Bottom Funnel Focus EP 4- EDM Tactics
- Joyce Tsang
- Feb 3
- 5 min read
You can be an established business, a new start‑up, from the so‑called “sexy” industries, or one that’s more traditional—email outreach is something we all still do, and rightfully so.
If you’ve been researching how to market your message, reach leads, and drive traction to impact the bottom line, you’ll quickly find that email newsletters are not dead.
Even with AI and outreach tools, email sequences remain very powerful. Yet they’re often misunderstood in terms of what they can truly do for businesses.
If you think their purpose is simply to spark a conversation or get a foot in the door with your ABM targets—you’d be mistaken.
Here’s what EDMs are truly purposeful for in 2026, across businesses of any scale:
i) EDM Tactics - Uncovering USPs
I can’t emphasize this enough: email newsletters sent out by the marketing team versus those from the sales or BD team for lead outreach are often treated as totally different. And while perhaps they shouldn’t be, I’d argue they actually should be more similar than how many enterprise‑level brands handle them today.
The common notion is that marketing EDMs are meant to be educational, insightful, and focused on industry thought leadership or achievement highlights. Meanwhile, BD EDMs are seen as more sales‑driven, with a clear CTA and always ending with a meeting request.
The reality—now that I’ve worn both hats, as a marketer for my own boutique consultancy and crossing into BD for another company—is that both types of EDMs are missing a key point: value.
Not “value” as defined by what the product team wants to push, what marketing thinks is attractive, or what BD believes will drive conversions. True value should reflect the unique selling points that converted customers are actually finding in your product or service.
Example:
For Joyce Tsang Content Marketing, I sell content strategies and consultation. But if that’s all I emphasized in my EDMs, I’d quickly run out of things to say—and more importantly, I wouldn’t appeal to the 90% majority who aren’t ready to buy yet. That approach would only push them to unsubscribe or ignore my emails, reducing open rates and having no impact on click‑throughs.
What I’ve realized from my clients is that the value they see in me isn’t just the service—it’s my grit, persistence, consistency, and clarity in the subject matter I share. That’s my real USP.
And it’s not very different from the company I currently represent. The real value isn’t just platform features, capabilities, or even client references. Customers buy because they recognize our expertise in video content creation.
That’s why what works far better than BD‑style outreach or generic marketing newsletters is a simple weekly touch base with cool video references I spot in the market. They’re not even produced by us—just inspirational examples worth sharing with leads.
Surprisingly, many who had ghosted me for months came back and mentioned it was those references that got them thinking about the video content they could create themselves.
ii) EDM Tactics - Scalable personalization
Don’t get me wrong—I also do a lot of LinkedIn outreach, personalizing my messaging to an extreme level. However, that takes a lot of time and isn’t suitable for all leads, especially when considering their potential and conversion rate. Yet as a business owner myself, I know we can’t stop there. Clients nowadays require a lot of nurturing just to recall what you do and who you are.
The average duration to convert a lead is getting longer and longer. With changes in business models and structures, and AI emerging as an alternative tool, I can only foresee this becoming even more challenging.
That’s why, when you find the right lead, it should be your number one priority to keep them engaged and to stay on their radar at all times. Beyond your content strategy for always‑on marketing, you need to take proactive steps to stay in touch.
And EDMs are the best way to do so—without losing the human touch, while still managing the process in a way that keeps your sanity intact.
Example:
Don’t be lazy—EDM takes real thought and planning. As I mentioned in a previous BFF blog, it takes at least 12 steps to fully exercise its power.
Here’s how I approach it:
Start with a list—either an existing database of emails or use tools like Clay to scrape based on your target prospects.
Run a 1‑step prospecting sequence to check if these people are actually active in opening or clicking your emails.
Segment them into a proper sequence that includes 12 steps.
Move the active ones (those opening and clicking) into a nurturing, educational sequence—likely owned by marketing.
On top of that, there should also be ABM and vertical‑specific sequences running in the background. This way, automation ensures something is always engaging your list.
For vertical‑specific sequences, pull directly from your sales and BD learnings. What questions do clients ask? What problems are they facing? What solutions have they considered? Why did they convert? These insights should shape the messaging.
For ABM‑specific sequences, do your research. Spend time reviewing their content, social media presence, campaigns, and latest events, and use those as triggers. Personalization at the ABM level goes far beyond inserting a first name or company name as a dynamic tag. It’s about delivering actual value—something they read and immediately recognize as thoughtful, researched, and dedicated to starting a meaningful conversation.
iii) EDM Tactics - Staying top of mind
This, in my view, is the real reason to do EDM. It may take years, but at the same time, these people can stay with you for years—waiting for the right trigger to convert themselves, or becoming your best advocates in spreading the word and driving WOM traction.
And the EDMs that perform particularly well are those that facilitate audiences to recommend you to others.
Example:
First, be personal.
For those who regularly engage with my EDMs, I often send personal follow‑ups to see if they’d like a one‑on‑one conversation. You’d be surprised how often people actually want to connect—they were just waiting for the opportunity.
Second, show up at the right time.
The beginning of the year is a great touchpoint. Many people are planning ahead; while they may not have their budgets finalized yet, they’ve accumulated a year of learnings. This is the perfect moment to encourage them to explore your services or product.
Third, ask directly for internal referrals.
Don’t shy away from asking. If the material isn’t valuable to them, suggest including another team member on the list. This helps gatekeep the quality of your leads. If they’re willing to share a name, a LinkedIn link, or even make an introduction—even if they’re not the decision maker—they’re still worth nurturing.
Fourth, give them something they can save and share.
It can be as simple as mentioning someone they know who also knows you, sharing client testimonials relevant to them, or providing media kits, downloadables, or blogs like this one. Make it easy for them to forward your material while you continue to stay top‑of‑mind across other distribution channels.
Make it a habit
I wouldn’t say I have a passion for creating EDMs, but I’ve made it a habit—and once you get used to it, it’s actually enjoyable. It feels a bit like having a lot of pen pals: you’re free to share what you think is appropriate for them without direct confrontation or the pressure of pushing for a sale face‑to‑face.
You can flesh out your ideas, turn them into a blog, trim them down into social media posts later, or keep it short and simply tell your audience something important—without worrying about the algorithm. That’s something I believe we should all treasure and protect amidst the noise online.
People subscribe for a reason, and that’s my motivation to keep going. So don’t underestimate the power of EDMs, but also don’t treat them as just another channel to blast whatever you want. They’re one of the most powerful tools to stay top‑of‑mind, while being easily automated to reach the people you want.
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