Email has been around for many years and yet it continues to be the prime mode of communication between businesses and customers. Despite the rise of social media channels, email remains one of the most profitable means of marketing. To back this up, Constant Contact shows how small businesses are utilizing it to their advantage. In addition, Smart Insights released their 2018 statistics that compiles the open and clickthrough rates for different email campaigns used across several sectors.
In this post, we will discuss the five benefits of email marketing in your overall marketing strategy.
Benefits of Email Marketing
Reduces time, costs, and effort
One of the most attractive benefits of email marketing is its return on investment. You don’t have to shell out for print costs and postage fees. There are also free options that do not require you to pay advertising fees. In addition, email marketing is a huge time-saver as it allows you to complete a piece of marketing content in only a few hours. Setting up your contact list in advance can also help you reduce the time of sending the email one by one. Just pick the list of people you want to send the campaign to and hit the send button. Plus, you don’t need to hire a team to accomplish all the tasks involved.
Builds long-term relationships
One of the basic purposes of email marketing is to maintain communication with customers – whether they are prospective, current, or past customers. As you may be well aware, constant communication is essential for building a solid customer relationship. When you reach out regularly, it makes people feel valued and an important part of your brand. Since email newsletters take less time to create, you can communicate with your target audience more frequently.
Of course, this doesn’t mean you should be spamming their inbox. It pays to know first the dos and don’ts of email marketing before you start developing your campaign. When done correctly, your newsletters can give you the opportunity to turn those leads into clients and clients into loyal customers.
Targets your audience
Email marketing has the power to control who gets your message through contact segmentation. This means when you categorize your target audience depending on the data you have (e.g. demographic, age, location or status), and you are able to send through content that is specific to their needs or preferences.
Sending personalized emails is another great feature you can use in email marketing. It allows you to keep a personal touch on your message without having to do it manually. There are several email marketing platforms like MailChimp and Active Campaign that offers automated solutions for your marketing so you can maintain personal relationships with your customers.
Improves brand awareness
You display your brand to your target audience with every email you send. This ultimately reinforces positive emotions they have about your business as well as ensures they will remember what you have to offer even when they are busy.
By continuously sending out valuable content, not only do you engage your customers, you also build value. When your customers need the type of solution you offer, they will feel confident in turning to you and your business. This could provide a boost to sales during the busy season and even the slower times of the year.
Easily shared and integrated
In just a click of the forward button, your readers can easily share your offers and promotions. Plus, forward discounts and other interesting news with their family, friends, and colleagues. While your readers may not realize it, they are actually becoming brand advocates whenever they share your emails with others. In return, your brand gains more exposure and credibility.
Emails can also be integrated with other marketing channels. You can repurpose your email content into social media posts to increase your reach, without having to create new content from scratch. For example, MailChimp features a social sharing capability where users can share their email across social networks. By connecting your MailChimp account to your chosen social media networks, you can automatically post your campaigns on social media.
With strategic planning, a strong message and compelling design, email marketing can surely become a powerful tool in your marketing arsenal. If you want to learn more about email marketing and how it can help grow your small business, give us a call today. We are happy to offer a free marketing analysis.
