B2B Email Marketing Basics For Generating More New Clients

When starting out a business or if you currently have one that focuses on a product or service that is a solution for a business you should be creating campaigns.

There are a few great ways to generate new business through email marketing to businesses.

Overview of what we will be covering to help you generate more clients through email marketing

Generate Email List
Choose Email Client (Who will send your bulk emails)
Choose Sender
Create Email Subject Line
Create Email Body
Send Email
Follow up

Generate Email List

The first thing you want to do is create a spreadsheet to input the information about the businesses you want to contact. You can use Excel or a Google Spreadsheet. Using a Google Spreadsheet is very efficient as you can link it to your email client and it makes it much easier for importing and managing your email list.

In your spreadsheet you will want a minimum of the following columns:

Date
Title
First Name
Last Name
Email
Company
URL
Address
Phone Number

Splitting the information laid out above will make sending your list a lot easier and more personable in an email client which we cover below.

Generating an email list of businesses is actually a lot easier than most people find. There are a number of different ways to do so and depending on what you are looking to spend and the time you have it will make your choice clear.

Free: You can generate your business email list by going to Yellowpages.com, Whitepages.com, Yelp.com, etc, and fill in your spreadsheet. This can take a lot of time to generate a good size list that you will want to send.

Low Cost: Another option is to use a gig on Fiverr.com. Your search for a gig where someone will provide you with a list based on your search criteria. Usually, you can get them to do about 75 contacts for $5. You will provide them with your criteria and the information that you want to be returned.

Buying a List: Spending money on an email list requires a lot of due diligence. Always test a small sample to see the response rate. You can usually work with the representative who can give you advice on what they have seen to get the best results.

Other Options: You can have your personal or virtual assistant perform the email list aggregation as well if they have the time. Hiring a virtual assistant off Upwork.com or Elance.com can net you, someone, for about $2 an hour in Bangladesh who you can also train to do other work.

Choosing An Email Client

Once you have established your email marketing list you need to choose an email client to send the email. You could also send each email individually on your own but doing a bulk email blast is much more efficient. Email clients such as ConstantContact.com or Mailchimp.com allow you to send bulk emails and have free account options. They let you upload a list, manage the unsubscribes, monitor email metrics such as clicks and opens, and provide you with reporting.

Once you have your email client selected and have created an account you will want to upload your list. Create custom fields for all your columns in your spreadsheet if the email client does not have the option. You will want to bring in those fields to make your email more personalized.

Choosing Your Sender

When choosing your sender it is very important to send from your business domain for a number of reasons. Sending from your business domain creates credibility and branding. If you were doing business with a bank and were receiving emails from that employee’s Gmail account, would you completely trust them with your banking needs?

You will also want to choose if you will be sending from a person or the company’s business name. You may want to test this out as for different products or services you can generate different results.

Creating An Email Subject Line

Next, you will create your email campaign. The subject line is very important and is what will get people to view your email. You want your subject line to be intriguing and descriptive but not give it all away. Your subject line should be short and sweet. We have found the following to work very well.

We are averaging 46% open rates with these:

Following Up With You
Free Consultation for [business name]
Inquiry Response for [Name]

Create The Email Body

Once someone opens your email you want them to take an action such as responding to the email, going to your website, calling you, setting up an appointment, etc. Keep your email short and specific. People are overwhelmed with emails every day and if they open them they want to be able to skim read.

When creating the body of your email always focus on your objective. If the objective is to contact you back so you can sell them on your services then you want to build your email out in that way.

Event Planner Example:

[Name]

I was driving by your business the other day and thought I should reach out to you. I help small and medium-sized businesses. I have a few event ideas for you that will increase the productivity of your company.

Are you available Thursday or Friday for a quick call?

Thanks,

[My Name], [Title}

P: 555-55-5555 | [email] | Website

PS. Happy employees are 12% more productive. Source

The above is a good first email to start the email drip campaign and follow-up contact. It is an introduction to people and to get them thinking about what they can do to increase productivity. Every business owner wants to know how to get more out of their employees and this is a great way to get them on the phone.

You will want to use field merges in your email for personalization. This is how you can personalize emails that you are sending to the individual. Email clients allow you to add in fields that it pulls from your list. When you send the email it will be the name, company info, phone number, URL, etc that is related to the email address you uploaded.

Send Your Email

Now that you have your email campaign set up you want to send to test send to yourself and anyone else who can provide a second set of eyes. This is very important as it will help prevent any errors such as misspellings, grammar issues, and catch anything else that may need to be addressed.

Follow Up Emails To The Business

Now that you have sent out your first email you have just begun. It is very important to continue following up with your list. Ideally, you will want to follow up every 7 days. This gives someone enough time to read and respond to your email before you follow up with them. We have had leads with which we followed up with them for six months before they responded that we were able to do business with.

Your follow-up email should also be short. You can also follow up with any major updates for an industry or something that business owners should be aware of.

Example:

[Name]

I have sent you a few emails and I wanted to follow back up with you. Being I drive by your business all the time I wanted to set up a free consultation and tell you about how

Are you available tomorrow for a free consultation?