How often do you email teachers? Once a week? Once a month? Less often?

Having worked with hundreds of clients on thousands of email campaigns to schools and teachers, I’m aware that the ‘frequency dilemma’ is a common area of concern for many.

You don’t want to SPAM your subscribers with endless marketing messages, but you do want to develop and maintain brand awareness among your audience.

You worry that by emailing every week, people will get bored and race to the unsubscribe link. BUT if you are sending out campaigns infrequently, or worse, sporadically, you risk missing out when a school makes the decision to go out and buy exactly what you have to offer.

So, what do you do? Is there a ‘right’ way to do things?

Yes!

Ok, I know email marketing is far too subjective and unpredictable to talk in terms of absolutes. Every marketing strategy is different and if it works for you, it’s right for you. But… there is a reliable approach to the ‘frequency dilemma’ which will help you achieve your objectives.

The answer is good quality content. You can email your subscribers as often as you like IF you have something of value to say. Don’t blast out the same message every few weeks and expect people to continue to engage. Even if you are changing up the layout and the text, if the message is the same, the results will decline over time.

The best way to ensure you have lots to say is to plan your content in advance. Create a content calendar and stick to it, and you’ll see your engagement rates and ROI take off.

Familiarity breeds trust. Psychological studies have shown that the more someone is exposed to something, the more positive they feel about it.

So, once you have established that brand recognition, keep it up. Even if you aren’t selling in every email, you are staying top of mind, and establishing yourself as the best option in your industry. So, when a school comes to make that all important purchase, it will be you they come to!

Spend time understanding who is and isn’t engaging with your content. Look at the analytics to build a picture of how recipients respond when they see your name in the inbox, and develop a strategy around that.

For those who regularly read and click through, how about rewarding them with a limited time special offer?

Finally, don’t ignore those who never engage. Maybe they just need a different motivation. Try testing different subject lines and content for these readers to find out what it is that they want to see.

It may sometimes feel as though you are wasting time carefully crafting message after message to people who don’t respond, but regular quality communication with thousands of potential customers is never wasted. Most people will view an average of seven pieces of content from an organisation before they make an enquiry, so regular contact is essential if you want to make those conversions.

It’s also important to bear in mind that if your product or service has a larger price tag, the enquiry will only come when the school is actively seeking to make that large purchase. Maintaining a regular line of communication so they don’t forget you is a much more sensible strategy than keeping your fingers crossed that your message will happen to fall in front of them at that fortuitous moment.