A guide on how to create and send an effective email marketing campaign.

1. Email marketing is fast becoming a key step in how building
product manufacturers market their products. It can generate
lots of clicks to your site, downloads of information and sales.
A lot of building product manufacturers do not use email
marketing campaigns to their full advantage. This will help
them to do so.
How to design and
implement the perfect
email marketing campaign
for building product
manufacturers
Paul Barstow

2. Content
The 4 types of email’s you will use ..................................................... 3
Design outlines for the 4 types of email: ............................................. 4
New Product launch email campaigns ............................................... 4
On-going Awareness email campaigns .............................................. 4
A regular newsletter email campaign ................................................ 5
One off promotions and special deals................................................ 5
The right way to write an email (technical stuff) .................................. 6
How to build an email contact list. ...................................................... 7
How to Send out the email ................................................................ 8
5 Email Houses worth considering .................................................... 9

3. About me
A am an advertising salesman with over 15 years’ experience in selling advertising in print, online advertising and
directories within the construction industry. I have created an e-newsletter from scratch which has proven very
successful. I currently run all of the Social Media side of the business.
I started my blog Advertising in Construction as there does not seem to be an unbiased source of information for
marketing managers within the construction industry. Please enjoy this free email marketing campaign guide. If
you have any questions please get in touch with me on my blog

4. How to design and implement the perfect email marketing
campaign for building product manufacturers
Email marketing is fast becoming a key step in how building product manufacturers market their products. It can
generate lots of clicks to your site, downloads of information and sales. A lot of building product manufacturers do
not use email marketing campaigns to their full advantage. This will help them to do so.
The 4 types of email’s you will use
The main reasons why a building product manufacturer would want to create effective email marketing campaigns
are:
 New Product Launch – great for generating awareness of a new product
 On-going awareness campaign – ideal for educating the target audience on new legislation and how you can
help
 A regular newsletter – Keeping your clients and potential clients in the loop on what is happening
 One off promotions on special deals – Promote that special deal or competition.

5. Design outlines for the 4 types of email:
New Product launch email campaigns
These emails should be a call to action start them off with an eye catching headline, if this can tie in to a piece of
legislation all the better. After this have a prominent and good picture of the product, this can be a direct product
shot or a cad image. Highlight the benefits of the product in as concise and brief a way as possible. At the top
and bottom of the email ensure you have a link to the literature download page on your site for the new product,
make this clear and prominent.
If you can create a landing page for this information this is even better. If you have any testimonials on trials of
the product or great sound bites include them below the highlighted benefit. Do not give too much information
away, just enough to entice the user to click on those links.
On-going Awareness email campaigns
This will usually sit around a new piece of legislation, a building regulation change or an emerging trend such as
BIM or the amendments to part L 2013. These types of email should be much less a sales pitch and more
structured as a technical piece to inform the reader about the changes and things they should know. This type of
email campaign is a great way to inform your readers, this makes you the authority on a subject so they will
hopefully come to you for advice (products) to help them. It’s also a great way to highlight the need for a CPD
event you’re looking to run.

6. A regular newsletter email campaign
This is all about informing your clients about what is happening in the company it’s a regular drip feed of
information reminding them of your existence and what you do. These emails should be more professional in
appearance on a white or corporate background but nothing too garish. It’s also a great way to showcase projects
and case studies and also any events or exhibitions you are attending, hopefully they will come along for a chat.
One off promotions and special deals
These emails should be bright and bold with a definite call to action, 15% off, Free CPD or Free white paper when
you join our newsletter list. Shout about the promotion give detail and a special code just for them so they feel
special. For Example:
AS ONE OF OUR MOST VALUED CLIENTS WE ARE OFFERING YOU 12% OFF OF YOUR NEXT ORDER AS LONG AS IT’S PLACED BY NEXT WEEK .
This is a call to action with a deadline attached, the deadline on this type of email is very important, if this is going
to be a regular promotion then please stick to the deadline, if you just want to shift some old product as you have
a new one on the way then this is not as important.
“These are the four main uses of email campaigns, if you get the right feel for each type you are half way there”
Beware of spam words in your email a great list was compiled by Mirna Bard click on the sentence to go to the list.

7. The right way to write an email (technical stuff)
There are some very important factors to remember when creating an email to send out if you writing the email by
hand. The reason for this is that there are no standards to speak of so the different clients all have different
engines for showing the emails. For example Outlook 2007 has an engine that is inferior in terms of CSS than
Outlook 2003; this is a big step backwards.
1. Use HTML tables to control the design layout and some presentation. You may be used to using pure CSS
layouts for your web pages, but that approach just won’t hold up in an email environment.
2. Use inline CSS to control other presentation elements within your email, such as background colours and
fonts.
If you do not feel up to creating an email template by hand then you can either commission a designer to create a
template for you or you can download templates off of the internet and modify them. If you are using a mailing
house to send the email they will almost defiantly have templates you can use and modify or indeed they may well
have a custom template design option, this can prove an inexpensive option and is often the best way to get that
great email. However be aware of the rules above as it is very easy to fall into website programming mode and do
a large block of CSS that will not always appear as you wish.

8. Always offer the user an option to unsubscribe to your email, this is very important as it is illegal to send
unsolicited emails and it is illegal to send email and not offer a user to opt out.
How to build an email contact list
There are a number of ways you can build a contact list. Most companies will have a contact list of some sort that
they can use. There is no best way to get contact details I would recommend the following steps to build up that
valuable database:
On your website offer people the opportunity to download your newsletter however to really make this work you
need to add an incentive. This can be anything from a meal for two at a restaurant for one in every 500
subscribers to a free white paper on a relevant and hot topic in the industry, just add an incentive.
If you exhibited at a show add a fish bowl or box on the stand offering a prize (I won an iPod touch once doing
this) just state clearly that you will be sending them your newsletter once a month.
Again if you have a CPD seminar, offer out a questioner at the end (you should be doing this anyway). On this
ask for an email address and ensure they are aware they are opting in to receiving your newsletter, state the
frequency (once a month at the max or people will get feed up and unsubscribe).

9. Try and capture as much data as possible as you want to ensure that the special promotion goes to the right
people, after all is an Architect interested in your 10% off bricks on Monday, I think not.
“The Key to a successful email marketing campaign is to ensure that the audience you are sending information to wants to receive it.”
How to send out the email
There are many ways to get your information out to your clients or prospective clients; you can use a dedicated
email marketing house to manage the process. You can send information out as part of a publishers email blast
and you can do it all in house although I would not recommend this.
The problem with doing a large email from your own servers can be highlighted in a little story. I had a client who
sent out an email to her database of 3000 names using a mailing programme and she has now had her domain
blocked by a number of fire walls of her clients. This means she cannot send them emails from the company, she
has to speak to the IT departments to get them to unblock her from their email programme, and this was
embarrassing and potentially damaging.

10. 5 Email Houses worth considering
Mail Chimp
Prices on a per subscriber basis, US based company who come with a good reputation, the problem is that they are US based
so the timing is inconvenient if you need to speak to someone If you are sending multiple emails a month the database
pricing structure can work well.
Campaign Monitor
Again a US based company set up on a database size basis rather than a pay per email. Similar to mail chimp.
Mailing Manager
A UK based company who price per email, best for monthly email campaigns, also very good customer service (I use them)
they are probably the cheapest for what I need (40,000 emails once a month)
dotMailer
Another UK based company who have a great selection of features and packages well worth a look.
e-shot
The final company in the list and a subscriber/database pricing structure, UK based and fully featured
These are the five companies I short listed when I was looking for a mailing house, they are all worth considering and they
all offer similar features such as a spam checker, integration into your API (some are better at this than others) a full stats
report including integration with Google analytics etc. etc. so all you need to do is identify what you need and one of the
above will fit.
You can also send out an e-mailer as part of a publisher’s newsletter, this is a very cost effective method of getting your
information in front of new contacts and quite often they can have large and well engaged databases.

11. I hope this helps you to formulate an effective email marketing campaign if you have any questions please do not hesitate to
contact me.