If you’re anything like me, then you’ll have been glued to the TV over the last month or so watching some of the greatest footballers in the world compete for that all important prize. But even if I hadn’t watched any of the World Cup, I’d only have to look at my inbox to know exactly what was going on.

That’s because over the last few weeks it seems as though every company under the sun has taken the opportunity to bombard its recipients with emails that ‘newsjack’ off the competition.

It’s a tried and tested marketing strategy and no doubt one that works very well for many companies. And yet, I can’t help but think that for some, the knee-jerk reaction to piggyback off the success of something happening out there in the wider world could be doing more bad than good.

Last week, we looked at a bunch of these World Cup emails that had come through and picked out a couple of the better ones. If there was one thing that really stood out, it was that some of the companies had obviously put a great deal of thought, care and attention behind their seasonal campaigns.

Don’t forget to target

The campaigns that were most successful were the ones that had clearly put in a great deal of advanced planning. Figleaves, for example, had launched a range of ‘England’ knickers – called Britnix! – a product that clearly suited its target audience while making the most of the World Cup.

And this really is the key point to remember when running campaigns like these. While it is tempting to jump on the bandwagon, it’s vital to hold onto all those tried and tested email marketing best practices. The central one of these, as demonstrated by Figleaves, is targeting.  It’s only by targeting the email effectively that you will actually reach a recipient that is engaged and ready to interact with your message. And they will only do this if the seasonal event is of interest and relevant to them.

Tink is Managing Director at dotMailer. He blogs on the dotDigital Blog and you can also follow him on Twitter: @tinktaylor

About the Author

Tink Taylor is Managing Director at dotMailer. View the full bio here.

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