Manufacturing and skilled trades are two industries that are an absolute necessity for our country. They are also a proud niche of ours here at Michigan Creative. We strive to be a resource to help businesses attract talented employees and grow their brands. One marketing tactic we find to be helpful specifically for manufacturers and skilled trades is email automation. So, here are three email automation basics for manufacturers and skilled trades to help get started.
Create a template and duplicate
Gaining new clients and customers is time-consuming, and there are many moving parts involved. Business automation is your friend, and when it comes to marketing, repurposing content is your best friend. Luckily, email automation allows you to have a “set and forget it” mentality. Start by reviewing other marketing emails. Write down what you like and don’t like about the marketing emails you’ve received. Utilize that information to build an email template that you can then base your email automation on, and be sure to include some high-quality photos, maybe a video, and always have various forms of CTA’s scattered throughout your email. Once you’re happy with a template to run with, turn it into an email campaign to set and forget, at least until a lead comes knocking!
Start with one workflow and branch out
Are you happy with your template? Great! Now let’s make it work for you. Using an email automation tool like Hubspot, you can easily create a funnel that users will automatically subscribe to receive your emails (already written) based on an action they’ve taken. These actions can be anything from filling out a form on your website or maybe it’s a current client you’re already doing business with. Don’t get carried away if you’re just starting out, and keep it simple by sticking to a single enrollment trigger that can be branched out and more personalized to what users are showing interest in (a CTA click) as they move through your automation. When the time is right, you can automate a task that sends the lead to your sales team to reach out to and close.
Integrate a CRM
When implementing email marketing, you may also want to integrate a CRM platform. This helps to keep contacts and other important details organized. Our CRM of choice here at Michigan Creative is HubSpot. It’s user-friendly and provides us with details on the entire customer journey. Then we create automated emails to share relevant content they’ve shown interest in until they become a conversation.
Email marketing is just one of the many things that can help grow your business. Marketing is a combination of many moving parts, all acting as a single robust machine to grow your business. If you’re interested in learning more about how it works, you can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for the latest tips and tricks around marketing.