With the ongoing rise of social media, many people question the relevancy of email marketing. Is it still effective? Do people receive too many emails? Do people still act on emails? Can we reach the right audience through email marketing?
Those who think email marketing does not work anymore, may simply be doing it wrong. To succeed in email marketing, there are 2 main factors (and many other smaller factors) to get right:
- The audience segmentation
- The right message
Audience Segmentation
It can be difficult to have the perfect contact database; clean, up to date, segmented by industry / interests – but there are people who can help you make that happen! And even if you’re not ready for that yet, you can take simple steps to make sure your database is as useful as possible. Start by making sure all the data is up to date, by removing old contacts, and building out interests and industry segments from there. Don’t have an email contact database at all? Don’t worry, we can help you obtain a clean and up to date database for your specific target market.
The right message
If your audience database is ready to be communicated to, then you need to craft the right message. Your database is now segmented, so you have an idea of what each person wants to hear about. Creating the right, relevant message targeted to the recipient will always result in more success, than a random mass-market message.
So why do some people think that email marketing is not worth it, while social media continues to rise? Email marketing has many advantages, some which are very similar to social media marketing:
- Reach a targeted audience
- Share a targeted message
- Reach an already engaged audience
- Low costs
- Deliver a message at a certain time or day
Overall though, it’s never about picking one channel over the other. The most effective digital marketing mix uses all channels; Website, SEO, Google Ads, Email Marketing, Social Media and the list goes on. By 2020, consumers will need to see a marketing message up to 20 times before they take action*. A great way to reach people with the same message 20 times is through a combination of all digital channels. We’ve even mapped out a generalised consumer journey using multiple digital channels:
So is email marketing still relevant? Yes and it will continue to be. Along with all the other digital channels, working seamlessly together, to deliver a targeted message to your audience.
Need help sorting this out for your marketing plan? Contact us today.
*Kerwin Rae, 2019
