Our Holiday Marketing Wish List

What we want in our in-boxes this year.

Forget the stockings. We have a holiday wishlist, and it’s got nothing to do with presents. Welcome to our Holiday Marketing Wishlist, where we break down the things we wish Marketers were doing more of, less of, and adding to their playbook for 2020.

It’s just a little insight from our Marketing team to yours. Consider it a one-of-a-kind holiday gift from your friends at Knak.

What we wish Marketers would do more of

Sometimes a little goes a long way. Here are some small marketing moves that have a big impact.

• Sit in on customer/prospect calls. Even on small teams, there can be a disconnect between sales and marketing. Listen in on your sales team’s calls once in a while to find out what questions they’re being asked and how they’re responding. Understanding your prospect’s perspective can inform your day-to-day approach.
• Be authentic and provide value to your audience. Not everything needs to end with a sales pitch. Really. Add value with the content you’re sending, and you’ll establish a new level of credibility with your audience.
• Create a playbook for your repeat projects. You’ll save time, improve quality, and streamline your processes.
• Do little things that delight your customers. Send a holiday gift to your top customers, branded onesies to clients who’ve had babies, a bottle of wine to clients who won an award, etc. They’re small gestures on your end, but genuine kindness goes a long way.

What we wish Marketers would do less of

Just like we said above, a little goes a long way. Being careless with your strategy is a surefire way to take a great user experience and move it down a few notches. Here are a few things that should be on your “Naughty” list.

• Sending inauthentic communications. Be genuine with your customers. Believe us, they can tell.
• Ignoring existing customers. Focusing the bulk of your energy on new prospects is a major mistake. A loyal customer is one of your most valuable assets, and we’d suggest that the most important relationship building you’re going to do is the kind that takes place after they convert.
• Sending too many emails. When nurture emails overlap, you create a poor user experience. Look at your plan and make sure your content is going out at appropriate intervals.
• Wasting time in HTML & coding. Don’t waste your valuable (and limited) resources on HTML and coding. Building emails with modules or templates eliminates this roadblock and speeds up your time-to-market. In fact, we’d be happy to recommend a product that can help you out with this. We hate to see friends waste time!

What we wish Marketers knew

Ok, we covered the basics. Now, here are some next-level marketing moves to help you up your game in the new year.

• Focus on the content, not the tactics. Trying new tactics is great, but if you’re constantly changing your approach to drive click-thru rates, there’s a good chance your content is all over the place. Don’t try to trick readers into opening emails. Customers need to understand what to expect from you, so make sure your content strategy is cohesive, intuitive, and adds value.
• Understand your audience. Keyword research is SO important here. Find out what your audience is interested in, and use it to add value to your content. Include external links to content your audience will appreciate – you’re not directing traffic away from your site. You’re establishing your site as a central location for valuable resources.
• Make sure your presentation reflects your brand. When your audience sees your content, is it distinctively yours? These three components work together to communicate your distinct brand identity: Content, tone, and design.This may seem basic, but you’d be surprised how many organizations ignore one or more of these in their rush to get emails out the door. Don’t cut corners. Sending under-developed or hastily designed content does more harm than good and will lead readers to make a negative connection with your brand.*Note: For some great design tips, check out our UI/UX Designer’s blog, or Quicksprout’s Ultimate Guide to Creating Visually Appealing Content.
• Build amazing landing pages. Yes, your emails should look amazing, and your CTAs need to be compelling. But don’t ignore what happens next. Your landing page is key to conversions, and it should be designed just as thoughtfully as your emails. Stay tuned for some exciting landing page news from Knak, but HubSpot has some great landing page design tips in the meantime.

Thanks for checking out our wishlist, readers. Have something to add? Comment below and let us know what’s on your Holiday Marketing Wishlist. Cheers to a new year of amazing emails!

Knak is the first email creation platform built for marketing teams. We help you create beautiful, responsive, world-class emails, no coding required. Get to know us at knak.com.