Right now we live in an “BOTH/AND” marketing world—one that requires us to use multiple communication channels to really reach our audiences and build thriving organizations.
While social is the current darling of the marketing world, there are some things it can’t do. Every channel has its value and today we’re championing email marketing.
When you understand email’s strengths and take the time to build up your email list, you’re in a better position to take advantage of the unique value email can add to your communication mix. Let’s take a closer look.
Top three advantages/uses of email:
1. Cost-savings
Without the option to send your audience email, print is your only option. That can be expensive—and limiting. While social media has its place, you really don’t have control over who will actually see it the way you do with email. Even if you pay.
A well-organized database with up-to-date emails is one of the best marketing investments you can make. Accurate email addresses that don’t bounce and emails that get opened regularly increase your deliverability. This increases the odds that the people you send to will actually receive your message. And in many mail systems, you can send as often as you like with no additional cost.
2. Repetition
Generally speaking, people need to see your message 6-12 times before they take action. Back in the day, it used to be common to send what was called a “bumper mailing” — the exact same package a second time.
It’s a marketing practice that has fallen by the wayside with the increased cost of mailing. Email can recreate that experience. People don’t pay nearly as much attention to your content as you do, so worrying that it will “annoy” your audience may be costing you the impact needed to drive action.
3. Speed
Email lets you act more quickly than print. Snow cancelation? Last minute announcement? A bill under consideration you want to rally support for? An emergency you need to raise money for? These are all situations that email was born to handle!
You can’t expect that same results from an email message to a 600-name list as you would get from a print mailing to a 10,000-name database. Nor will your repetition or speed have much of an effect if it’s only reaching a small fraction of your audience.
So get out there and get list building to fully harness email’s potential!
Need help crafting your next email campaign? Give us a call at 267-468-7949 or drop us a line at info@iriscreative.com.
