A broadcast message should be part of your email marketing strategy.
Broadcast emails go to everyone on a list within your email software. That can be absolutely every contact you have an email address for or, if you have specific lists for different types of contact, you can select which list(s) to send to. You can even take it further and choose a segment of a list by using the tags you’ve assigned to contacts.
Email Marketing ~vs~ Social Media
Email marketing should feature within every company’s marketing strategy. Many smaller or new businesses rely on social media profiles to create their list of contacts and keep in touch with them.
Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with using social media to market your business… it too should be part of your overall marketing strategy.
However, all too often you hear that a social media platform has had a ‘blip’ and a profile or page has been removed… or that members of a group have been thrown out (it genuinely does happen, it’s happened to me).
With email marketing, you own your list of contacts. The platform won’t remove them or delete them. They are yours to contact when and how you wish.
GDPR in the UK
In the UK we have the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) which prevent us from simply adding emails to an email campaign without permission from the email address owner.
We also have to provide anyone who has ‘signed up’ with the option to unsubscribe at any time.
This shouldn’t put any one off building their email list though.
Quite the opposite in fact.
A successful email campaign should build relationships with your target audience and so if you send emails to people who don’t know you or want to hear from you, you really are just wasting your time. It could even damage your reputation. If you are marketing effectively then your prospective customers will want to sign up and read what you have to say.
The difference between broadcast emails and an email automation
Email automation
If you have a ‘lead magnet’ on your website, for example a free pdf, or you ask people to sign up to your newsletter or email blast, their email will be added to your email marketing software. If set up correctly, this will issue an automated email to them confirming their action – these are often called autoresponder emails… I’m sure you’ve received them.
Usually that will then trigger them to be added to an email automation (in some software this is sometimes called a ‘campaign’ – but, just to confuse things, in other software a broadcast email is called a campaign!)
For the purposes of this article, if a number of emails are triggered to be sent automatically to a contact, then we will call it an automation.
So, for example, someone may sign up to receive a lead magnet you have available on your website. Once they have entered their name and email, they receive a pre-programmed number of emails from you – the first of which will deliver the promised document – at a set period (eg one a week). This is an email automation.
It doesn’t matter whether someone signs up today or in a year’s time, they receive the same emails in the same order, with the same time gaps in-between each.
Now, let’s just say you have three different lead magnets, each with their own automation. If you create each sign up forms correctly this will add the contact to the list associated with the particular lead magnet they are interested in and tag their record too.
Broadcast Emails
Broadcast emails can be sent at any time and in addition to any automations which that contact is in.
You could send your broadcast email to a selected list or lists, or to all your contacts. It is issued once; on the date and time you schedule it to be sent.
Why use broadcast emails?
If you have a slick email strategy, the people on your contact list will be in an automation most of the time.
As mentioned above, these emails are written and added to the sequence once and issued when each individual contact enters that list.
But what happens if you have some news that is time critical? Or want to tell your email subscribers about a flash sale?
This is where broadcast messaging really comes into its own.
Your broadcast email can be prepared and sent to the segments of your list that you want to receive it. Once it’s been issued and delivered its valuable content, its task is over.
Most email marketing software will provide you with a report to show you how many people opened your broadcast email, in what time frame, and the click through rates.
Broadcast emails can be incredibly useful to keep your subscribers up to date with company news, notified of sales promotions, to let them know about an online event you are running, or to notify them of product releases and product launches.
If you need to let people know quickly, and the information is only relevant ‘now’, broadcast emails are the way to go.
Not sure you want to automate but still want to email
Many people who use email marketing in their business do not exclusively use automated sequences.
I personally email my subscribers through broadcast messages in the main.
Each week I email a number of my lists.
I may be emailing about some industry news or changes, it may be a personal musing on something that’s happened… my emails really could be on any subject at all that I believe the people on my list will find either valuable, educational, or amusing.
I still do have some automations running. To deliver lead magnets. To welcome new clients onboard.
But in the main, I use one time only broadcast messages.
Is all broadcast messaging through email?
The short answer to this question is no.
I talk about email automations and email broadcasts because writing these is a service Raspberry Flamingo offers to its clients.
However, broadcast messages can by achieved through SMS messaging, Whatsapp messaging, and even social media platforms such as LinkedIn allow users to send broadcast messages to all their contacts (if you are signed up on the correct plan).
Want to know more about email marketing?
Have a look at our email marketing service page and then contact me directly. You can email me on claire@raspberryflamingo.com or Whatsapp me using the QR code on this page.
The author
Claire Taylor Foster is the founder of Raspberry Flamingo Copywriting and Content Marketing.
She started her copywriting and marketing after leaving school way too long ago to mention! Direct Response Copy is her passion. Read more on Claire here.
As far as Claire’s concerned, if copy and content doesn’t contain ‘on-page’ SEO, then it’s pointless publishing it! (Unless of course, paid advertising is going to drive the traffic.)
