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Different Ways to Use Email Marketing for Your Awards Program

Email marketing is pretty sweet, am I right? It’s a great, cost-efficient way to stay in touch with contacts, alerting them to upcoming events and updates in your organization, or promoting offers and new content. Despite its obvious benefits some people are wondering if it’s still a good way to market, to which I say, “Yes it is!” In fact, Litmus found that 82% of consumers open emails from companies.

So when your organization’s award season rolls around be sure to include emails in your marketing strategy. If you’re intimidated by the idea of getting more serious about using email marketing for your awards program, you don’t have to be. Remember: you’ve been doing this kind of stuff already, now you’re just applying it to another area of your organization.

We’ve put together 5 different types of emails below you can use for marketing your program to help you get started!

1. Stand-Alone Emails

Stand-alone emails are isolated emails that are only sent off once, like announcing your call for entry. Sending out only 1 or 2 stand-alone emails about your awards program might be appropriate and sufficient, depending on the size of your program and the number of contacts you have. This type of email is probably most effective for previous or regular applicants who are already very familiar with your program.

2. Newsletters

Including information about your program in your organization’s newsletter is a great way to market the program without coming off as pushy or spammy. During the call for entry you can include updates about your program in your newsletter, like submission deadlines, information about judges, and calls-to-action to apply.

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 form of email marketing 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. The purpose of these emails is to keep your awards top of the mind for your contacts, growing interest and encouraging them to apply.

4. Sponsorship Emails

Sponsorship emails can be a great tool for any organization. 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. Craft a simple, but informative call to action with some important information about your program for whoever is sending the email. (Note that possible costs should be considered before pursuing this route.)

5. Transactional Emails

Finally, you can promote your awards program in transactional emails, i.e. thank-you emails that are sent after an action has been completed. For example, if someone downloads a useful piece of content from your site or registers for a webinar or conference they receive an email saying, “Thank you for downloading, here is your content.”

If any of these actions 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. Being too overt in a transactional email can deter the reader from taking any further action because they feel like they’re being strung along.

What type of email has been most effective for you when marketing your program? We’d love to know!

To get started writing some awesome email for your program, check out these templates we’ve created!

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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