With numerous ways to connect with customers through social media, e-mail and newsletter marketing may not be high on your priorities.

However, study after study by market research companies shows that consumers still prefer to be contacted by e-mail by the brands they have purchased from.

Think about it from your own personal experience. You receive an e-mail offer from a brand you trust, an exclusive offer that's just for you based on the purchases you've made before. It's highly likely that you'll open the e-mail, even if you don't intend to purchase. You'll check the e-mail in case there's something that's interesting.

Creating an e-mail marketing strategy is a great investment in developing a long-term relationship with your customers, and it doesn't have to take up too much of your time to make it work for your business. Because once created, you can automate the newletters to be sent.

Here are some tips for best practice in e-mail marketing:

1. Create a series of emails that you can send to your customer, start with a simple "Thank you for the first order" e-mail. Create 2nd and 3rd e-mails to the customer, these can be set-up either following seasonal events or by the type of purchases the customer has made.
2. Keep them regular, but not too frequent, no-one likes to be bombarded by e-mails. In fact people will unsubscribe if the frequency of the e-mails become annoying. Test the frequency to assess what's best for your business.
3. Get customer feedback so you can refine your messaging.
4. Create a newsletter cycle so that as new customers join your mailing list, they get the first, 2nd, 3rd email in the series you've created.
5. Make the message in subject header eye-catching. Test the message to see which gets the biggest open rates.
6. Unsubscribe feature. Its important to observe the regulations for e-mail marketing. In the UK, The Data Protection Act is there to protect consumers and businesses. You must give customers the right to unsubscribe. With the new GDPR rules coming into force in May, it's vital that you follow the rules. For more information on GDPR visit the ICO website

If you are starting a new business, it's important to prioritise tasks that are most important. Return on investment isn't just a benefit of marketing investment; it's a way to think about how much time and effort you invest.

Richard Koch’s book "The 80/20 principle" is about concentrating attention on results. He uses Pareto's theory that 80% of consequences come from 20% of the causes. You can use the principle to prioritise marketing activity.

For instance, when you can identify 20% of the customers/clients that yield 80% of profits for your business, you can look for more clients that have similar characteristics.

How about identifying 20% of the tasks that generate 80% of output? or figuring out 80% of the tasks that can be delegated to free up more time on the tasks that only you can do?

This principle works when you consider the science. Research conducted by psychologists about our ability to multitask showed that switching between tasks is not without consequences such as reduction in memory, productivity and performance.

Working out your priorities requires the focus of one task at a time, when combined with the 80/20 principle, you'll find that you'll achieve more with less.

How to define and create a memorable personality for your brand.

Branding differentiates your product or service from your competitor. If you're a manufacturer with great products, such as women's fashion, you'll need a strong and memorable brand that will set you apart from your competitors.

1. Identify what's special about your product - for instance, is it vintage or modern, is it handmade?
2. Describe what your product does or is - for instance for women's fashion you might want to be specific about whether your products are for women of a specific age group or sizing
3. Personality - What do you stand for? Are you funny, quirky, mindful or considered?

Jot down your ideas and create a mood board of brands which you feel are close to your brand personality. When you've created your mood board, you'll identify a few common threads. What are the colours or the style and tone of voice of the brands that you've identified?

Create a mood board

A mood board is a great way to identify and provide you with inspiration for your brand's personality.

Keep this mood board in mind when you create your logo and brand identity. You can use it to identify the type of fonts you prefer, the colours and the imagery.

Never copy an existing brand slavishly, your identity should be unique. Your moodboard will help you describe your brand's personality and attributes in a way that is authentic to you.

Being memorable is about making your brand unique and consistent in the way it's presented, whether in social media, on your website or on a printed brochure.

Once you can describe your brand and what it stands for, think about the type of adjectives you'll use to describe your products and create a statement on how you use words to describe your products.

Once you have done this, you'll have a brand personality and style to reference that's unique to you.

Finally, some words of wisdom from David Ogilvy, one of the most respected copywriters and founder of Ogilvy & Mather:

"The manufacturer who dedicates his advertising to building the most sharply defined personality for his brand will get the largest share of the market at the highest profit.” – David Ogilvy