I recently wrote about the importance of social media in 2019. In that blog, I wrote about how advancements in technology have made it easier to develop new social media platforms and for businesses of all sizes to grow their audience using this medium.?
As valuable as social media marketing is to the promotion of your business, there is another marketing channel that many business owners tend to overlook: email marketing.?
When I am networking or speaking to people about marketing, they are often surprised when I speak about the importance of email marketing. In fact, I believe that if you were to only engage in one form of marketing, it should be email marketing.?
Yes, I believe strongly in a multi-channel approach when it comes to promoting your business, but that is a discussion for another blog. In this blog, I would like to focus on why email marketing is essential and exactly how it can help you grow your business.?
STAY IN TOUCH WITH YOUR AUDIENCE
In order to engage in email marketing, you need email addresses. Email marketing allows you to speak directly to your audience and do so on your terms. An important note: you do not want to spam the people on your list. Instead, you should speak about how your products/services address their most pressing needs. Doing so allows you to stay in touch with your target audience and the time to build trust with them, which will increase the likelihood they will do business with you.?
DEVELOP A MORE PERSONAL CONNECTION
Email marketing allows you to develop a personal connection in ways other marketing channels do not. Aside from being able to address the person by name, you can segment your email list in countless ways to target your audience based on any number of criteria you wish. This allows you to speak directly to the needs of a specific audience member,, which goes towards building trust.?
MORE ECONOMICAL
As a small business owner, I understand the importance of saving money. When it comes to maximizing your marketing budget, it?s hard to beat email. Creating content for email marketing is relatively low-cost, and per Campaign Monitor, for every $1 spent on email marketing you get $38 in ROI.?
MEASURE YOUR SUCCESS …AND FAILURES
When it comes to marketing in 2019, there is no ?set it and forget it? option. You have to regularly evaluate your efforts to see what is working and more importantly what ISN?T working. Most email marketing platforms come with a robust set of analytics that allows you to see how many people opened your email, how many clicked on something inside of your email, and other valuable metrics. This is invaluable when it comes to determining how and where you can improve your email marketing.?
IT CAN BE AUTOMATED
Most email marketing platforms come equipped with built-in automated options that allow you to schedule drip campaigns, send auto-responders, or send personal email such as birthday or anniversary reminders. Being able to automate some of your marketing efforts saves you both time and money.?
(JUST ABOUT) EVERYONE USES EMAIL
Many people do not engage on social media. For those who do, they focus most of their attention on one or two social media platforms. Not everyone watches TV, or listen to the radio, or read newspapers or magazines. Many do not even read blogs regularly. However, (just about) everyone has an email address.?
Also, other available marketing channels tend to split your audience?s attention between multiple options. Neither may your audience actively engage with a particular platform. But when it comes to email, many people have only ONE email address, which means, if you have a great subject line, there?s a good chance your message to be seen. (Some people do have a separate email address for work, which is great for B2B marketing.)
Creating marketing content is necessary when it comes to promoting your business. Email marketing is a fantastic way to deliver that content to the people who are most likely to benefit from your products and services. If you are not engaging in email marketing, I strongly suggest taking another look at the list above. Then decide if you can afford NOT to regularly reach out to your audience on your terms.?
