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How to Start Using Email Marketing as an Awareness Channel
Before you dig in, why don't you get access to RE:markable
RE:markable is the weekly email about emails. Dropping the latest email marketing news, updates, insights, free resources, upcoming masterclasses, webinars, and of course, a little inbox mischief.
When you think of emails, does your mind immediately turn to engagement-focused or conversion-driven thoughts?
You’re not alone!
Email marketing can be associated more often with bottom-of-funnel than top-of-funnel, and using email as an awareness channel typically isn’t on anyone’s radar for that very reason.
We’ve all spent so much time talking about what email marketing isn’t that we might’ve forgotten all of the things that it is.
So, without further faff, let’s talk about the untapped email opportunity: awareness.
Email = impressions
Just like paid ads, a delivered email (so, not those emails flying straight to spam) creates visibility, even if it’s not opened.People spend an awful lot of time scrolling through their emails, which means that every time one of yours lands in their inbox, they’ll see your name, your subject, and your brand.
Even if someone decides to delete your email, it’s still taking their attention and mental processing to do it - that’s an impression.
Every part of the inbox ‘preview’ contributes to this:
- ‘From’ name - trusted, familiar, ignored?
- BIMI (Brand Indicators for Message Identification) - shows your logo in inboxes = visual brand consistency
- Subject line - what tone, emotion, value are you conveying?
- Preheader - is it adding to the story, or is it wasted space?
The best way to think of your emails is as ad slots in the inbox!
The awareness opportunity
The biggest benefit and opportunity of emails is that they build recall, trust, and familiarity, even without any clicks.
It’s this process that starts audiences on the path to remembering you, recognising you, and associating you with a specific type or style of expertise/value.
Think of it this way: Even if only 30% of your newsletter subscribers open your email, 100% still see it in their inbox.
This is cumulative, too. Over time, that repetition builds recognition, which is a massive awareness play for brands and personal brands.
TL;DR: Your emails are building brand recognition even if they aren’t getting clicked.
BUT: This does NOT mean that engagement doesn’t matter!
Awareness is great, but what it isn’t is a license to spam your audience in the name of building brand awareness.
Engagement fuels deliverability; if you only chase visibility without interaction, you’ll crash your email channel.
Inbox providers (Gmail, Outlook, etc) track:
- Opens
- Clicks
- Time spent reading
- Replies
- Unsubscribes
- Moves to folders
- Negative actions (spam complaints, deletes without reading)
Keep in mind that low engagement means a low reputation, which means that your emails will stop reaching inboxes.
So, you know, focusing too much on awareness will literally stop you from achieving anything because you won’t be in anybody’s inbox. Oops.
Don’t mistake visibility for permission.
The real strategy: use email for awareness, but sustain engagement
Now that we know why awareness is an important factor (not the only factor) in your email marketing strategy, how can you start to shape email as a top-of-funnel channel?
Here’s how to walk the line between building awareness and keeping engagement strong:
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Grow the active list continuously
Focus on acquisition and list growth by running campaigns, lead magnets, and newsletters that keep new energy in the list. The more active subscribers you have, the more reach you gain without tanking your engagement and risking a negative knock-on effect on your deliverability.
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Create ‘awareness-friendly’ content with value
Remember that not every email needs to sell (that’s a one-way ticket to the spam folder and email marketing hell). If the aim is awareness, then your emails can function perfectly by showing up and providing insight, giving value, or leaving an impression.
Some examples of awareness-friendly content are thought leadership, behind-the-scenes, storytelling, quick tips, or updates. Variety is the spice of life, so don’t be afraid to try a few different styles of content to keep things fresh. -
Have a reactivation and exclusion strategy in place
Use your exclusion strategy to protect engagement metrics and make sure to pull out cold segments regularly. Ideally, you’ll be able to implement a more proactive approach of sending reactivation flows before they become dead weight, too!
Remember: don’t keep emailing people who haven’t engaged in 6 months - that’s not awareness, that’s damage.
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Align your deliverability & brand goals
Use your BIMI for visual recognition (the more they see, the more they associate with your brand, after all!). The most important thing is to make the inbox experience consistent with your brand values and tone.
Don’t just drop off the face of the Earth, either, monitor how your engagement is trending, and adjust when visibility starts to hurt you.
Awareness use cases
Newsletters
Newsletters are great for brand awareness, especially if the content follows the holy trinity of being consistent, memorable, and skimmable.
To get things just right, you need to measure success beyond click rates.
That means that you should be tracking replies, referrals, and even unsubscribing reasons.
Event promotion or product drops
Even if you’re sending out event promotion or product drops and nobody is clicking, showing up weekly in inboxes can build anticipation over time.
Relationship building
It’s not about sending an email and disappearing off into the abyss!
Emails give you the perfect chance to build relationships through authority, empathy, and expertise, depending on where your audience is at. It’s your job to nurture those relationships through email and keep your audience coming back for more.
Wrapping up: email is top-of-funnel too
If we had to make it so that you took any one lesson from this blog, it’d be this:Every delivered email is a micro-branding opportunity… even if it’s a scroll and delete.
Email can be part of your brand-building engine, but only if:
- You respect engagement first
- You protect deliverability
- You craft every inbox touchpoint with intention
Want to build an inbox-first awareness strategy? Book a free consultation!
We can help you to turn your emails into a powerful visibility asset for your brand - book a consultation with Beth to find out more about how we can help!
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RE:markable is the weekly email about emails. Dropping the latest email marketing news, updates, insights, free resources, upcoming masterclasses, webinars, and of course, a little inbox mischief.