- Image by djwaldow via Flickr
Who, or rather, What – gets the media love these days?
You guessed it: “social media”. Sure, it’s a lot of fun, meeting new people and joining networks. New tools are popping up left and right, it seems (don’t get sucked into it though), and companies or websites like Facebook, Twitter are in the press all the time. Perhaps for a good reason.
We still know the value of diversified marketing campaigns, and one approach is simply not enough. SEO (search engine optimization) should be part of every marketing mix, and included from the beginning of any website development effort.
Pay per click is complex for many, but is an awesome way to drive traffic quickly, test keywords, ads and landing pages for better conversions.
While this is not an exhaustive list of marketing channels by any means – email marketing tends to get left ’till the end – at least by many companies I’ve worked with. Email is not dead, and while other fast growing companies (like Facebook) is opening up for users to try their social messaging and email, nobody is saying you should eliminate or scale back on emails.
So, how can email marketing help your business grow next year? Here are some insights and recent research.
You have likely heard the expression “money is in the list” . That’s not quite right. The money is in the “relationship with the list”. A combination of quality materials serving a listening audience is what you want, and then build that over time to create and nurture trust. People buy after 5-7 touch-points, and an email marketing program can do exactly that. Plus, the folks who come to your website can get an offer to join your list and get something useful and valuable.
ROI in email marketing and challenges facing tracking and follow-up can be tough. That’s not counting all the content you have to generate, subject lines and demographics, segmentation and more — it often makes it a less than desirable task. Just picking a provider for services can be a handful.
Marketingsherpa shows us some interesting data about these challenges:
And, segmenting emails based on behavior is used more than triggers, which are easier to handle:
Finally, tracking post click conversions and revenue per email is not always easy, and many don’t know what to look for. These metrics below are key considerations. It will help budgeting and ongoing improvements. Things that cannot be measured, cannot be improved upon.
If you are doing email marketing today, what is it doing for your organization? If this is not clear, what is holding you back from setting and getting clear objectives from this marketing and sales medium?
Are small obstacles holding you back? What are they?
Start simple, but get on with it. Are you surprised that many don’t even have an opt-in form? Don’t be – it happens all the time.
Related articles
- Essential Email Marketing Metrics in 2011 (customerthink.com)
- Email and Social Marketing Top Budgets (socialmediatoday.com)
- 7 Ways to Increase Email Marketing Conversions in 2011 (fathomseo.com)
About jon rognerud
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Entrepreneur Magazine says Jon Rognerud is one of the most sought-after Digital Marketing Experts. His clients extend from high-end brands and middle-tier businesses in both B2B and B2C. His SEO website optimization book, "The Ultimate Guide to Optimizing Your Website" from Entrepreneur Press is in bookstores now.