How to write a one-line strategy? using the GET-TO-BY principle
Ask people about their email strategy and too often you will get the answer: “I want to get better conversion” or “I want to boost traffic to my site”. And though those are great objectives, they have little to do with strategy. Strategy is more about defining why you are using email as a channel. And as with most things, if you can explain it in a simple way, it's good!
What is the GET-TO-BY principle?
The GET-TO-BY principle makes you reflect on why you are using email marketing. Every word should be followed by a short and well-thought sentence. And when you blend the three words together, you will have your one-line strategy. Let's see how it works.
GET: who is your target group? Define which people you want to reach.
TO: what do you want this target group to do? Define the goal you want to reach.
BY: how are you going to get your target group to do what you want them to do? Define which actions you are going to take to reach your goal.
Here are 3 fictitious examples of how major brands would do it…
Zalando
The multinational e-commerce company that specializes in shoes, clothing and other fashion and lifestyle products, needs more traffic and conversions to boost their growth. This is how their one-line strategy could look.
GET: female or male online shoppers with an affinity for fashion and brands
TO: see Zalando as the no.1 online shop and build regular traffic to zalando.com
BY: sending perfectly timed and triggered emails with conditionally personalized content
Audi
The German car manufacturer that designs, engineers, produces, markets and distributes automobiles, uses email to acquire new customers and build a loyalty program for existing clients. Their one-line strategy could look something like this...
GET: business drivers and males aging from 25 to 60?
TO: feel affinity with the Audi brand and build loyalty?
BY: defining the right content and timing based on the buying cycle and customer lifecycle.
Immoweb
Belgium's largest real estate website needs traffic to their website to create a recurring mass, to which home sellers want to target their home for sale/rent. The one-line strategy they could follow could be along these lines.
GET: potential new home owners?
TO: regularly visit Immoweb.be, thus creating a target audience for home sellers
BY: sending daily updates of new homes for sale or rent in their preferred neighborhood.
Conclusion
Anyone can make really complex strategies. It's harder — but so much more rewarding — to keep it simple. Use the GET-TO-BY principle to define your one-sentence strategy on which you can build your broader strategy and tactics.
Dit blog is geschreven door de specialisten van Raak.
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