Introduction
Email remains an important and effective means of connecting with your audience. Email is so ubiquitous that constructing a promotional email may seem like a no-brainer. But if you’ve fallen into a rut and your latest emails have not generated the expected results, it may be time to review some email content creation fundamentals, and consider some alternatives to what you’ve been doing.
Defining Your Audience
Targeting developers? Which ones? Front-end, back-end, UX, UI? While your product may be applicable to all developers, perhaps there are incremental benefits to a subset of developers who can be micro-targeted with your messaging. Tailoring your content in such a way personalizes it, and can help the developer see the connection between your solution and their need. Since many purchase decisions are made by the leaders of development teams, your messaging should specifically resonate in such a way that the team leader sees benefits in productivity, quality, and happiness/motivation for their development team.
Central Message
Start with an outline which follows a format of introduction, central message, call to action, and conclusion. Your header or title should entice your audience to want to learn more. The intro has to capture the attention of the developer, but it can’t give away your central message — otherwise, why would anybody waste time reading the rest of your content? The central message should describe the situation your product addresses and provide a solution which demonstrates the value of your product to the developer. Examples like code, quotes, hard data, and references will reinforce your central message and reassure the reader that your solution is viable and trustworthy.
Call to Re-Action
Your call to action has to be motivating, so keep it simple. It’s equally important that the action be easily traceable. The devil is in the details, so take a critical look at the color, position, and text of your action button.
Do you want respondents to:
- Ask for more info
- Try a sample
- Join your cause
- Activate a membership or trial
- Subscribe to your newsletter or software
- Learn more about your product
- Sign up for something
- Trial your product
- Follow your lead
- Start a conversation
- Engage with you
- Continue a trial or subscription
Using action words will compel your audience to react, so create a compelling call to action. Then, make sure the processes are in place to enable you to attribute respondents’ actions to your campaign — usually through a hyperlink leading to a process within your marketing automation software.
The call to action has to motivate your reader into action, or get a reaction from your reader. Your conclusion should be a summary to the jury reinforcing the benefits of your product, highlighting key points covered in your central message, and referencing resources for further action or support.
For More Information
Now it’s time to provide you with a call to action which addresses all of the points highlighted in this article. For your next campaign, partner with the digital marketing professionals at DeveloperMedia. From developer audience targeting, to content creation, to results and analysis, DeveloperMedia has the edge because they focus on marketing to developers. They understand the market, and they understand your needs. Creating the connection between you and your developer audience is their objective. Give them a call and experience the difference DeveloperMedia can make in your marketing campaigns!
Resources
DeveloperMedia – Email
You’ve Got (To Use) Email! · DeveloperMedia
DeveloperMedia – Why Email Marketing is More Effective than Social Media in Reaching Developers
https://developermedia.com/why-email-marketing-is-more-effective-in-reaching-developers
Agile Teams: Don’t use happiness metrics, measure Team Morale
Developer Media: Meet the Developer – Show Me the Code
https://developermedia.com/meet-the-developer-introducing-anupam-chugh/
DeveloperMedia – Metrics
Email Open Rates: Misleading Metrics and Best Practices · DeveloperMedia
Hubspot call-to-action examples
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/call-to-action-examples
DeveloperMedia – Programs Overview
