A great email database is an invaluable resource for companies of all shapes and sizes, and for years email marketing has played an integral role in online marketing. In recent years, thanks to advancements in online advertising, email marketing can now extend beyond the inboxes of the users on your email lists. Today, email targeting can be used to reach previous customers and other contacts as they search on Google, browse social media and navigate the web.
Let’s take a look at two of the ways you can extend your email marketing efforts beyond traditional methods:
1. On Google
In September 2015, Google launched Customer Match, which gave advertisers the ability to upload their existing email lists and target those users on Google Search, YouTube, and Gmail. To reach these users, Google matches the email addresses on your list against those of signed-in users on Google.
So what can you do with your email lists once you have them uploaded? The possibilities are endless, but here are a few ways:
- To Upsell: If you have access to email lists broken out by purchase type, you can use Customer Match for upsell opportunities. Hotels can promote extended night stays for a reduced rate to users who recently booked a room. Trade shows can push workshops to recently registered trade guests. Clothing companies can encourage purchases of coordinating blouses, shoes, and accessories to users who recently purchased pants or skirts.
- To Exclude Current Customers:If your goal is to increase new customers, you can exclude current customers from your advertising efforts to ensure your budget is only being used to reach new audiences.
- To Push Users Down the Funnel: Most email databases are filled with users who have signed up for an email newsletter, downloaded a white paper or entered a sweepstakes but have never actually converted to a customer. Develop unique ads and landing pages designed just for them, and include special discounts or offers to give them that extra push they need.
2. On Social Media
I recently blogged about 3 BIG Reasons Why Your Facebook Ads Aren’t Performing, and one of the main takeaways of that post was how crucial it is to get your targeting right. What if I told you that you could get even more specific with your targeting by uploading your email lists to Facebook and Twitter? Both social networks match the email addresses on your lists with the email addresses associated with users’ accounts, and advertise to those individuals within their Facebook Newsfeeds and Twitter Timelines. You can’t get much more targeted than that! Email list targeting on both Facebook and Twitter is referred to as “Custom Audience” targeting.
As with Google’s Customer Match, there are many effective ways to use your email lists on Facebook and Twitter, including all of those listed in that section above. Some of our other favorite ways to use Custom Audiences include:
- To Grow Your Fan Base: How many of your current customers aren’t fans of your brand on Facebook or Twitter? The answer is probably, a lot! The easiest way to grow your follower base is to reach out to users who are already customers of your brand. Create a Page Likes or Followers campaign and target only users on your email list that haven’t yet liked or followed your account.
- To Reach Users Who Never Open Your Emails: What good is a great email list if nobody ever opens your emails? It’s inevitable that a portion of the users on your list won’t ever open the emails you send them. Luckily email isn’t the only way to reach them, anymore!
- Drive Booth Visits During Events: If you’re exhibiting at a large trade show or event, promote your attendance and drive traffic to your booth by advertising to relevant users before and during the event. Be sure to include booth information and incentives to stop by in your ad message.
As if your email list wasn’t valuable enough before all of these new targeting methods became available, it’s 100x more valuable now! There are multiple additional strategies to get value out of Customer Match and Custom Audiences. How have you used these techniques in your online marketing strategy?
