Mastering Marketing
Email Marketing—Your Best Social Media Tool
You may think that email marketing is less effective than other social media tools. Don’t believe it. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc. get lots of publicity but, how well do they really work for stimulating sales? Who controls their analytics and the material you post? The Return of Investment of email marketing is DOUBLE that of any other digital channel. Plus, it’s one of the easiest places to reach your consumers where you already know they’ll be–their inboxes. Just consider these stats:
- 94% of people say they get online to check email. It’s the #1 activity on the internet (Marketo).
- The average office worker checks their email 30 times an hour (B2B Marketing Insider).
- People spend on average 2.6 hours a day checking, reading, and sending emails (McKinsey Global Institute).
- 66% of online consumers have made a purchase as a result of an email (Direct Marketing Association).
So not only is email one of the few marketing channels where consumers actually opt-in to hear more from you, people are pretty much addicted to it. Think about it:
- How many times have you checked your email first thing in the morning?
- Last thing at night?
- In a line at the grocery store or bank?
- In the waiting room at a doctor’s office?
Email reaches people everywhere, all the time. You can customize, personalize, and schedule your emails to help with relationship building with your customers. Successful marketing hinges on customer service and relationships.
The best way to capture people’s information is to have an email marketing system. Two popular ones are MailChimp (free up to a certain number of people/send) and Constant Contact. There are others that work great too, so chose the one that fits you best.
Make it a point to have an email signup sheet at your farmer’s market booth, your store and an opt-in signup on your website. Also, you’ll own your email list and the content you post. You can’t say the same about any other social media platform.
Mastering Marketing is produced by Ginger S. Myers and is published periodically containing important seasonal marketing information.