Our Love Hate Relationship With Marketing
Email marketing has been around for a long time, and we all have love-hate feelings about it. When all is considered, email marketing is still a great tool for both marketers and consumers. And judging by how much it is still being used, there is more love than hate in the air.
Here are the nine main reasons why email marketing is still popular:
Rich Platform: When sending marketing email, we can include multiple types of communication elements. In addition to words (without the limitation of certain number of characters), we can include pictures, graphics, embedded videos and animated graphics, and links. Furthermore, formatting fonts with type, color, and size can add to the impact of email messages.
Unobtrusive: Yes, I know… we often think of emails as a rather ‘pushy’ means of communication; but compared to other forms of promotions, it really isn’t. As recipients, we always have a choice whether to open an email or not, and when to open it. We can also unsubscribe from a mailing list or block a sender. In contrast, as consumers we have considerably less control over commercials, text messaging, billboards, and many other forms of promotions directed at us.
Two-Way Communications: Emails are the ultimate relationship builder form of promotion, because it allows for easy and immediate two-way communication that other forms of promotion don’t. From within the email, recipients can reply, fill out forms, link to a webpage, make a purchase, and choose from a variety of other actions with ease.
Fast and Immediate: Many other forms of promotion require considerable lead-time and production. Email campaigns can be prepared very fast, if needed, and sent out within minutes, even to a very large list.
Customizable: When sending out email marketing, we can personalize the message and customize it to address the specific needs or interests of the individual recipient. These actions can be done easily and automatically, based on information we have accumulated about our list members in our database.
Marketing Automation: Marketing automation (including drip and trigger-based) can be very efficient when used properly and responsibly. This refers to a pre-designed course of series of emails (sometimes other elements too) to be sent out automatically to a prospect or a client based on their ‘behavior’ (see more under ‘Marketing Lingo’ below).
Track Opens and Clicks: Properly designed and sent email marketing campaigns provide great feedback to the sender by reporting information about who opened the email and when, and also who clicked on what link and when. This information can and should be used to both improve marketing efforts, in general; and marketing efforts to the individual recipient in particular.
Affordable and Scalable: Email marketing is one of the least expensive forms of mass marketing. It is also very scalable – The costs and efforts invested in sending an email campaign to a very large group is almost the same as sending it to a small group (low variable cost/insignificant incremental cost).
Effective: Email marketing is effective – plain and simple! Companies that utilize this tool and do it well, see great results.
Email marketing is still at the top among many other marketing tactics available for businesses and organizations. However, its effectiveness varies considerably from one organization to another. There is a lot to be considered when using email marketing, and at the very top of the list of factors often over-looked are strategy and legal considerations:
- Email marketing must be part of the overall marketing strategy of your organization. and not an isolated ‘random act of marketing’.
- There are laws governing what’s allowed and what’s not when emailing for marketing purposes – such laws exist in the US (CAN/SPAM, for example), Canada, the European Union, and other place. Make sure you comply.
If you have questions about email marketing or need help with yours, feel free to call or click here us for a complementary consultation.
Duke Merhavy, MBA, Ph.D.
President & Chief Marketing Officer
What Is Fractional CMO & Marketing?
Fractional CMO & Marketing is ‘Your Smart Marketing Formula’ when you need expert marketing leadership and marketing services to accelerate growth and improve profitability, but you’re not quite ready to hire a full-time Chief Marketing Officer or your own marketing department
Our unique arrangement is the most efficient, innovative, and cost-effective formula for you. Click on the image on the right to watch a short video.
Five Things to Consider When Choosing an Email Marketing Service Provider
By Anna Kunz, Manager of Marketing Services at Fractional CMO & Marketing
When searching for an email marketing service, many focus on trying to minimize cost. However, a great email marketing service enables you to do much more than just save some money, including, create highly engaging emails, manage your contacts, and track performance.
Utilizing these five criteria during the selection process will give you full control, allow you to establish direct contact with customers, and decrease the odds of your emails ending up in the spam folder:
- Customer Support – The support team of the service provider should be available and helpful. Look for services that offer live chat and phone support. It may take time to fully understand how to use their design studio and to explore the full potential of the service that goes beyond the drag and drop options. Also, look for services that provide live webinars, and a library of tutorials or how-to videos.
- Free Trial Period – Many email template editors are simple to use and sport a drag and drop builder. These allow inexperienced users to quickly learn the basics of email marketing and start using it like a pro. Take advantage of the free trial offers and find a builder you feel comfortable growing your company with, before committing to a plan.
- Contact Growth – If you are planning to switch services or already have a large number of email contacts, you will want a service that includes an “import” function to add contacts to your list. This step saves a lot of time and energy.
- Reporting – Look for a service that has intelligent marketing automation tools that will allow you to analyze your email campaign’s performance. These tools are capable of tracking open rates, click through rates, and also allow you to comply and track unsubscribes. Having access to intelligent marketing automation tools will further your ongoing business strategies to reach specific audiences and create more effective campaigns.
- Industry Needs – If you operate in certain industries with special legal requirements in communicating with your audience (such as HIPAA for health care providers), you may wish to look for service providers who specialize in your industry.
Marketing Lingo: “Marketing Automation”
Marketing Automation is a process controlled and managed by a software program for the purpose of taking certain marketing actions based on the prospect’s activities, reactions, and other consumer behaviors.
Ideally, Marketing Automation covers multiple aspects of marketing efforts and activities including, email, social media, website experience, SMS, and more. The purpose of having Marketing Automation deployed is to remove human involvement in repetitive and predictive actions, in order to reduce costs and eliminate human errors.
Arizona Commerce Authority Selects Fractional CMO & Marketing
We are delighted to share with you that the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) named Fractional CMO & Marketing as a Qualified Vendor to provide manufacturing companies with marketing services, through their RevAZ Program.
The mission of RevAZ is to make every Arizona manufacturer the most successful business it can be. Fractional CMO & Marketing is now supporting RevAZ staff and their clients (Arizona manufacturers) in growing these businesses.
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