Why Email Marketing is still Valuable Weapon

Why Email Marketing Is Still A Valuable Weapon

With so many options available for businesses to reach their customers, many entrepreneurs are reaching for the next and newest bright shiny object. While marketing channels such as Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat have their place, many leading digital marketing experts still swear by email marketing as the most reliable and cost-effective by which they can reach their customers and get immediate feedback on their offerings.

According to the Radicati Group, an estimated 269 billion emails were sent and received in 2017, and the number of email users worldwide was estimated to be 3.7 billion by the end of the year. In the US alone, an estimated 90% of adults use email. Clearly, there is a huge audience. 

Let's explore some of the reasons why embracing email as a marketing tool is still a wise decision.

Your customer list belongs to YOU 

When you capture your prospects' names and email addresses, they belong to you. If you are using social media to build a prospect list through groups and followers, that list belongs to the social media platform. If you have a Facebook group with 50,000 people in it, they could all be your potential customers. But if Facebook shuts down your group, or if you do something that they deem “objectionable”, you lose access to that list. If you have a Twitter following of 50,000, that list belongs to them as well.

If for some unforeseen reason a social media platform that you use shuts down permanently, all of those followers are now gone unless you have discovered a way to capture that information to use offline. You might think Facebook or Twitter will never go away. MySpace probably thought the same thing. You just never know, so move those prospects offline so you never lose access to this valuable information.

People want to hear from you

When customers or potential prospects opt in to your email list, they do so because they want to hear from you. It's important to value the reader's time because they opted in for a reason. They value your expertise and want to learn more from you, or they want to buy from you. People who don't embrace email marketing may say that they don't want their emails to be deleted or to go into a spam folder. Your emails will get read consistently if you provide value. If you are giving information that your reader wants and needs, and if it is timely, your chances of keeping your audience is a lot higher.

You can build relationships

By staying in contact with your customer base regularly, you have an opportunity to build relationships.

In order for someone to buy from you, they have to know you, like you, and trust you first. You do this by providing useful information as we discussed before. You can send surveys or messages that require a response. The best email marketers will do this in order to stay on top of what their readers want to read. If someone perceives that your emails are no longer relevant, they will opt out.

You can also send videos in your emails, as they typically get higher engagement than text only emails. It gives your reader a chance to see you and hear you, which raises the trust level even higher. When someone can see you and hear you, they also feel your energy and sincerity. If you are coming from a place of being genuinely helpful to your audience, this is a great way to build rapport with them.

Keep clients updated on what you are offering

If your area of expertise is in an industry that is constantly changing, regular emails can serve to inform your audience. It's also a great reason to offer programs where your tribe can learn from you more consistently and become part of your inner circle. For example, marketing and finances are two such industries—and there are others. If you are on the cutting edge of your industry, you have a significant advantage because you can be THE “go to” resource in your field. This creates a greater demand for what you do and say, so selling is much easier.

It's cost-effective

Unlike social media ads which cost money—and time to figure out—email is essentially free. Even if you invest in marketing automation (Aweber, Constant Contact, etc), it is still relatively inexpensive. Other avenues of marketing, such as direct mail or telemarketing, can become prohibitively expensive if your list is large or if it isn't local. You can market to people halfway across the world for the same cost as you can to someone next door. Even compared to social media ads, it's still a bargain because it would be easy to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars on a large marketing campaign without email.

People expect you will be making offers

When people subscribe to your list, they know you will eventually offer to sell them something. But they also expect that offering to be valuable. The question becomes, “How often should I offer something?” Of course the answer can vary. Some people make an offer in every single email, while others might make an offer only occasionally. If you know your audience well or have done some market research, you should have an idea concerning how often is most appropriate. If your message is value-based first and the offer is made at the end, it is a lot less intrusive. If the email feels like a constant commercial, people may be tempted to unsubscribe.

It's less intrusive than other marketing channels

The great thing about email is that people can check it whenever they want, or even wherever they want. According to a study by Blue Hornet, 34% of Americans check their email throughout the day, so if you are not taking advantage of email, you could be missing out on some opportunities. 

Email is certainly less intrusive than a telemarketing call or a Facebook ad that appears on every 5th post in your news feed. That being said, if you email your list too often they may begin to ignore you and unsubscribe altogether. If you are promoting a product launch or an event, your tribe will expect to hear from you more frequently for a short time, but chances are they don't want to hear from you 5 times a day every day!

You can test your offer

Email is very effective because your offer can be measured and tested to determine its effectiveness. You can test different versions of your offer to see how well each converts, and again it is very inexpensive to do. You can test headlines, email length, and call to action in an A/B format to see what works best. These are things you can do quickly and easily without spending a lot of money like you would with direct mail, telemarketing, or social media.

Clearly, email still has advantages over other types of marketing. While it has been around for awhile, the advantages are difficult to ignore. You want a captive audience who know you, like you, and trust you, and who want to be in your tribe. Done correctly, you can monetize your list over and over again without breaking your bank. If you aren't taking full advantage of this, it's not too late.