Have You Considered The Power Of Email Marketing
Old vs. New
If we consider that not so many years ago when we were selling products or services it was usual to make the phone call, engage the prospect in conversation then send a brochure. Even today most telesales people will tell you that they make approximately 100 calls per day. It varies form company to company but only a small subset of these people are spoken to. At least when they are an appropriate email can be sent to them and they will be directed to the online brochure – vis-à-vis their website. The immediate communication is amazing and email takes immediate advantage as it can arrive even whilst the conversation is happening. No longer do you have to wait for the ‘snail mail’ approach which will take on a good day 24hours but in reality up to 36 hours then arrange a follow-up.
Email Marketing
So what are the benefits of email marketing?
Email marketing is rapidly becoming the primary leader for contacting prospects and clients.
Here are the main reasons why email marketing is a high priority for many organisations:
1. It’s immediate - from idea to delivery can take less than 12 hours. Gone are the days when you had to get your creative agency to prototype a campaign, coming up with visuals that needed amending. These amendments alone took days to prepare. Once the artwork was completed you then had to wait for the finished item to go to the printers to be printed and then the finished mailer would then arrive some days afterwards. Once you had engaged the willing hands of people inside the companies they would then put all of the mailshot together and someone would be nominated to take it to the Post Office for the bulk discount. (I didn’t like the taste of the envelopes that had to be stuck down!) Not surprisingly the old way has now become – no way.
2. Cost – with the noted absence of production and postal costs email campaigns are sought after as they are just so cost effective. It is possible to email up to 2500 emails for a s little as $30 per month. Simply put being this cost effective method available to large and small companies has become a ‘no brainer’.
3. Personalisation – for every email campaign having a personalised mailshot means that you will get more attention. No longer is the Dear Sir/Madam or Dear Client an acceptable way to carry on. You can easily change and personalize mail shots either using titles or first name if appropriate.
4. Metrics – This is possibly the most powerful weapon that today’s marketer has. Understanding basics that would be impossible in the old days has proven to be very successful and appealing. Imagine that you can now establish:
a. who opened the mail,
b. what time they opened it,
c. if they clicked through to a web site and if so
d. which links were used.
Given all of these metrics you can now establish the ‘warm’ clients and where their interests lie. Additionally you could take a view that if a certain email marketing offer was opened up on a regular basis or several times during the day then this would indicate specific interest. Armed with this knowledge you could then easily target those people who were active.
5. Testing – Imagine that you can now test new ideas rapidly. Fortunately the feedback and open rate for each campaign can be understood and then adjusted easily before sending out a larger campaign.
6. Remain in touch – communication is vital and building brand loyalty is essential. Sending out a email campaign t inform (a newsletter), a press release or an offer will help you to remain in touch with your market.
7. No need to understand HTML – HTML is complex for most people, learning how to code before sending a campaign is not really going to grab the attention of most managers or marketers. Fortunately some highly customisable email templates can be used. Although there is a learning curve and it will take time becoming proficient in the technology should not be an inhibitor. Given that most people will pick up new skills quickly it shouldn’t be long before you can change the colour, layout and import logos and styles that your recipients will recognise and also look forward to
Given that it’s not about if you decide that email marketing is for you it’s about when you decide. The rapid growth that email marketing is enjoying is perfectly understandable – don’t get caught out and wait forever you could be enjoying a new way to market. We can show you how to create a campaign and maximize results allowing you to benefit from more business and generate happy clients.
Mike Palman http://www.thesalesacademy.com
