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Freshen Up Your Awards Program’s Email Marketing with These Templates

Published April 16, 2015 in Leadership

Here at OpenWater we’ve got spring on our minds (like everyone else) and everything you can associate with it, like baby lambs, daffodils, sunshine, and spring-cleaning. Basically during spring one thinks about all things related to freshness and newness.

So we wondered, how can we apply this to awards programs? And then we thought about how sometimes when one is super busy it’s easy to get stuck doing the same thing over and over just because you know how to get it done quickly.

Take email marketing as an example. We know that using email to get in touch with your potential entrants is a great way to market you awards. However, sometimes it can seem like just another thing to check off the list and your content ends up getting in a rut.

So how do we solve this problem? By making base templates that any awards program can use!

That’s right, we created templates for 5 different types of email marketing. In this way we’re hoping to save you some time by not only giving you a base to work from, but also providing various forms of emails in order to keep the information fresh and interesting. Happy Spring!

(You can download the templates right now by clicking here)

The types of emails we created templates for are:

1. Stand-Alone Emails

Stand-alone emails are emails that you send just once. Depending on your program and the number of contacts you have, sending out one or two stand-alone emails may seem appropriate. For example, announcing your call for entry or providing key information about other aspects of your awards program.

2. Newsletters

Some organizations worry that emailing contacts about their awards program too often will make them come across as spammy. Newsletters are a great solution to this issue. Including information about your program in your organization’s newsletter is a great way to market the awards without coming off as pushy or spammy.

3. Lead-Nurturing Emails

Lead-nurturing emails are a series of emails centered on a single theme that contain useful content for the reader. This is great for all of your contacts, but especially for those who have never entered your program. In these emails include information such as submissions, announcements and deadlines, application information, best practices, criteria, updates, and judges’ bios.

4. Sponsorship Emails

If you’re still worried about seeming spammy, but want the recognition for your awards that email marketing brings, consider looking into sponsorship emails. This type of email isn’t actually one you send out, instead your information is included in another industry-related organization’s email or newsletter.

5. Transactional Emails

Finally, you can promote your awards in transactional emails, i.e. thank-you emails that are sent after an action has been completed. If the action taken is relevant to what your awards program is about, include a small call-to-action in the email. Be careful not to make the call-to-action too forceful; leave it subtle, encouraging the viewer to learn more

Click the button below to download the templates today and kick your awards marketing up a notch!

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Miriam Hancock

Miriam Hancock
Miriam is the Marketing Coordinator for OpenWater. When she isn't writing and designing content she paints and cooks for her own personal blog.

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