When it comes to running a successful business, there is no denying that acing marketing can take it to new heights. While word-of-mouth marketing and recommendations can indeed do wonders for the growth of an enterprise, the level of awareness brought forth through an effective marketing strategy must be considered when scaling is the ultimate goal. In general, marketing revolves around increasing awareness of a brand and its range of products and services. An effective marketing strategy, on the other hand, has the ability to influence a consumer, help them make a buying decision, and even convert them into profitable leads. Although marketing covers a wide range of activities that persuade consumers in ways that aid business growth, it is crucial to note that the digital era has greatly impacted the customer decision journey. As such, given the convenience of the digital space, it is important to meet customers wherever they go. And with the power of digital marketing channels becoming more apparent, leveraging email to promote your brand is a step in the right direction.
Understanding email marketing
As its name suggests, email marketing is a form of digital marketing with email acting as its main conduit of action. A direct form of marketing, a robust email marketing strategy can help customers gain awareness of new releases, remain engaged, generate brand awareness, build new relationships, and even reward ongoing customer loyalty. But more than anything, it is customisability and proven capability to increase sales at an affordable cost that makes the implementation of a good email marketing strategy a must in every marketing plan. Whether leveraged to onboard new customers or to announce a limited-time sale, email marketing campaigns can be altered to take on various shapes and forms to cater to the varying personas of customers and initiatives.
The importance of email marketing
The question of whether email marketing is still important is one that is constantly brought up amongst marketers. While the types of digital marketing strategies that have cropped up over the years have definitely evolved, the importance of email marketing cannot be overlooked. For one, email marketing massively increases a brand’s reach and direct communication. With the mass adoption of email, this is an ideal channel for your marketing.
Similar to other marketing channels, email marketing is just as flexible, scalable, measurable, and versatile. However, one of the key advantages of email marketing lies in the fact that all the data remains as your own. Unlike social media channels or search engines in which algorithms are constantly being updated to improve user experience, your email list remains as a direct line of communication with leads and prospects. Big algorithm change or not, you’re less likely to get lost under all the rubble and noise.
The relevancy of email marketing in 2022
Many businesses today are tapping into different marketing channels like Instagram and Facebook to build brand reputation and diversify their revenue options. However, email marketing is still relevant in 2022 and is more critical than ever before in terms of generating leads and guiding prospects up the marketing funnel.
With record amounts of new technologies cropping up in the past decade, email marketing is more powerful than it used to be. According to Smart Insights, an estimated 30% of people in all industries open their emails and browse through them daily. With the number of global email users expected to increase to 4.3 billion by 2023, if a business can create a human connection through their email content, they are more than likely to reap benefits. Supporting this is the fact that email marketing beats social media marketing for customer acquisition. According to McKinsey, email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers compared to social platforms like Twitter and Facebook. And this is mainly due to the fact that a vast majority of people use their emails daily.
As stated, email marketing has a variety of benefits, and most importantly, it is easily maintained and provides you with an inexpensive yet consistent form of marketing that could pay dividends to your business’ sales. Used strategically, email marketing can bring greater customer retention for businesses. And to bring your email marketing ideas to life, there are a number of tools and best practices that can be used to help maximise the effectiveness of your marketing strategy.
