It’s easy to let all this talk of new media marketing push aside humble email marketing.
Most new businesses nowadays tend to go straight to Facebook to establish their online presence by creating a company page; some misguided entrepreneurs even postpone the creation of their own website to do so, or forgo it completely!
There is some reasoning behind this madness.
Understandably, many startups want to get the ball rolling as fast as possible and believe that social networking sites offer a fast way to get in front of a huge audience instantly. They do, but not without hangups to consider.
The downside to entrusting to Facebook or similar social networking sites your brand marketing efforts is a lack of control over the distribution of your message, particularly in terms of customer segmentation and content personalisation. In addition, you never actually own all the thousands of likes you’ve amassed for your Facebook page, as all it takes is a slight algorithm change from Facebook, and the hundreds of thousands of pageviews you took for granted are decimated and become a handful of hundreds. We’ve seen this happen often enough.
Not so email. Here’s how.
The relevance of email marketing has never been more obvious, so you want to ensure that your business does it well.
The inbox lives!
Despite the fact that there have been a number of obituaries penned for email by pundits, email marketing is here to stay.
There are nearly 3 times as many email user accounts as there are Facebook and Twitter accounts combined, and over three-quarters of prospective clients find it easier to conduct a business transaction with a company after being contacted via email than any other medium.
Most importantly, for savvy digital marketers who want to catch the wave of mobile whilst it’s still swelling, nearly half of email communications are opened on a mobile device.
The relevance of email marketing has never been more obvious, so you want to ensure that your business does it well.
Email marketing 101
Building a strong and reliable email list is at the core of online marketing, especially for small businesses. And at the core of a thriving email list is great content.
Doing email marketing well shouldn’t be a chore. The key requirements to delivering timely and effective content are a strong conviction in your brand’s offering to the market and a deep connection with the needs your customers.
These two qualities are central not only to email marketing, but to business in general, so consider the response to your email marketing efforts as an indicator of the overall health of your brand.
The beauty of email marketing is that it allows you to set the context to your message. You decide how long or short the content needs to be, the accompanying images and video, as well as tracking with a great level of detail the interaction of your email recipients with your electronic missives.
Top 5 reasons why email marketing rules
In the following list, we summarise the five top reasons why good email marketing is essential for an effective digital marketing mix.
- The inbox still rules. Very likely, emails are first thing you check when you wake up in the morning and the last thing at night. You’re not alone. Many people do exactly the same. This is why email is an important marketing tool, since it is so deeply ingrained in your customers’ existing routines.
- You know who you’re talking to. Email lets you customise your messages to different segments of your followers. You can craft email messages that direct prospects deeper in your sales funnel, prod promising leads into converting, and offer past customers the opportunity to do business with you again. This nuanced approach contrasts heavily with the one-for-all communication blast in social networks.
- That personal touch. Social networking sites allow very limited branding opportunities for your company’s page. Rather than being lost in the uniformity of it all, email lets you take control of the context in which your email is read: allowing you to set up a more personalised reading experience for your intended target.
- A little tête-à-tête. Many commentators compare social media to shouting in a crowded street, hoping that somebody turns to their head. Email facilitates one on one communication with your recipients and helps you avoid competing with other messages from their friends or other brands they like when they’re on Facebook.
- Data-driven. Email has been around for over 40 years, which means that the technology built around this service is incredibly sophisticated and offers flexibility and insight when managing your email marketing campaigns. Analytics are central for a marketing approach that’s scientific and responsive; email makes carrying out such things as A/B testing a cinch.
Email marketing: the basics never change
Email marketing is all about making a good impression on your recipient every time your content comes in contact with them.
Email marketing software makes it easier to keep track of the success of your marketing efforts and validate your moves.
Good email marketing begins with the basics of proper internet copywriting: catchy headlines, valuable content and sensitivity to the needs of your readers.
By delivering all this consistently to your followers you will be able to build trust and respect — the ultimate ROI on any marketing investment — towards your brand more effectively than when using other, more hit-and-miss approaches.
Contact Systemato today and let us help you handle the confusing world of email marketing, from the ‘from’ field down to the ‘click send’.
