Nearly 20 years old, email is one of the oldest forms of digital marketing, yet remains one of the most effective. In fact, 86% of Business to Business marketers utilize an email marketing strategy, and this is actually expected to increase. So why does this form of marketing still resonate, despite the constant evolution of new technologies and platforms with which to connect with your audience?
Why Email Marketing?
Builds relationships with your audience.
Email marketing can be used to reach out to a targeted group of customers or potential clients, sending them unique messages based on their interests. It provides an opportunity to open—and keep open—the lines of communication between your business and your audience with consistent and timely communication. Keep in mind that the more value you that you provide to your audience via your email, the more that they will look forward to receiving it. Your email marketing strategy should be used to build long-lasting relationships, not just for selling and promoting products and services.
Establishes brand recognition
By providing consistent, valuable information to your audience that adheres to your brand guidelines and aesthetic feel, your email campaigns will be recognizable and anticipated. It also gives you the medium through which you can offer your audience your expert opinion on topics relevant to your industry, and establish yourself and your brand as an authority on those topics, which keeps you top-of-mind when a buying decision is made.
Increases sales
According to the Direct Marketing Association, 66% of consumers have made an online purchase as a direct result of an email message. By delivering timely, relevant, and valued information direct to the inbox of your most loyal customers, you can drive up your direct sales while maintaining your relationships with those customers and creating new relationships with potential clients. While social media channels like Facebook and Instagram have their benefits, they can’t match the proven reliability or profitability of email marketing.
Optimizes your marketing budget
Email is a simple, cost-effective method of digital marketing that provides an unprecedented ROI, with a whopping $44 earned for every $1 spent. Moreover, email marketing programs are simple to use, have low cost of entry, and can be set up to operate on “auto-pilot” for on-going campaigns. Few marketing efforts are more efficient and effective.
Provides trackable data
It can be difficult to track the effectiveness and ROI of many marketing initiatives—you can guess how many people heard your radio ad or saw your ad in the local magazine—but trackable data is oftentimes not available. With email marketing, you can view the number of opens for each email, monitor the click through rate for any links, and track the number of visitors that are driven to your website via the email. In addition, your email marketing efforts can help you learn about your audience—not only who is most engaged with your brand, but each open and click tells you what they want to learn more about and what they see as valuable content.
With 91% of consumers using email daily—and rising—there is no better way to engage with them than with a strong email marketing strategy. Contact MJ2 Marketing today to learn how email marketing can help to build your brand.