Email Marketing Solutions

I know. You’ve probably got a million other things to do.

Tasks that are either more important or more enjoyable than sending out an email. 

Much less planning out your emails.

But while a plan is only good until first contact with the “enemy…”

Those who fail to plan, plan to fail…

No matter what line of business you are in, if you have an email list and you sell products or services to your list, you need to have a plan of attack.

Otherwise you’re flying blind…

Spraying and praying…

Hitting and hoping…

Any more cliques I can use?

I think you get the idea.

But in case you needed further convincing to develop a 30-Day (or *gasp* 60-Day) email campaign calendar, here are the top 7 reasons I plan at least 30 days in advance for all of my clients. 

Reason #1 – You Can Balance “Sales” Emails with “Value” Emails

I remember reading something about your subscriber’s emotional bank account. And it stuck with me.

The essential message was this…

Everytime you send a promotion, sale, product drop, etc, you are making a withdrawal from your subscriber’s emotional bank account. And everytime you send an educational, entertaining, or inspirational email, you are making a deposit.

If you only make withdrawals from your list, you are going to churn and burn through your list in record time.

In order to build maximum retention and LTV from your email list, you need to have balance in what you are sending.

But if you are only planning a week out when looking at your email campaigns, there’s no way to ensure that you are keeping your withdrawals and deposits balanced.

It’s my general rule to send 4 “value” emails for every 1 “sale” email.

In order to find that balance, you may send 6, 7, or 8 “value” emails in a row so that you can send 2-3 “sale” emails to make the most of a promotion.

To do this, you need to be planning at least 30 days in advance.

Reason #2 – Get a Bird’s Eye View of Your Email Marketing Efforts

The best marketing efforts are planned. They are strategic. They are well thought out.

Email marketing should be the same. At least if you want it to be optimized.

To run a successful FB ad campaign, you need to plan for a few weeks. There’s a learning period, a testing period, and a scaling period.

But you can’t get to the scaling period without going through learning and testing.

If your email strategy has been spray and pray, there’s no learning or testing going on.

Planning 30 days in advance gives you a bird’s eye view of your email marketing efforts.

What are your email themes? What messages are you sending? When are you sending emails?

Without that bird’s eye view… you’re honestly flying blind.

Reason #3 – Consistent Campaign Cadence

The best email marketing strategies include a consistent campaign cadence.

Do you send emails twice a week? Three times per week? More?

Do you send emails on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday? Or just whenever you have something to share?

There’s no right answer for how many emails to send or when to send emails.

Each brand is different.

But if you want to scale your email marketing, you need to have a (semi) consistent campaign cadence.

You can’t send 4 emails this week and then not send another email for 2 weeks.

You shouldn’t go from 1 email per week to 4 emails per week immediately.

Hopefully your goal is to send more emails (unless you’re already emailing 4-5 times per week)

And the best way to do that is to grow slowly and consistently.

To do that you need to be planning out in advance.

Reason #4 – Balance Emails and SMS

Email and SMS should work hand-in-hand.

But often, they seem to be competing for attention.

Each serves a unique purpose. Email is going to be better served for longer messages and educational content.

SMS is better for short messages, updates, and the occasional entertaining post.

When you plan out your efforts 30 to 60 days in advance, you can make sure that both your email and SMS messages are working together and they aren’t being sent on top of each other.

There’s nothing more annoying as a customer to get an email and an SMS at the same time about the same promotion.

Reason #5 – Plan Ahead for Promotions

I referenced this earlier in my section about the emotional bank accounts of your subscribers.

But I want to expand on this a little.

The best Facebook and Instagram ads look like they are just another post in the feed.

The best email promotions should look like they are just another email in their inbox.

This is important both to grab the attention of your subscribers but also to avoid landing in the promotion or SPAM folders.

When promotions fit into your overall campaign strategy and your “sale” emails fit seamlessly into your “value” emails then you easily draw in your subscribers and you’ve got a better chance of getting them to convert.

If your “sale” emails stand out like a sore thumb and scream “I WANT YOU TO BUY SOMETHING” subscribers who aren’t quite ready to buy yet will probably avoid the email.

And this has a trickle down effect on deliverability. Because the more people that open and click, the better chance you have of your emails landing in the primary inbox.

Reason #6 – Appropriate Lead Time for Launches or New Drops

Continuing with the theme of planning promotions ahead of time…

I see so many brands with little to no lead time for new product launches, drops, or big promotions.

They just show up one day in your inbox with this new product or special deal.

And rather than get excited about it, we start telling ourselves all of the reasons why we don’t need it.

But if you are planning ahead and you give yourself the proper lead time, you can seed your audience with emails that are promoting your new product or sale ahead of time.

In doing this you build excitement, and when you finally get to the live date… your subscribers have credit cards in hand and are chomping at the bit to give you their money.

Reason #7 – Collect Data

The number one thing that I love about my campaign calendar is using it to collect data and store it all in one place.

Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, MailChimp, and all of the other ESPs do a great job of data collection. But it’s not always formatted in that way that you would like and it can take extra time to seek out exactly what you want.

Using a campaign calendar in Excel or Google Sheets, I build in columns to collect data on open rates, click through rates, conversion rates, and A/B test results.

That way I have an easy way to look back on previous campaigns as I plan out new ones to see what’s working and what needs improvement.

Test, test, test. 

Data, data, data.

Summary

Here’s the TL;DR for why you need to plan out your email campaigns at least 30 days in advance.

• Balance “sales” and “value” emails
• Bird’s eye view of email channel
• Consistent Campaign Cadence
• Emails and SMS
• Plan ahead for promotions
• Lead time for launches and product drops
• Collect data

What Should YOU Do Next?

1. Follow me on LinkedIn for daily email tips and what’s working now
2. Leave a like or a comment on this post to let me know what you thought. 
3. If you need an email list manager for your brand or business, send me an email at ben@henkenmarketing.com or fill out this form and I’ll be in touch.
4. Sign up for my weekly newsletters here and get these email tips and tricks sent directly to your inbox.

7 Reasons You Need to Have a 30-Day Email Campaign Calendar for Your Brand

You’ve probably got a million other things to do.

Tasks that are either more important or more enjoyable than sending out an email. 

Much less planning out your emails.

But while a plan is only good until first contact with the “enemy…”

Those who fail to plan, plan to fail…

No matter what line of business you are in, if you have an email list and you sell products or services to your list, you need to have a plan of attack.

Otherwise you’re flying blind…

Spraying and praying…

Hitting and hoping…

Any more cliques I can use?

I think you get the idea.

But in case you needed further convincing to develop a 30-Day (or *gasp* 60-Day) email campaign calendar, here are the top 7 reasons I plan at least 30 days in advance for all of my clients. 

Reason #1 – You Can Balance “Sales” Emails with “Value” Emails

I remember reading something about your subscriber’s emotional bank account. And it stuck with me.

The essential message was this…

Everytime you send a promotion, sale, product drop, etc, you are making a withdrawal from your subscriber’s emotional bank account. And everytime you send an educational, entertaining, or inspirational email, you are making a deposit.

If you only make withdrawals from your list, you are going to churn and burn through your list in record time.

In order to build maximum retention and LTV from your email list, you need to have balance in what you are sending.

But if you are only planning a week out when looking at your email campaigns, there’s no way to ensure that you are keeping your withdrawals and deposits balanced.

It’s my general rule to send 4 “value” emails for every 1 “sale” email.

In order to find that balance, you may send 6, 7, or 8 “value” emails in a row so that you can send 2-3 “sale” emails to make the most of a promotion.

To do this, you need to be planning at least 30 days in advance.

Reason #2 – Get a Bird’s Eye View of Your Email Marketing Efforts

The best marketing efforts are planned. They are strategic. They are well thought out.

Email marketing should be the same. At least if you want it to be optimized.

To run a successful FB ad campaign, you need to plan for a few weeks. There’s a learning period, a testing period, and a scaling period.

But you can’t get to the scaling period without going through learning and testing.

If your email strategy has been spray and pray, there’s no learning or testing going on.

Planning 30 days in advance gives you a bird’s eye view of your email marketing efforts.

What are your email themes? What messages are you sending? When are you sending emails?

Without that bird’s eye view… you’re honestly flying blind.

Reason #3 – Consistent Campaign Cadence

The best email marketing strategies include a consistent campaign cadence.

Do you send emails twice a week? Three times per week? More?

Do you send emails on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday? Or just whenever you have something to share?

There’s no right answer for how many emails to send or when to send emails.

Each brand is different.

But if you want to scale your email marketing, you need to have a (semi) consistent campaign cadence.

You can’t send 4 emails this week and then not send another email for 2 weeks.

You shouldn’t go from 1 email per week to 4 emails per week immediately.

Hopefully your goal is to send more emails (unless you’re already emailing 4-5 times per week)

And the best way to do that is to grow slowly and consistently.

To do that you need to be planning out in advance.

Reason #4 – Balance Emails and SMS

Email and SMS should work hand-in-hand.

But often, they seem to be competing for attention.

Each serves a unique purpose. Email is going to be better served for longer messages and educational content.

SMS is better for short messages, updates, and the occasional entertaining post.

When you plan out your efforts 30 to 60 days in advance, you can make sure that both your email and SMS messages are working together and they aren’t being sent on top of each other.

There’s nothing more annoying as a customer to get an email and an SMS at the same time about the same promotion.

Reason #5 – Plan Ahead for Promotions

I referenced this earlier in my section about the emotional bank accounts of your subscribers.

But I want to expand on this a little.

The best Facebook and Instagram ads look like they are just another post in the feed.

The best email promotions should look like they are just another email in their inbox.

This is important both to grab the attention of your subscribers but also to avoid landing in the promotion or SPAM folders.

When promotions fit into your overall campaign strategy and your “sale” emails fit seamlessly into your “value” emails then you easily draw in your subscribers and you’ve got a better chance of getting them to convert.

If your “sale” emails stand out like a sore thumb and scream “I WANT YOU TO BUY SOMETHING” subscribers who aren’t quite ready to buy yet will probably avoid the email.

And this has a trickle down effect on deliverability. Because the more people that open and click, the better chance you have of your emails landing in the primary inbox.

Reason #6 – Appropriate Lead Time for Launches or New Drops

Continuing with the theme of planning promotions ahead of time…

I see so many brands with little to no lead time for new product launches, drops, or big promotions.

They just show up one day in your inbox with this new product or special deal.

And rather than get excited about it, we start telling ourselves all of the reasons why we don’t need it.

But if you are planning ahead and you give yourself the proper lead time, you can seed your audience with emails that are promoting your new product or sale ahead of time.

In doing this you build excitement, and when you finally get to the live date… your subscribers have credit cards in hand and are chomping at the bit to give you their money.

Reason #7 – Collect Data

The number one thing that I love about my campaign calendar is using it to collect data and store it all in one place.

Klaviyo, ActiveCampaign, MailChimp, and all of the other ESPs do a great job of data collection. But it’s not always formatted in that way that you would like and it can take extra time to seek out exactly what you want.

Using a campaign calendar in Excel or Google Sheets, I build in columns to collect data on open rates, click through rates, conversion rates, and A/B test results.

That way I have an easy way to look back on previous campaigns as I plan out new ones to see what’s working and what needs improvement.

Test, test, test. 

Data, data, data.

Summary

Here’s the TL;DR for why you need to plan out your email campaigns at least 30 days in advance.

• Balance “sales” and “value” emails
• Bird’s eye view of email channel
• Consistent Campaign Cadence
• Emails and SMS
• Plan ahead for promotions
• Lead time for launches and product drops
• Collect data

What Should YOU Do Next?

1. Follow me on LinkedIn for daily email tips and what’s working now
2. Leave a like or a comment on this post to let me know what you thought. 
3. If you need an email list manager for your brand or business, send me an email at ben@henkenmarketing.com or fill out this form and I’ll be in touch.
4. Sign up for my weekly newsletters here and get these email tips and tricks sent directly to your inbox.