To say that you need email marketing as part of your digital marketing strategy as a business is an understatement. Email marketing is a form of direct marketing and uses email as its medium of communication. It is the most profitable form of direct marketing with an average ROI (Return On Investment) of $42 for every $1 spent (DMA, 2019).
Every email you send to a prospective or current customer can be considered email marketing. The goal with email marketing is mostly to develop a relationship with your customers. If you are trying to figure out how to start, you can start by finding out what key industry players in your industry are doing for their email marketing strategy, get on their email list and study what they’re creating. You can then use that information to develop your own marketing strategy.
To make it easier to locate and review these emails I recommend setting up a filter that directs these emails to a specific folder in your inbox. You can study their approach to email marketing by paying attention to and taking notes on their subject line, their content, the frequency with which they send these emails out, and the time of day they do send them out, and so on and identify what you like and dislike; then you use that to craft your own email marketing strategy.
BENEFITS OF USING EMAIL MARKETING IN YOUR BUSINESS
Provides a high ROI
As I stated earlier, email marketing is the most profitable form of direct marketing with an average ROI (Return On Investment) of $42 for every $1 spent (DMA) and according to Mckinsey, email marketing is significantly more effective at acquiring new customers compared to social media.(Mckinsey, 2014). This means that to not include email marketing as part of your marketing strategy for any business will be a big mistake and likely impede the growth of your business.
Accessibility
Almost everyone has an email these days and this makes email marketing accessible to any business big or small. Email marketing is inexpensive which means that as a small business owner with limited budget you don’t have to pay to get in front of your customer. Though you may need to use an email marketing provider (ESP), to send and manage your email lists, many ESPs have free accounts, so you don’t need to invest a lot of money up front. This makes email marketing scalable and easy to get started.
Measurable
Most ESPs offer dashboards with real-time metrics like open rate, click through rate, bounces, forwards, social shares, and more. This makes it easy for you to see how your email campaigns are performing and these measurements take all the guesswork out of your email marketing.
Lastly, email marketing will amplify and compliment all other marketing strategies you are implementing to grow your business. You can influence your customers or prospects with personalized content. For example, if you have a sale, upcoming events, or introducing a new product, in addition to tactics like discounts, coupons, and so on, you can send a newsletter or email out to your list letting them know of your sale, event or product launch, when it starts, ends, and the benefits for them.
As a small business owner, you should not underestimate the power of email marketing in increasing your brand awareness, driving traffic to your website, and ultimately growing your business.
thewebpreneur 