There are a wealth of online marketing opportunities available for businesses today – search engine optimization, affiliate marketing, social media, email marketing – the list grows each year. Throw in limited budgets and resources and it can be hard to prioritize. All of these options are great sources for building up your online presence, but where to begin? It’s important that you focus on the fundamentals, starting with email. While there have been countless articles on the growth of twitter and the use of QR codes, email marketing has been steadily and successfully reaching consumers for years. Email marketing is constantly evolving and improving, offering businesses new ways to get what really matters – revenue. At Easy To Send our goal is to take email marketing and demystify it, which is what we will be doing in our Easy To Send blog. Our marketing, deliverability, and product development teams will update regularly with tips, tricks, and explanations on email marketing topics. We love to hear from you – so please feel free to comment below, like us on facebook, follow us on twitter, or email us at help@easytosend.com.
So you know what Easy To Send is, but how do you know if email marketing is the right choice for your business in the first place?
1) You get your messages directly in your customers’ inbox.
Email marketing lets you engage with interested, active consumers of your brand. When someone receives an email from you it is because they have actively signed up for your newsletter, rather than passively come across your business through another route. Additionally, email is oftentimes the best medium to reach them on – studies by Pew Research Center show that 94% of online adults use email, while 62% check it daily.
2) You can send highly targeted campaigns.
One list for females, one for males. One list for parents, and one list for students. The possibilities are endless. People respond to relevant content, and gathering subscribers information allow you to send targeted campaign content and incentives that will interest a specific subset of subscribers.
3) You can easily test and adjust campaigns.
Debating between a blue or green button? Not sure if 10% off will get you the results you want? Email marketing allows you to test campaigns among different groups of recipients through split testing, and adjust campaigns to get the results you want. If 10% didn’t work last week, try a 15% off coupon for one day only.
4) It is immediate and reactive.
One of the greatest trends we’ve seen this year is people utilizing the fact that e-mail can be created and sent almost immediately – no insertion orders, no printing delays. This has allowed businesses to send highly relevant content based on their marketing needs that specific day. For example, during this past snow-filled winter, I received dozens of special “snow-day” offers, either incentivizing me to shop online while I’m snowed in, or brave the cold for a discount on-site.
5) It takes a low budget and brings a high ROI.
According to the Direct Marketing Association, 2009 ROI for email marketing was an average of $43.62 for each dollar spent. That far supersedes search advertising, which returned $21.85 for each dollar spent. With Easy To Send, you can increase that number even more – we are offering free email marketing for one year at sign up for any business with fewer than 10,000 subscribers.
Think of email marketing as the gateway for other resources. Email allows you to drive customers to your website, your blog, your twitter and facebook pages. With the average consumers online presence constantly growing, it’s more important than ever to make sure that you are reaching your customers where it counts – in their inbox.
