Eranet News on January 23th, 2014. Most people in the world of online marketing are like skiers who go to the top of a slope, point their skis straight down, push off, and hope for the best. They are the type of people who no longer focus on email marketing strategies because email marketing is not new enough, cool enough or fast enough. But they are wrong.

 

These people go for the latest and hottest thing with a view that the internet will always change. They dump websites for mobile apps; they have Fear of Missing Out so they focus only on social media instead of search engines; and they even write-off relatively new platforms like Facebook in favor of the new and untested (Snapchat, Vine etc). If we go back to the skiing analogy, they might make it to the bottom of the slope occasionally with their straight down, high speed, reckless approach. But more often than not they will crash horribly and stagger the rest of the way.

 

Those who use email marketing, on the other hand, always make it down. Their path is slightly longer and slower, but it is proven.

 

Email marketing might be the oldest tool in the online marketers’ arsenal, but it is one of the best. If you want your online marketing efforts to be successful in 2014, you need to put in place email marketing strategies.

Email Marketing Benefits

 

Here are some of the reasons that you should be involved in email marketing.

Cost – Email marketing is not expensive and you get a good return on investment. One report found direct mail achieved a 7% ROI, while email marketing achieved an average of 28 percent.

Bigger than social media – Around 60 percent of people use social media to communicate which is impressive. But 85 percent of people use email.

Personal – Email inboxes are personal spaces and you will be in there.

Targeted – People who subscribe to your list have already indicated an interest in your product, service, business or industry.

Simple and quick – Email campaigns can be designed quickly and easily by anyone.

Customizable – You can segment your subscriber list in order to customize your campaigns for particular audiences, e.g. targeting women instead of men.

Immediate – Most people have email on their phones or mobile devices so will receive your campaign immediately.

All about the action – Email recipients expect you to ask them to do something (buy a product, upgrade, download something, click on a link, etc). Your challenge is making it appealing enough that they do.

Measurable – The best one has been saved for last. Email marketing offers the best opportunity to measure the success of your campaign. This allows you to test, track the results, make changes, and test again – so you are always improving.

 

Email Marketing Strategies

 

The first part of a successful email marketing strategy is your list. This is the most difficult parts of the process and it is something that you will need to work on all of the time. Some list building ideas include:

 

Create great content that people want to read (this will encourage them to sign up to your list to ensure they do not miss out on anything in the future)

Promote your content (through SEO, guest blogging, etc.)

Ask people to sign up (this might sound obvious, but it is not just about putting a form on your website – ask your clients, peers etc. directly – and personally - to sign up)

Run ad campaigns in short targeted bursts with the sole objective of building your list

Run competitions and Facebook Promotions

Offer webinars

Exploit every opportunity (launching new products, appearing in traditional media, guest speaking, etc. are all excellent opportunities to build your list)

 

The second part of a successful marketing strategy is creating the campaign. Keep it short and to the point, and also make sure it is relevant. It should be personal and it should have a clear and simple call-to-action (just one). You should also test to find the best time of day, and day of the week, to send your emails. And you should make sure your campaign looks good on mobile.

 

The third and final part is measuring the success of your campaign. Enhance the things that worked and change the things that didn't. If you follow these tips, you’ll seamlessly ski down the slopes to email marketing success.