customers. They should focus on delighting strategies, offering genuine content and real interactions with their customers/users.

REFERENCE LIST

Kinzer, D. (2019) The 8 Must-Have Elements of An Effective Inbound Marketing Strategy [online]. Available at: https://www.lonefircreative.com/blog/8-elements-of-an-effective-inbound-marketing-strategy [25th March 2020].
Leaning, B. (2019) 31 Call-to-Action Examples You Can’t Help But Click [online]. Available at: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/call-to-action-examples [22nd March 2020].
Lepp, C. (2019) Attract, Engage, Delight: How Inbound Marketing Works [online]. Available at: https://info.zimmercommunications.com/blog/attract-engage-delight-how-inbound-marketing-works [24th March 2020].
Mortimer, P. (2019) How to develop an effective inbound marketing strategy [online]. Available at: https://www.digital22.com/insights/how-to-craft-an-inbound-marketing-strategy [25th March 2020].
Whitney, M. (2019) The 5 Elements of a Strong Inbound Marketing Strategy [online]. Available at: https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2015/08/25/inbound-marketing-strategy [25th March 2020 ]