Author: Shira Abel Category: Enterprise Marketing URL: https://hunterandbard.com/resources/blog/setting-up-an-effective-drip-marketing-campaign
An email drip marketing campaign is an important component of an effective marketing sales funnel . In our last blog post we discussed how a well-crafted and...
An email drip marketing campaign is an important component of an effective marketing sales funnel. In our last blog post we discussed how a well-crafted and well-timed email drip marketing campaign can radically improve the quality of your marketing sales leads and your revenue. We also covered the different types of email drip campaigns and why and when they should be deployed. Now it's time to take a look at how to get started with the process.
If pushed, people will tell you that they wish they got fewer emails. In truth, what they'd like is to get fewer emails that waste their time. Follow the following steps, and you can rest assured that your emails won't fall into that category.
It almost goes without saying that, like everything in marketing, the first step to crafting a smart and useful email drip campaign is to lay the groundwork for the campaign. But what does that mean in this situation?
Simply put, before setting up your email drip campaign, you have to choose the goals and objectives for the email series. That's going to involve a bit of research and deep thinking.
Before getting to step two, can you answer the following questions?
Once you've answered the questions above, it's time to think about what will trigger the start of the email drip campaign and the subsequent emails. The answer depends on the type of campaign you intend to run, but might also depend on the path you want the prospect or client to follow. Either way, knowing the details before you even start crafting the different components of the campaign will make the entire process more smooth.
No matter what type of email drip campaign you decide to run, there's little doubt that the be all/end all goal is to drive conversions and sales. With that in mind, it's important to connect with the sales team to ensure that the series of emails impart the information that they need leads to know and gathers the information that the sales team needs to make the sales.
Sitting down with the sales team before crafting the content of the drip campaign will ensure that the campaign objectives align with the sales team goals and that it ends up being an effective use of marketing resources.
One could easily argue that this is the most crucial step to the whole process. If your emails are boring or irrelevant it won't matter what triggers them, what they look like, or who receives them. Great content will engage your prospects or clients and ensure that your next emails get opened.
So, what does great email content look like? Easy.
Great emails are:
Write every email with the recipient in mind. Read all emails out loud multiple times. And don't forget to spend a significant amount of time working on your subject lines. If the recipient never opens the email, then all of the time you spent on the content will be wasted.
Again, this is one of those steps that are going to depend on the campaign you decide to run. Will you be sending emails daily? A few times a week? Will subsequent emails be sent only if the recipient opens the previous one or engages with the previous one? The decisions you make should be contingent on both your objectives and your target audience. Keeping in mind who you're speaking to, will keep you from either over or underwhelming them with your correspondence and rhythm.
OK, we have an objective, a target audience, some well crafted emails, and we know when we want them to go out to. What's left? Figuring out who will be receiving them.
Your email distribution system will allow you to segment any existing lists, which will in turn allow you to carefully target the correct recipients for each email drip campaign you send out. You may decide to craft different types of campaigns for different segments, or alter the frequency emails get sent out depending on who will be receiving them.
The beauty of email drip marketing campaigns is that once they are set up, you don't have to mess with them too much. They'll do the hard nurturing work for you.
That said, you shouldn't just set a drip campaign and forget it. Monitoring the open rates, click rates, and unsubscribe rates will give you the change to make slight changes to frequency or even content so that you can make sure your campaigns consistently deliver the best results possible.
Hunter & Bard is a San Francisco-based B2B strategy consultancy founded in 2011 by Shira Abel. We help deep-tech and enterprise SaaS companies fix their positioning, sharpen their messaging, and close $100K+ deals.
We work with B2B leaders who are tired of being overlooked, underestimated, or mistaken for their competitors. Our specialty is turning complex, technical products into clear, compelling stories that win enterprise deals.
We believe that perception drives revenue. If your buyers can't tell you apart from the next vendor in 30 seconds, you have a positioning problem — not a marketing problem. We fix that.
Perception = (Story × Visibility) ÷ Noise
This framework drives everything we do. Your story has to be sharp. Your visibility has to be strategic. And you have to cut through the noise — not add to it.
Shira Abel — Founder & CEO. Kellogg MBA. 20+ years in B2B marketing. Former CMO. Keynote speaker. Published in Forbes, HuffPost, and Wired. Specialist in enterprise positioning and perception strategy.
Daina Reed — Founding Designer & Partner. 15+ years in product and brand design. Former Senior Product Designer at Dun & Bradstreet. Specialist in enterprise UX, visual identity, and design systems.