In this article, I am going to give you the reasons why email marketing will continue to work even in this social media age.
In the wake of the internet, everybody was using email to communicate with each other, and marketers found it an opportunity to spread the word about their business via email marketing.
There was no limit to the excitement we would get when we check our inboxes to find a new message about something we’d been anticipating so much.
But with so many challenges in email marketing, for example; is the rise in spam which is unwanted messages sent to people’s emails, and the advent of social media where people have the opportunity to create an account or profile and keep people who they admire as friends or followers; Many online business owners are forced to ask if email marketing really works.
Does email marketing really work?
The simple answer to this question is yes.
Email marketing is still relevant as it was in the beginning, and if it is done correctly, it can be a highly effective way for a business owner to maintain steady communication with their customers.
And this communication could in the end lead to an increase in leads and sales for that business.
Before I show you why email marketing will continue to work, let us look at the threats to email marketing.
What are email marketing threats?
The 2 biggest threats to email marketing are spam and social media.
1. Spam.
Spam is simply a process of sending irrelevant or unsolicited messages over the internet to lots of users, for the purposes of advertising, phishing, spreading malware, etc.
Messages sent as spam are usually annoying as it tries to cajole a user into engaging in one form of online business or the other.
Emails are one of the avenues people are using to send spam messages.
2. Social media.
Social media are simply internet or online platforms that freely allows people to create an account and keep other users as followers.
Some of these social media platforms even allow their users to use ads and promote their pages in order to gain likes and followers.
This implies that any business can just create a free account on social media platforms and use ads to target potential customers who will free willingly follow their accounts.
Also, there are people who have millions of followers on their social media accounts, and we refer to them as social media influencers.
These kinds are paid by businesses to promote their products and services to their followers.
Example of social media platforms is Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube, and Twitter.
Why email marketing will continue to work.
Even with the above threats, email marketing will continue to work, and below are the reasons am giving to maintain that fact.
- There is an option to control spam.
- Social media algorithms decide on posts for users.
- Everyone is using email.
- Availability of mobile devices.
- When done correctly email marketing is highly effective.
- Email marketing is cost-effective.
1. There is an option to control spam.
Having seen spam as one of the threats to email marketing, we can go on to dismiss that fact because there is an option to control spam in email accounts.
Now if you check your email accounts you will see a category known as “spam”.
And what happens is that if a particular person or company is sending you multiple emails at the same time, most of those emails are going to end up in the spam section.
It then leaves you as the owner of the email with an option either to empty the spam right away if any of those messages are not relevant to you.
And as we can now clarify, spam can never stop email marketing from working, not at all!
2. Social media algorithms decide on posts for users.
Social media platforms have an online robot that we call an “algorithm”.
And the duty of this algorithm is to sort posts in a user’s feed based on what kind of content they engage with the most.
This means that if you have millions of followers on your account who do not frequently engage with your kind of business anywhere else, there is no way they are going to see anything you post about your business or brand.
3. Everyone is using email.
It is estimated that about 4 billion people around the world are using email as their means of communication.
And when you compare that to social media users, you will realize that more people are using emails than Facebook or Twitter combined together.
4. Availability of mobile devices.
With the availability of mobile devices like smartphones, iPhones, iPods, Laptops, etc, in every hand, email notifications can be seen and checked by the owner at any given point in time or place.
This simply means that people can see, read and interact with their emails 24/7.
Thus, wherever your target audience is, you will be able to reach them through email, and this makes email marketing relevant to nearly every industry.
5. When done correctly, email marketing is highly effective.
According to a survey by the Content Marketing Institute’s 2020 B2C Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends report, content marketers rate email newsletters as their highest-performing content type for securing and nurturing leads.
If a marketer is able to send personalized and informative content to their email subscribers; they will end up building loyalty and trust with them.
And it is that loyalty and trust that will increase leads and help people to buy your products and services.
But the one thing you should avoid when sending emails to your subscribers is spam.
Everyone hates spam, and for that reason, you must ensure any email you send to your subscribers are helpful content that will provide or add value to them.
When you are able to send helpful content that bonds with your subscriber’s needs, they are going to engage with it.
And on the other hand, if you send spam, they are likely going to unsubscribe.
6. Email marketing is cost-effective.
Yes! Email marketing is very cost-effective because it will allow you to reach thousands of subscribers for a little sum.
Unlike social media ads or other pay-per-click forms of advertising that will have you spending hundreds of dollars to achieve your marketing strategy.
Most small businesses are always with a limited budget to spend on their marketing strategies. And for that reason, every dollar spent has to count.
And email marketing is the only marketing strategy that will allow you to spend what you can really afford, and above all maintain it over time.
Conclusion.
The bottom line is email marketing is the only form of marketing communication you can use to reach your target market.
All you need is just a little time and effort and all your work can really be outsourced.
And I believe you can now understand why email marketing will always continue to work.
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