Email is an easy, convenient, and cost-effective digital marketing strategy for businesses of all types and sizes, but as your business grows, sending out individual emails becomes challenging and time-consuming. Fortunately, there’s a solution: email automation.

A great customer experience starts with great communication. You want to welcome new subscribers or thank them for their purchases, but creating these emails manually can become time consuming. Email automation is a great solution for businesses of any size, and makes the process significantly easier.

What Is Email Automation?
With automation, you only need to set up email templates once. When a customer performs specific actions, an email response is triggered. For instance, if someone signs up for your mailing list, a welcome email automatically goes to the address provided. If a customer places items in their cart on your site, but does not make a purchase, a different email would be triggered. According to the statistics provided by Oberlo, the average open rate for a welcome email is 82%. Sending three emails regarding an abandoned cart results in 69% more orders than just sending one. 

The Benefits of Email Automation
Possibly one of the most significant benefits of using email automation is that it saves time. Other benefits include:

• Delivering the right message to the right audience at the right time
• Responding quickly to the needs of existing and potential customers
• Developing stronger relationships with your customer base
• Nurturing prospects through the sales cycle

According to Email Monday, email is one of the top three automation techniques used for marketing. A well-planned strategy is valuable for staying competitive. 

Make Email Automation Work for You
Automated emails can be highly effective for small businesses and large businesses alike. To be successful, however, you should approach the strategy with a plan. 

Decide What You Want to Automate
Automated emails are messages that are sent based on actions (or triggers) that users take (or don’t take). Common message types include:

• Welcome emails
• Post-purchase emails
• Birthday emails
• Abandoned cart emails
• Re-engagement emails

Start by figuring out what you want to send and when you want to send it so that you can create a campaign that works for you. 
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Find the Right Resources
Your next step is to find the right resources to create automated emails, which usually requires a third-party company to manage. There is a variety of platforms to choose from, and each one generally offers various tiers at different price points. Factors such as business size and unique needs will help you determine the best option for you.

Create Your Workflow
Once you’ve selected a provider, it’s time to automate your emails. For most platforms, you can select events or set up funnels that trigger emails based on specific actions. Then simply draft your emails for each trigger and load the content into the system. 

Tracking Your Results​
Most email marketing tools provide the data you need to track results, such as open rates and link clicks, to help you figure out what’s working and what’s not. By seeing these results, you can fine-tune your strategy for optimal success.

With email automation, you can effectively engage with customers and potential leads on your email list, and still have the time to devote to other essential aspects of your unique business. 

In today’s digital age, it’s no surprise that small business owners should consider creating a website to remain competitive. 81% of retail shoppers conduct research online before making a purchase and 57% of consumers prefer to shop online. 

The Benefits of a Website
Having a website gives customers an understanding if a business is legitimate or not. For you, it is also an important tool for growing your unique business. Other benefits of having a website include:

• Easily showcasing the products and services you offer 
• Lets your company be found on search engines like Google
• Helps you keep up with your competition
• Allows you to broaden your reach to potential customers
• Your business is ‘open’ 24/7 online

So while there’s no question that a small business website is a must, the question becomes whether you want to build it yourself or outsource the task to a professional.

To DIY or Not
It is possible to build your website yourself, even for those who are not overly tech-savvy. Some of the benefits of building your small business website yourself include:

• Your website can be up and running quickly with an easy to use website builder
• You can make updates as needed without paying a web designer
• Changes can be implemented faster by doing it yourself
• You can incorporate your own brand voice and style to help drive your vision

While there are some benefits to building your own website, there are also some drawbacks, including:

• It can be very time-consuming, particularly if you are selling items through your site or have a lot of pages to build
• If you’re new to website building, your site may not look professionally designed
• It may not work properly, which can affect the user experience

Hiring a Professional
Another option is to outsource the task and have your website professionally built. There are pros and cons to this method as well. 
 
Benefits of hiring a professional to consider:

• With someone else doing the work, you are free to focus on essential business tasks
• Building your site is a professional’s priority, which means it will be completed in a timely fashion
• Working with a professional helps ensure quality work and a polished look for the site
• Your customers may have a better user experience

Downsides to consider:

• It will most likely be more expensive to have a website custom-built
• There may be ongoing costs such as hosting, updating, support requests, and more
• It may take some time to implement changes

There is a lot to consider when it comes to creating a website for your small business. Having a website is important for many reasons, so no matter how you get it built, be sure that it looks great, works correctly, and delivers the look and feel you want for your unique business. 

Digital marketing covers a broad range of marketing techniques that enable your small business to reach potential customers in ways you may not be able to do with traditional campaigns. One of the most underestimated but likely most effective digital marketing solutions is email. According to a report by Radicati, there are approximately 3.9 billion active email users worldwide and estimates are that there will be 4.3 billion users by 2023. If you haven’t implemented an email marketing strategy yet, there’s no better time than now.

While some think email is a declining channel, it can be a very effective marketing tactic. The right strategy provides recipients with more information than a simple print advertisement, with minimal intrusion into their daily lives. You send the emails, and it’s up to the recipients to take the next step. 
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Types of Email Marketing Campaigns
Email enables you to communicate your message, increase your visibility, and retain your current customers. Campaigns can take many forms:

• Welcome emails: welcoming a potential new lead, introducing them to your brand, and getting to know more about them
• Newsletter emails: providing updates, news, product announcements, and other information about your business 
• Sales advertisements: showcasing upcoming sales
• Seasonal emails: promoting holiday-specific sales
• Post-purchase emails: sending an email to follow-up after a purchase to thank the customer, provide additional information or tips about the product, and request a review
• Re-engagement emails: sending emails to inactive users to re-establish contact

The Benefits of Email Marketing
It's Affordable. Whether you’re performing email marketing for a small business or a large one, the strategy is extremely cost-effective. While the exact amount you pay varies based on the tools you use, email has one of the highest ROIs of any other marketing strategies. One study has found that you may earn $44 for every $1 you spend on email marketing, which is a staggering 4,400% ROI.   

It's Customizable. You can divide your email subscribers into different segments and send them tailored messages that meet their interests. Instead of lumping all of your customers and potential leads together and sending them the same thing, you can address each person individually by name and send them only information that is relevant to them. 

Email Can Be Automated. Automated platforms enable you to send hundreds or even thousands of emails with the click of a button. These platforms simplify the process by helping you manage multiple lists, plan communications, and send emails on a specific schedule. Automation can also be set up to trigger different emails based on actions taken by the users.

Campaigns Are Compatible with Other Strategies. Email doesn’t have to be a standalone strategy. It complements many other digital and traditional marketing strategies like social media and direct mail. Repetition breeds familiarity, so the more visible your business is across multiple channels, the more likely a consumer will come to you for your services.

Results Are Measurable. Using email marketing software, you can see who has opened your messages, what links they followed, and if anyone unsubscribed from your mailing list. Monitoring the results shows you how effective your campaigns are, and what can be improved.

Email marketing can be an effective strategy for businesses of all sizes to help to drive engagement and boost brand loyalty. No matter what email campaigns you run, your messages should include high-quality content that’s deliberate, to the point, and easy to scan. When you master the art of email marketing, you can expect to see amazing results.

An effective small business social media strategy is more important than ever as people turn to their favorite apps to stay connected, informed, and entertained while spending more time at home. In order to leverage success with your social media strategy, tap into what your followers really care about. It takes meaningful engagement to build a relationship with your audience that will lead to stronger brand awareness, business growth, or a boost in sales. 

Whether you’re just getting started exploring social media or you’re navigating new challenges, these tips can help guide you in the right direction. 

Use Your Captions Wisely
Captions are your chance to create a unique brand voice, bring your brand to life, and give your audience a glimpse into who you are as a company. By crafting a mindful, engaging caption, your social media posts will create an ongoing story that can help define your brand.

Try varying the length of your captions to see what works best for your audience and use a tone that matches your brand – be serious, funny, flippant, etc. when appropriate. Emojis, hashtags, and embedded links can further enhance your posts. At the end, ask them a relevant question relating to your caption and encourage them to weigh in with a comment. 

Create Interactive Stories
Snapchat was the first to use the story format and now many other social media platforms have the feature too. With a 24-hour expiration, stories are snapshots of content that is more casual and less curated than posts. Stories give you an opportunity to drive daily engagement with a behind the scenes look at your operations, a sneak peek at new products, or a poll to engage your audience. Followers can also ask you questions, choose between two poll options, and answer short quizzes about your business. 

Not only does this engagement keep you connected to your followers, but it can also boost your visibility on the platform. 

Making Engaging Videos
It feels like almost every platform has a preferred form of content - Facebook is for text posts, Instagram is for photos, and TikTok is for videos. Break out of that mold and create engaging videos for platforms like Facebook and Instagram to keep your feed fresh and interesting. Followers are more likely to watch, comment, and share when they see interesting subject matter like a tutorial or a relevant industry event, no matter what platform it’s on.

Go Live for Q&A
Going live on a social media platform takes engagement to the next level by allowing you to have face to face interaction with your followers. While your videos and photos might be more polished and prepared, a live feed opens up a more authentic means of engagement and humanizes your business. Followers can ask you questions, react to your comments, and give their feedback in real-time. 

Engaging With Your Followers: It Goes Both Ways
When it comes to social media engagement, it’s important to remember that it goes both ways. If you want engagement on your social media to boost your numbers and drive sales, engage with your followers first. 

By taking the initiative and showing your audience you care about their input, you’re more likely to create loyal followers that want to stick around for the long run. 

As a business owner with a website, you’ve likely heard the phrase Search Engine Optimization, or “SEO,” before. SEO is crucial for boosting your rankings on search results pages. There are several SEO strategies to help improve your site rank, including incorporating keywords, making your website mobile-friendly, and creating high-quality content. An optimized website helps to ensure that you rank where people can find you.

A lesser known (but very useful) strategy you should implement is link building. Here's how link building can help.

What Is Link Building?
Link building is an SEO tactic that involves placing links on other websites that lead back to yours with the goal of improving your visibility. Known as backlinks, search engines like Google use these, with other SEO factors, to determine how to rank your site. The search engines "crawl" the links that lead to your pages to determine their source. 

It's not necessarily the number of backlinks that you have, but the quality. The more reputable and authoritative the sites linking to yours, the more reputable yours will be considered, and as a result, you're likely to rank higher.

The Benefits of Building Links
While it’s possible to rank fairly high on search engine results pages without link building, there’s no denying that it’s a very useful strategy. Benefits of link building for small businesses include:

• Increase visibility: Google’s algorithms change constantly, but one thing that hasn’t changed is the importance of links. Combining backlinks with other SEO strategies can help your site appear at the top of the results page.
• Increase website traffic: A link from another site puts you in front of a new audience. Since they likely already trust the other website, they’re more likely to trust you, too.
• Build relationships: Influencers and other leaders are a great source for backlinks. Networking will help you land reputable backlinks and establish relationships with other members of your community. 
• Boost brand awareness: the more mentions your business gets, the more well-known you become. At the same time, those who see your brand frequently are likely to begin trusting you more.  ​

Link Building Tips
Now that you know the benefits of backlinks, here are a few strategies you can try:

• Skyscraper content: this strategy involves finding content in your industry that’s already performing well and improving. Using this tactic, you research popular trends or topics that already rank well and create something even better. You add on to an existing list (instead of 12 Activities to Do at Home with Your Kids, you might create a piece that offers 20 activities), update statistics to create a more current article, or make a more visually appealing piece of content. When it's finished, you need to reach out to the right people (such as influencers, bloggers, and brands who have already linked to similar content) and ask if they'd be interested in sharing it. 
• Roundup posts: these posts feature the opinions of industry experts. The posts provide valuable information for your visitors and promote the experts you include. In many cases, those you feature are likely to re-share your posts, giving you quality backlinks.
•  Social signals: You can build links to your website using your social media profiles. Being active on social media and consistently creating quality content lets Google™ know you’re active, which can help boost rankings.

 
No matter how small your business is, never underestimate the power of link building. With so many incredible benefits, it’s a great strategy to help you boost your rankings and gain more business. 

Social media is one of the most important tools of all when it comes to building and maintaining customer relationships. As a business owner, having a strategy in place for utilizing and managing these platforms is key. A social media management platform tool helps centralize and coordinate content across social media profiles, especially if your business has multiple accounts, or if more than one employee has permission to manage an account.

Platform Capabilities to Consider
Social Media Today, an online publication devoted to social media news, breaks down basic social media management platform functionalities to consider when picking a tool. These pieces include analytics and reporting, ease of engaging with customers, how well the tool integrates with the channel itself, if the tool offers social post scheduling, and if the tool alerts you to any activity on your page.
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Some Popular Platforms
If your business is new to social media management platforms, below is an introduction to some options in this realm. The best platform for your business will depend on your specific usage needs and budget.

• Hootsuite: A simple, all-encompassing management platform boasts 18 million users worldwide.
• Sprout Social: An intuitive social media management platform that helps handle customer service, marketing and other activities on accounts.
• Buffer: A tool targeted at businesses building brands, the company offers services to 75,000+ customers.
• Zoho Social: A platform that covers popular social media platforms, markets 6000+ ratings across software review sites.

 
Social media can be a daunting world for business owners, but one that can help launch your business into a new realm. If your business is ready to take the next step for building and maintaining a digital brand, a social media management platform is a good tool to have. 

It’s tempting for business owners and professionals to think of a website solely as a sales tool. Yet a website can do much more. At its best, your website is a digital storefront that invites visitors to interact with your organization.
 
Your visitors can be prospective or existing customers seeking to get in touch for service or for information about you or your products/services. To serve as many visitors as possible for your business or professional organization’s website, consider these must-have features:
 
1. Quality Content
Give the visitors to your site information they need and answers they want. An example would be a blog or other website content can provide in the online world the things that many business owners and professionals do in person:

• Address the needs of current and prospective customers
• Answer queries relevant to the industry or topic
• Highlight the expertise of the organization’s people

 Think about the questions that prospects and customers often ask you and your colleagues or employees. Those indicate what information is valuable – and unknown – to them. Use those queries as the basis of the information you provide on your website, whether it’s for a retail store, wholesaler, trucking company, medical office, or another industry.
 
2. Call to Action
Many businesses and brands want their website visitors to buy into their service or to have their customers contact them. Getting a message that a customer wants your products or services is about as rewarding a response as you can get to your website. But your site visitors might not be there yet. That’s especially true if you’re selling services (legal services, for instance) or a complex product.
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So give your website visitors preliminary calls to action, such as:

• View related content on the site
• Read what other customers have to say about the product/service
• Get a product description or details
• Ask about product delivery, service customization or other feature
• Chat now

 
3. Mobile-Friendly Site
Most consumers want and expect to have a multi-channel experience. That means visitors want to be able to access the same information on a smart phone as on a desktop computer. And many more consumers are dubbed “mobile first” – that is, they tend to visit websites first from a mobile device. Website providers can provide the capability to make your site mobile ready. A mobile-friendly site is also called “responsive” because it will “respond” and resize to fit the screen of computer, tablet or phone on which the user is viewing it.

4. FAQ Page
Prospective and current customers of your business or brand have a lot of questions. As you hear these commonly asked questions from phone or via email, start typing them up into a list. Once you have those questions, then offer clear answers.

Some example of topics that would be featured on the FAQ page are address, phone number, hours of operation, social media links, and much more. Having a FAQ page will reduce the number of calls and emails that you may experience. It will also save time for the customer.
 
Businesses and professionals can add other useful website features. But this list of four important website features is a good starting point. To learn more about SEO and other digital marketing needs, visit our digital toolbox. 

Considering ramping up your email marketing? A/B testing is a great way to determine how your strategies stack up, pitting an existing concept against a new variation. Instead of jumping into something brand new, a simple A/B test allows you to be objective about performance in order to choose the most effective approach for your desired outcome.
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What Is A/B Testing?
A/B testing, also called split testing, is essentially a way to compare two versions of a single marketing concept using verifiable metrics. Email marketing is a big part of a successful campaign so for most small businesses, it's a good place to start.

It's easy to think something is a great idea, but another to actually see it in writing. A/B testing uses statistical analysis to reach a conclusion, providing you with concrete results. In general, A/B testing doesn't compare everything, but instead focuses on one single element. For example, if you're seeking higher conversion rates, you may consider testing a new call to action (CTA) or subject line to start.

How to Start A/B Testing
Running an A/B test can be a great way to make actionable improvements. But getting started requires a plan. In order to achieve the best possible results, here are five steps to follow:

1. Determine what elements would be most likely to boost numbers. This may not be easy, but now is the time to take a step back and explore what may be falling flat. Is your CTA vague? Are your headlines dry or bland? Do you personalize your emails?
2. Decide what you want to track. Do you want to see an increase in click-through rates? Do you want customers to make purchases based on your emails? Do you want more people to request pricing? Whatever factor you choose will be the driver for your testing.
3. Set goals. What kind of increase do you want to see? A 10% boost in conversions? 20%? More? After you determine your goal, work towards achieving it in your new variation.
4. Choose a test group. Will you be sampling your whole email list? Or will you be limiting your sampling to a smaller set? There are pros and cons to each strategy. For example, if your changes will be routine and you don't pay per email, using your whole list may be fine. If you're trying something unusual or using an example that doesn't apply to everyone, you may want to be more selective. Split your sample group randomly to ensure the best, most unbiased outcome.
5. Select a platform. In order to create a campaign that generates measurable results, assistance from an email service provider that does A/B testing can be a benefit. There are many of these, such as MailChimp, iContact, or Campaigner. Do some research, compare price points and determine what features you want to see.

​Drawing Conclusions
With an A/B test, you clearly set the parameters you have in mind and wait for the results to pour in. How you analyze the results will vary based on the goals you set.

If your results are tied or within a margin of error, your new email likely isn't any better than your old one. If you're seeing a decline, you may want to keep your original template or even test something else to seek improvements elsewhere. Ultimately, how you draw conclusions and update your marketing will truly depend on the goals you have in mind and what you're hoping to achieve.

Email marketing is a big part of a successful digital strategy. With help from A/B testing, you can make the improvements necessary to see the growth and developments critical to meeting your objectives. 

Social media enables businesses to engage with their customer base in a wide range of ways which can seem overwhelming.  If you’re not sure where to get started, here are the step-by step basics for setting up social media profiles for your business.

Start by creating one company email address that you will use for all social media accounts. A company e-mail addresses protects personal passwords and ensures you won’t have to change it if the person managing it leaves the company.
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​FACEBOOK
Facebook business pages have to be built off of a personal profile. If you are creating a business page with your personal account, you will be an administrator of the page and can invite others to become administrators as well. Your personal profile is not connected to your business page and has separate posts, likes, notifications, etc. Those who like or interact with your business cannot see your personal page, administrator list or any other personal information.

To Create Your Business Facebook Page:

1. To create your Facebook page, select “Business or Brand” as the page you want to create.
2. Input your company name and field and create your page. As you fill out your profile, make sure you are cohesive with the company brand.
3. Upload a profile picture using a company branded image to distinguish yourself. To make sure your images are displayed clearly, look at Facebook’s tips for proper sizing.
4. Within the page you will want to add a cover photo, which will stand as a larger image across the top of your page next to the profile picture you previously added.
5. Begin publishing content you would like to share with your audience using the “Write a Post…” box under your cover photo. Your posts will be able to feature images or links you think customers or prospects will enjoy. Content can also be shared directly from social.selective.com, by clicking the Facebook icon to the left of an article.

As you begin to promote your newly launched Facebook page among clients, expect to see “likes” from customers on your page and any posts. You have the ability to invite clients to like your page or suggest the page to them by hovering over the “…More” tab below your cover photo.

LINKEDIN
LinkedIn is another platform that requires personal pages to create a business profile. If you don’t already have a personal profile on LinkedIn, you can follow the LinkedIn Best Practices Guide for creating one. Once your personal profile is created, you can begin creating your business profile.


To Create Your LinkedIn Business Page:

1. Click the grid icon labeled "Work" in the top right corner of the LinkedIn homepage.
2. Select "Create a Company Page."
3. Select the page type you would like to create. The options include: Small Business, Medium to large Business, Showcase Page, and Educational Institution.
4. Fill out the "Page Identity" (your company name, the name you would like displayed in the URL of your LinkedIn page, and your website) "Company or Institution Details" (including your business’s industry and size), and "Profile Details" information (your company logo). *Tip: your logo should be sized in a 300 x 300 pixel square.
5. Click "Create Page" to complete your business profile.

You can access your business page from the LinkedIn homepage, either on the left-hand side under your information, or by clicking “Me” on the top right-hand corner and finding the page listed on that drop down under “Manage.” Like Facebook, your personal LinkedIn account and business account have separate notifications and only you will see that you are managing the business page.  

​TWITTER
Twitter is much like Facebook, where you can post updates and share images and links. However, unlike Facebook, Twitter limits you to using 280 characters per tweet.


​To Create Your Twitter:

1. Create your Twitter account; include your business name as the full name, a company email and a password.
2. Create a user name as similar to the company name as possible to make it easy for customers to search and engage. Once you’ve created your user name you won’t be able to change it, so keep it within brand and professional.
3. Upload a profile picture and cover photo. Consider adding links to your website or other social media profiles in your bio so your customers can find you on other channels.

Once your Twitter page is built, begin using the search box to find other local businesses or similar companies to follow and tweet important messages about your company or any tips and info you want to share. To tweet, enter text into the box at the top of the page that asks “What’s happening?” or tweet out one of the articles from social.selective.com by clicking the Twitter icon to the left of an article.

Twitter settings and privacy can be adjusted under the “More” option. Businesses should be on a public setting, making it easy for customers to search for you, and retweet your content.

Once you have created your social media platforms for your business, remember to post as consistently as possible in order to build up and engage your audience. You will be able to track how your audience is engaging with each social media platform by utilizing built-in analytics tools, which can typically be found on your business’s profile page.

Developing brand awareness is crucial to the success of any company. SEO stands for search engine optimization and it is a great way to place your business in the same search fields as other businesses related to it.

To first understand how to implement SEO basics within your brand website, you need to have an understanding about what exactly SEO means. Search engine optimization is a way you allow your company or brand to be searched for on the internet. With the use of keywords, you give yourself the ability to optimize your audience's search-engine results for your industry and your specific company so you can earn higher click rates on your website. 

SEO is important for driving new and existing customers to your website. According to Moz, most web traffic comes from search engines such as Google and Bing.

To get started utilizing SEO basics, follow these simple suggestions:

​1. Search Engine Friendly Website
​Keywords that relate to your business will boost your search engine results on Google. Think about the words that are most important in describing your company such as, the location, the field that you are in, and the benefits you offer audience. Organically work these factors into the text and titles of your website by creating blog posts that relate to your business.

2. Start Link Building 
Link building is pretty simple to understand. It means you can create links on your site linking back to each other on your own site. You should create as many links as possible that can go back to other pages on your site. The more clicks your site gets, the easier it is for you to link out to relevant searches within the internet.

​3. Focus on Meta Descriptions and Alt Tags
Two elements that often go unattended are meta descriptions and alt tags within your pages and posts on your website. On the back-end page of your website, include a sentence that describes the information being given. Fill in the box that asks you for the SEO title and article description. This box is asking you how you want your article to be found in the search engine. Take advantage of this access as these page descriptions are the meta descriptions. Use keywords that describe your business or brand.

When you’re uploading a picture to a post, be sure to create an alt tag for the image, which is just simply the image description. This helps to tag the image and boosts your SEO. Each of these points is another great way to use keywords. The more you use the same words or phrases, the better your search engine optimization becomes.

4. Have Short Titles and Page Names
These should follow the same standard for adding a subject line to an email. You want to make them short and informative. If a line is too long, it won’t read in the search engine. If someone can’t read the whole title in the search engine they will be less inclined to click on your site because they don’t know what the page is for. Stick to titling your pages with keywords to tie in all of your pages and information.
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Whether you outsource or use an in-house website team, ensure these SEO tips are implemented. They can bring you higher in the search engine results and make your company more relevant. To learn more about SEO and other digital marketing needs, visit our digital toolbox.