Published on Dec 26, 2011
2. Reach your targets through a platform they visit every day. Most people check their email every day, if not multiple times per day. Research from The Relevancy Group suggests that 66% of online consumers check their email account multiple times per day and 13% of online consumers check their email hourly or more frequently (EmailJam.co.uk, November 8, 2011).
3. Your prospects may not know they need your services until you tell them about what you have to offer. B2B Unlike marketing forms such as paid search or local listings, where people already know they are searching for your type of business, email marketing allows you to contact businesses that may not know that a business exists that can solve their problems. Say that a major city near your business suddenly has a requirement that all businesses in the city employ your services – don’t you want to reach those businesses as quickly as possible and tell them that you can solve the problem they face? What if a business is spending thousands per year due to inefficiencies and you can solve that problem? They are not looking for you, because either they do not know where to turn or they do not know they have a problem, so you need to reach out to them. Email marketing allows you to reach these target customers quickly and effectively, since you know your message is being sent to the right audience.
B2C For businesses reaching directly out to consumers, the goal is to encourage prospects and customers to purchase again and again. So, if a customer came into your store and purchased a pair of shoes, why not tell them about the sale you have on pants next week? - If they had their last oil change at your dealership, why not remind them it is time for another one? - If they recently purchased an RV, what about suggesting they purchase add-ons at a later date? - If they purchased a unique product and took a survey that said they liked it, what about offering them a discounted price to purchase one for a friend? - If they had repairs done on their house, what about inviting them to use your services again, or refer you to a friend? - If they are interested in applying to your school, what about reminding them of all the advantages your college or university offers? Any of these means are effective for increasing awareness of your product to people who may know about it, but do not know everything you have to offer. In addition, many of these methods can help you increase referrals, which will help you to reach out to people who do not know about you.
4. Increase conversions. Most people are familiar with the concept of offering free downloads of a white paper or other resources in exchange for giving your email address to a business. Although these prospects are asking for information, they are not yet ready to purchase. By asking these individuals if they want to receive email marketing, you can continue to follow up with them about everything you have to offer. This way, people do not enter your site, take what they want, and simply leave – you actively pursue them and make your research and other previous efforts work for you again and again. Another method is to send follow-up emails to purchases, as described above.
5. Get people to come to an event. How are you going to notify people about an event you are holding? Most events have really unusual names to make them stand out, but these names are not likely to have any search volume. If you use social media, that may be a great place to get the word out, but not every business has an extensive social media presence or a social media presence at all. Even if your business has a social media presence, having a second way to reach people about an event is always welcome. That makes email marketing a great choice for updating your prospects and customers on everything from that upcoming sale to a fundraising event to a Little League tournament you are sponsoring in your local community. Ask them to bring their friends, get the email addresses of those friends, and grow the list of people you can target for your next event.
