Integrated digital marketing can’t be integrated without a key component. Email marketing must be part of any holistic approach to online marketing if all of your digital channels are going to effectively work together. Besides integrating your marketing efforts properly, email marketing will help improve your other channels in many ways.
Should I be using email in my online marketing strategy?
Whether you’re a B2C company conducting retail sales to consumers or a specialized B2B brand that deals with businesses, communicating with them using a comprehensive email marketing program is essential. But at the end of the day it’s all about the content, the value that you provide and knowing how to make it work with the many other needed digital channels.
Some Facts About Email Marketing
Social media, YouTube and search get a lot of press, but did you know that email marketing is one of the top digital marketing channels? Of course using email marketing as a sole or stand alone silo channel of marketing isn’t going to help you either. Email marketing should be integrated into a combined online footprint if you’re going to see the best results.
Here are some facts about email marketing:
89% of marketers say email is their top lead generation channel. Capterra
Email marketing generates the highest ROI for marketers, according to VentureBeat
81% of US online shoppers are more likely to make additional purchases due to an email.
For every $1 spent, email marketing generates $38 in ROI.
60% of marketers say that email marketing is producing an ROI for their organization.
Email marketing is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter
Email is the top digital marketing channel. Engage
Key Elements Of Successful Email Marketing
Having an email marketing program is much different from being effective with your email marketing. There are many key factors that go into building email into a powerful part of your overall digital marketing strategy and we are going to highlight some of those here.
Email Distribution – Without distribution, email marketing can’t be that effective. In other words, if you do not have an email list that is big enough, email marketing won’t have enough reach and therefore will not be able to get in front of enough people.
If email marketing is going to make an impact in your business you are going to have to continually build your email list. This means that a plan needs to be developed to integrate your email subscription form into your website, blog and social platforms. If you have a retail store, you also need to be capturing customer name and email information at the point of sale, with an option for window shoppers to also subscribe. More on distribution
Email Integration – Yes, you are hearing me again talk about the importance of marketing integration. Let’s look at this from a common sense perspective and you’ll see that what I am always preaching, not only makes sense, but it works. Here’s just a few examples of why you must use email marketing as an integrated piece of your digital marketing puzzle.
- If you send an email and link people to your website that is old, not optimized for conversion or mobile visitors you’ve just wasted an opportunity.
- If your marketing emails don’t give links to active and value laden social media accounts, you are not deepening customer relationships that lead to sales.
- If you aren’t constantly creating valuable blog, video and graphic content, your emails will lack value.
Email marketing has to work together with all of the other digital marketing channels to be effective.
Providing Value – If you have an email list and only send out pitches to buy things, you are simply using it as a bullhorn and people will quickly opt off your list. You have to understand that buying from you may be your objective for your customer, but it isn’t their objective every day. Don’t overburden your customers with your constant sales pitch in their inbox.
If you’re going to make email marketing effective, you have to cater to your customer and their needs, challenges and interests. You are going to have to provide value to them through content that focuses on them, not just what you sell. Produce content that entices them to solve a problem, focuses on their main interests or provides information in a selfless way. It’s not about you, it’s about them.
Be Consistent – Decide on a regular schedule for sending email campaigns and stick to it. Don’t send too often each month or people will become overwhelmed and opt out of your list. But at the same time if you are not consistently in front of your customers with valuable emails, they’ll forget who you are and why they subscribed to your email list.
Email Automation – Depending on your industry, you should be incorporating some level of email automation into your email marketing efforts. The level of automation and the types that are deployed will vary from industry to industry, but most brands can benefit by a well thought out entry email drip campaign, or an after purchase drip campaign.
As I have repeatedly said over the past decade, online marketing can’t be about just one or two platforms, online properties or platforms. You have to have a multi-channel marketing approach that incorporates ALL of the appropriate channels that your target customer uses and they have to be integrated under a unified strategy with tactics that work together. Email marketing must be a component that is equally integrated into any brands digital marketing program.
