Social media is one of the most talked about ways to stay in contact with your customers and whilst it is really effective, don’t forget the e-mail marketing option. Email Marketing is still one of the best ways to reach your customers. Nearly everyone has an email address and your customers are more likely to pay more attention to their inbox than the huge amount of information they see on Social Media each day.
So why and how is email still relevant for small business marketing?
1. Targeted Messages to your lists
When you use email marketing, you can set up your lists based on people’s interests or other factors such as are they a current client. So you can send out really targeted messages to those specific people only. An example I have my newsletter list which allows me to send to the entire list or I can send to a segment of the list which goest to current clients or past clients depending on the message I am wanting to send out.
You can also personalise the messages so people feel like it has just gone to them!
2. Keep in touch and generate repeat business
People on your list will have subscribed to your list or previously bought with your company. Somehow or another they will have been in contact with you at one stage, so instead of letting this connection go cold.. use it to your advantage. Build a relationship with them through email marketing, so that when they are ready to buy your company should be top of their mind.
You can send them useful information, special offers and anything else you think they might like to read about. Just make sure it is relevant to what you do.
3. Keep track of what people like
The best thing about email marketing is the statistics that the programs provide you with. You can see how many people opened your newsletter and how many people clicked onto your content. So you can keep track of what people are enjoying reading.
If you get a high unsubscribe rate for one email you can review it and see where you can improve for next time. It might be that you need to tweak the subject line to improve open rates. The best thing is it is trial and error and you can improve each time.
4. Low Cost to Your Business
Email marketing is so affordable at the moment.. there are so many different options which will suit what you are trying to achieve. Programs like MailChimp have free versions for those who have smaller lists. Programs such as Aweber are great to set up automated messages to your clients and are affordably with a small monthly fee.
5. Automated contact management
Not only is this a spam requirement when sending marketing messages, using an email program allows people to unsubscribe easily from your list without you having to do any administration. People can subscribe and unsubscribe easily and quickly, rather than just sending out emails through Outlook or similar.
With its affordability and ease of use, e-mail marketing offers businesses a great way to engage with customers and keep them coming back. Through targeted advertising and personalised content, you can reach people on their terms wherever they are.