Let's Get Into Some Email Marketing!

Geoff Arbuckle

Hello again, fellow eTappers!  This is Geoff from the Onboarding and Adoption team.  Last week I posted about one of my Success Webinars, called Online Forms in eTapestry.  This week I want to talk about the other one I do - Email Marketing 101.


As I mentioned in that previous post, we're living in the digital world of the 21st century.  As absolutely important it is that you have an online presence to help you bring in more donations from frequent and casual visitors to your website, it is positively vital that you are able to get the word out about your online form.  As the world shifts toward digital media, I'm sure you can see how beneficial having a good email marketing strategy can be for your organization.  A well-constructed email in a well-timed campaign can reach even more constituents and help you find even better dividends!


So what do we talk about in this webinar?  Again, much like the Online Forms webinar I discussed last week, this one is free for any user of eTapestry - and a great place to start if you're a brand new organization to eTapestry, or simply a new user to the program, or hadn't yet uncovered what your Mass Email license can do for you.  It's about an hour in length and is broken down into the following sections:

• We begin by discussing a general Overview about email.  We talk about how email has grown in use and how, despite how many emails we all receive in a single day, it continues to perform strongly for non-profit organization.  We then go into Best Practices about how to best create your online copy to find the best audience and get your message noticed quickly and succinctly.  We even breakdown the entire anatomy of an email.
• Next, we spend some time with each step of Creating an Email Template.  It all begins with selecting some settings you wish to use in your email.  Then you select what layout you wish to use for the general appearance of the template.  Finally, you get to edit the email to convey the message you want your recipients to read.
• Once we have the email template created, it's then time to discuss Sending an Email.  I go through each step of sending a mass email so it can be sent to the group of recipients you want, that it appears to come from the "sender" you want, and even how you can schedule the email to send at a later time if you need it to be sent when you aren't going to be sitting in front of your eTapestry database.

Much like the Online Forms webinar, I then close the hour out by going into my test database and giving you a real time demo of how the Mass Email function works.  So you're not only seeing the steps laid out for you, but you're also seeing the entire process in motion. But that's not all either, dear eTappers!  I even make sure we spend some time with a Q&A so I can make sure I answer whatever questions you may have too.


Sounds pretty awesome, right?  Well, if you want to get in on this webinar, you can find it every other Thursday at 2pm Eastern Time.  You can register for either this webinar (as well as the Online Forms webinar) by clicking HERE.  Since that is a live class, you are more than welcome to interact with me and ask questions using the chat feature in the program we use for the webinars.


If the times listed above don't work for your schedule, don't fret - there's another option!  There is a resource found right here in the Blackbaud Community that contains a link to a recording as well as a PDF version of the slideshow for download.  Of course, since that is a recording, there is not a way to directly communicate with me during the presentation, but you are more than welcome to comment on this post with what questions or comments you may have.  You can find that resource for this webinar by clicking HERE.


We even have a much more in-depth training course you can participate in as well.  If you want to really get into the minute details of how to target your email communications to your specific groups, how to optimize your email's contents, how to best boost your campaign efforts, and how to best test your email's appearance across several platforms, then I definitely want to invite you to take part in our 3-hour Best Practice training course.  You can find out more information about that course by clicking right HERE.


I just want to say thank you for checking out my posts about these two Success Webinars that I host each week.  Again, feel free to comment or visit my profile to connect as friends, and allow me to wish you Happy Online Fundraising and the best of luck with your Email Campaigns!