Email outreach is something that’s often essential to a business. There are a variety of reasons a business might be doing email outreach. One example is for link-building. Link-building done through email outreach takes a lot of time, but it can also be extremely effective.
If you’re sending out personal emails to a lot of people, you’re more than likely going to have at least a few that will link back to you, and a few can be significant.
Another reason you might be performing email outreach could be to find influencers willing to work with you. That kind of cold email outreach can be tough, and it can turn into something that feels like spam pretty fast.
Of course, there are other reasons for email outreach as well. With all that being said, it’s a tough thing to grasp, especially in the beginning. The objective, even when it’s a cold email, should always be the sense of creating a conversation.
The following are some general and specific things that you can use to improve your approach to email outreach, regardless of your particular goals.
Include a Video (If It’s Relevant)
In terms of not necessarily outreach specifically, but more email marketing in general, when possible think about including a video. According to a study by GetResponse that looked at nearly a billion emails, emails that include videos have an average of a 5.6 percent higher open rate and a 96.38 percent higher CTR than emails without a video.
Video is a preferred form of content for a lot of people including people who are part of the digital marketing industry.
Video tends to be highly engaging, and it’s something that’s going to get more attention initially but also better hold the attention of your audience. Of course, not every email is well-suited to videos, but when possible it’s a good option.
Even if you were doing outreach for link-building, maybe you include a video introducing yourself or your website briefly.
Show That You’ve Done Your Research
With email outreach you want to try to make it about the person you’re emailing more than yourself. You want that person to see value from working with you in some way.
A good way to show that you’re not making it all about you is to reference something about them to show you’ve done your research. For example, maybe you cite a specific article on their site you found particularly compelling or a video they made that you took a lot away from.
Whatever it is, you want to show that first, you’re not spamming them, that second you’re genuinely interested in them, and that third it’s not all about you but more about a mutually beneficial potential relationship.
Once you’ve done that and laid the groundwork to show that you’ve done your research, you can move into the exact action you would like them to take. When you are asking them to take action, outline bold steps they can take, while at the same time, framing it without the value you’re providing them.
Don’t Rely on Templates
It’s understandable as to why you might consider using templates for email outreach. It’s less time-consuming and maybe you want to follow a formula that’s proven. Templates aren’t the best option, however.
An outreach template is likely to be generic and fairly uninteresting.
One of the primary things that you have that no one else can take or copy is your voice. You should write as you speak, and as if you’re having a conversation with the person who’s going to be receiving the email. If you’re using a template, these are difficult objectives to achieve.
Finally, make sure that follow-up is just as important to overall outreach approach as anything else. The vast majority of people you’re reaching out to are not going to respond after the first email. However, you shouldn’t view a lack of response as a no. Instead, you should view it as an ongoing conversation and your follow-up emails are a continuation of that.
You should give it some time in between emails—consider waiting around 72 hours before you follow-up. That gives the person you’re writing the chance to respond, and it’s a fairly safe period of time to indicate that a reminder could be helpful.
You do want to learn how to balance persistence and a sense of follow-through with being annoying or intrusive.
Email outreach is a challenge, but once you start to have belief in the quality of your messaging, that will start to consistently show to recipients.
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