Scrappy Marketing on a Budget: Planning Dynamic Email Campaigns

In a highly competitive market, the struggle for exposure can be difficult and expensive, and sometimes your own resources aren’t available for a costly campaign blitz. This is why RV dealership success requires a nimble-minded ability to think outside the box and develop advertising solutions that don’t break the bank. In other words, RV dealers need to learn how to be scrappy in marketing without spending a dime - or at least, spending very few dimes!

It’s important to keep in mind that being scrappy with resources doesn’t mean a dealership’s marketing strategies should suffer. Even on a tight budget, dealers can maximize exposure, cultivate a sterling reputation, develop a leading voice, and become a powerhouse in sales. In Part 2 of our Scrappy Marketing on a Budget series, we’re discussing how that success can be achieved when dealers Plan Dynamic Emails.

Previously we’ve discussed:

• Benefits of Dynamic Email Campaigns

In this article:

• Planning Dynamic Email Campaigns

As you develop and implement email marketing campaigns, you’ll continue to learn more and more about what works for your dealership and your audience. Plus, the Internet is overflowing with guides about sending effective emails (like this field guide from MailChimp, or this ultimate guide from HubSpot). So that you don’t have to scour the web and spend hours and hours reading all those guides, we’ve collected the most relevant planning tips for email campaign beginners. While the following recommendations don’t exhaustively cover everything about email, they should give you a solid starting point for meeting the basic email marketing best practices as you plan your campaign:

Selecting an Email Service Provider (ESP): Unless you employ your own email specialist, you’re likely going to need some help putting together and sending out emails. ESPs offer user-friendly software to create, develop, and implement email marketing strategies. Many of these companies have starting packages which are free, with affordable upgrades available for purchase, making them perfect for a scrappy marketing team. Popular ESPs include MailChimp, MailerLite, TargetHero, SendInBlue, ReachMail, Benchmark, and Constant Contact.

Getting Organized: Before you start signing people up to receive emails, you’ll have to decide what the purpose of your email campaign is, what type of content can best serve that goal, and how frequently that content needs to be shared. Because emails should go out on a regular basis, it is best to organize, schedule, and track that content via a content calendar. As your email reach grows, you may even offer various options to customers based on how often they want to receive emails or the type of content they prefer. The ongoing development of your email program will require a strong commitment to staying organized.

Selecting Content: Once you have a basic plan, it’s time to select the exact content that will go out. Emails can share expert content, exclusive offers, company updates, new product details, industry news, upcoming dealership events, or popular social media posts - just to name a few. Your content is up to you, and will depend on what you can offer and who your audience is - just be sure that what you share is professional, insightful, and aligned with your email marketing goals.

Gaining Subscribers: There are a number of effective ways to get people to sign up to receive your emails, including requiring an email to access certain parts of your website or to download certain content, asking social media followers to subscribe via a landing page, or collecting emails in-person while at tradeshows or in your dealership. From an ethical standpoint, people should always know when their email is collected, what kind of emails they may receive, and how often they will be emailed. Always state your purpose when collecting emails, avoid buying pre-collected lists from outside parties, and only send what you say you will - you don’t want to be known as an annoying “spammer.” Following these best practices for gaining subscribers will help you maintain a robust list of followers who are interested in your content, and also helps maintain your reputation as a quality industry leader.

Once you have selected an ESP, organized your efforts, selected specific content, and gained subscribers, you will be set-up for success and ready to actually implement a dynamic email marketing campaign. And, of course, our tips and tricks for implementing email campaigns will be coming soon.

And there you have it. When the marketing budget is tight, and the money just isn’t there for an expensive advertising campaign, crafting dynamic emails is a great way to successfully maximize exposure and grow sales. And if you’re looking for more ways to pursue Scrappy Marketing on a Budget, future posts in this series will further discuss email campaign implementation and analysis, as well as community service. Stay tuned.

Scrappy Marketing on a Budget: Benefits of Dynamic Email Campaigns

In a highly competitive market, the struggle for exposure can be difficult and expensive, and sometimes your own resources aren’t available for a costly campaign blitz. This is why dealership success requires a nimble-minded ability to think outside the box and develop advertising solutions that don’t break the bank. In other words, RV dealers need to learn how to be scrappy in marketing without spending a dime - or at least, spending very few dimes.

It’s important to keep in mind that being scrappy with resources doesn’t mean a dealership’s marketing strategies should suffer. Even on a tight budget, RV dealers can maximize exposure, cultivate a sterling reputation, develop a leading voice, and become a powerhouse in sales. In our first edition of our Scrappy Marketing on a Budget series, we’re discussing how that success can be achieved when dealers Craft Dynamic Emails.

Despite new forms of communication constantly emerging, email remains an important tool in any marketing and advertising strategy - plus, it tends to deliver a solid bang for your buck. In 2018, marketing professionals ranked email as the most effective digital media channel, over social media, SEO, content development, direct mail, affiliates, and display advertising. That’s likely because email’s return on investment (ROI) sits at a whopping 3,800%, returning $38 for every $1 spent. In fact, many Email Service Providers (ESPs) offer free starting packages, usually with reasonably-priced upgrades available.

Email is not only affordable for scrappy marketers on a budget, but also the quality of leads it generates is higher than other methods and it often works seamlessly in conjunction with other marketing campaigns you have going on. As you think about incorporating email into your strategy, consider these other benefits:

Email is the primary form of communication in the United States. In fact, among US adults who use the Internet, 85% of them have email, a greater number than those who use search engines or social media. Almost every person who could potentially buy from your dealership is going to have email, making an email campaign a great way to generate new leads or re-engage previous customers. In short, go where the people are, and they’re on email.

Email grows your influence through its ability to serve a variety of purposes. By keeping your dealership top-of-mind, email can help maintain and expand a consumer’s awareness of your brand, while also providing expert content, promoting products, and sharing exclusive offers. The access you gain via email can become an important aspect of building relationships with prospects and nurturing them into leads and sales - as well as continuing to maintain and grow relationships with your current customers.

Email effectively generates leads and sales. Consider these powerful statistics: Two-thirds of customers have purchased a product directly resulting from a marketing email, and buyers who received email marketing spent 138% more than buyers who didn’t receive email offers. Email campaigns consistently prove to effectively generate leads and sales and, in fact, email marketing acquires customers 40X more effectively than Facebook and Twitter combined. That’s not bad, considering how impactful social media has become in our society.

You own your subscriber list. As you develop your email program, a primary component will be getting people to sign up to receive your emails. What is great about collecting emails is that once you have your growing subscriber list, you own it and can store it in your own files. Unlike with social media, you don’t have to worry about losing your contacts if your account is canceled or if the platform itself happens to shut down. If you have a problem with one email provider, you can simply move on to another one while maintaining your subscriber list.

Here’s the short version: Email is hugely popular, ESPs offer free basic packages with affordable upgrades, and dynamic email campaigns can expand your dealership’s reach, generate leads and sales, and deliver a profitable ROI. Add all those benefits together and incorporating an email strategy into your scrappy marketing efforts should be an obvious decision.

Well there you have it. When the marketing budget is tight, and the money just isn’t there for an expensive advertising campaign, crafting dynamic emails is a great way to successfully maximize exposure and grow sales. And if you’re looking for more ways to pursue Scrappy Marketing on a Budget, future posts in this series will further discuss email campaign planning, implementation, and success, as well as community service. Stay tuned!