Email has gone from an inexpensive weapon in the marketing toolkit to the indispensable digital hub for all brands. It is still the most targeted, measurable and cost-effective way to reach your customers and prospects. It is still all about the power of permission; however, smartphones, tablets, Facebook, Foursquare, Twitter and more have radically altered our communication landscape. Email continues to be the glue that binds all marketing channels.
- Email gets social media fans and followers
- Email gets new customers
- Email keeps customers
- Email drives revenue and generates a significant return on investment
- Email is what customers want
So where and how is email moving the needle for business growth?
Let’s look at six areas where email can support the claim of being the digital marketing heavyweight
- Acquisition: Search, display, mobile, social, and offline media can drive not only sales but also lead in the form of email subscribers. Your #1 focus in all your marketing and advertising should be to gather email subscribers.
- Awareness: Email is a branding channel! An email doesn’t have to be clicked upon (or counted as an open) to work and that in and of itself is powerful.
- Loyalty: Email drives frequency, strengthens ties to your brand, and will increase the lifetime value of your customers.
- Retention: They have either opted into your email program or have purchased form you already. This is your best source of email power in the short and long term.
- Revenue: The Direct Marketing Association latest numbers say email marketing returns almost $40 for every dollar spent. Not bad!
- Social Media: Email is the key tie into all social media. Leveraging a more “social” personality in email campaigns and sharing worthy content will make your email blend more seamlessly with social tactics and vice versa.