Social media tools and photo-sharing sites may be all the marketing buzz right now, but for your business, you need a communications tool that works. That's why email marketing is still the most powerful tool for businesses. It's personal, adaptable, trackable and mobile.
Email marketing shows no signs of slowing. In fact, according to a recent article in DM News, email's marketing's growth is even more pronounced in some particular industries. A recent Experian CheetahMail study showed that travel company marketers increased their email marketing activity 41% in 2012's second quarter, compared to the same time frame in 2011. This is largely a result of the recession easing, and people looking to travel email campaigns to spur them into buying activity.
While travel marketing emails had the largest volume growth, wrote DM News, other vertical segments like consumer products and services (19 % increase), and media and entertainment (16.9% increase) showed prominent growth in email marketing in 2012's Q2.
Innovations in email marketing software are also contributing to the continued success of this potent medium for securing business. Overall, email marketing makes for good business. And that's good for your bottom line. As such, here are six ways that prove email is still the best tool to use in any marketing campaign by companies big and small.
Overall Cost
Email continues to be the most cost-effective method of spreading the word about your company and/or brand. Most companies set up an email marketing campaign based on costs for staff hours, design fees and the cost for your email service itself. In any cases, you can send email campaigns for under $100 to as many as 10,000 users. Email works because it's profitable, and it's profitable because it works.
Customers Are Already Primed
Email is a transactional medium. People receive marketing offers in their inbox every day from various sources. As such, our tolerance for email offers is high, and in fact, studies have shown that the high number of emails helps to 'prime' us to purchase offers. You can in fact “train” customers to learn about your business’ value each and every day, while simultaneously expect offers. Through this process, customers will not only already expect offers from your business but may, after a while, want them.
Email Is An Attention Getter
Most modern office email systems show when new emails are received. When a new email comes in, it gets our attention, and provokes us to interact with the message. This has great benefits. Imagine if someone rang your home bell to tell you that a marketing offer was in your mailbox. You'd likely grumble and tell him to go away. But with email, it's different. And it works.
The key to getting customers to open your email is by getting into their daily reading list. So give customers emails that are worth reading. Customers will start looking forward to receiving your intelligent and relevant emails.
Business-Oriented
Of all the mediums available to market to customers, email is seen as the most business-oriented and professionally mature. Customers already view email as a way to communicate for matters more important than status updates and Facebook links.
A Personal Medium
It is true that many “conversations” are conducted on social media sites and in other mediums, but email remains the most personal. This especially true for older customers who accept messages most closely related to a traditional letter. Business professionals will turn to creative email offers before any other medium, opening up Outlook, Gmail, or any other email system they use before social media.
Billions of Users
Email has over 3 billion users, roughly three times the user accounts of Twitter and Facebook combined. In fact, most of the bandwidth used on the Internet is directly related to email – not even Web searching.
In the end, any business can see that email is still as powerful as it ever was. With the right approach, you can reach thousands of customers through a personal medium that will never go away.
Written by Joshua Gold
Joshua Gold: A Freelance writer, who is addicted to the latest tech gadgets and anything in the automotive field. Always in the mood for good food and an ice cold beer.
Good post Izikeo. As you mentioned email marketing is still the powerful technique. However there are various tools where the message can reach the target audience very quickly. It depends on the business which method they want to engage with their customers. There is a video by Infosys BrandEdge about digital marketing. They’ve simplified the digital marketing to a great extent.
http://bit.ly/Ob7L0r
Going by the current scenario, where the economic conditions are a bit tough and hard to understand, the best thing to do is act smart and use smart means. Email marketing will get you expected outcomes at a decent price. Thanks for the tips.