So far I have shared how important the role of email marketing has played in the history of Spire2, and I have shared why email is more valuable than other social media channels. But since 2007, there has been a long list of “experts” that have said email is a dying medium. Ever heard someone tell you:
- email usage is shrinking,
- email is only for work,
- email is not used by younger generations?
If you have, hop on over to this article. (The article is also a great read if you are curious about using SMS messages in marketing.)
Email is not going anywhere
Before you start sending email blasts to every person you meet (never add people, but instead invite them) or worse, go out and buy an email list (don’t even think about it), keep in mind email marketing is an evolving medium. What worked in 2003, will not work today. Gone are the days of “sign up to receive my email newsletter,” and really gone are the “join our mailing list”. You’ve got to earn that email address and you have to deliver, or else they will ignore you. Of course I still ask,”what would you pay to have your brand flash across the brain of people who have given you their email address?” It is still a very cost-efficient way to get a brand impression, and yes, it is a brand impression even if they only read the subject line!
Forget the past
Instead of looking back, I thought it would be great to share my best advice. Here are three tips to help you find email marketing success in 2018.
- It is all in the invitation: Make your invitation compelling, because I already told you “join my email list” just won’t work. Once you have a good invitation set up, create another one. Lots of different invitations means that you can appeal to a lot of different people.
- Welcome emails and automation should be like peanut butter and jelly, if email marketing is the bread and I am hunger. Welcome emails are always the most opened and email automation allows you to deliver a journey. Once an automated welcome series is set up, it runs automatically. What could be better than that? Put them together and it is like dessert (did I mention I am hungry?).
- More is not as good as more. Shorter emails are better than longer. If you say you have too many great things to share, I would suggest you increase frequency rather than send out an email with any more than 2 pieces of content. I receive an email digest once a week. It comes on Friday around 3:00. I have never read it. I stay on their list just to see how long they will keep doing it.
Getting lost along the way
Email marketing is now more mature, and your email marketing might feel like a well-worn sneaker – look terrible, and man, if they get a little wet, they stink really bad (oops, maybe that is just me), and hard to let go. If you can relate — not about the shoes, but about feeling your email marketing is not working, let’s talk. I am still an email marketing evangelist (even if that business coach strongly recommended I don’t use the word evangelist because it was a religious word). Long live the king — email still rules.
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