Email Marketing Isn’t Limited to Newsletters

Email Marketing Isn't Limited to Newsletters

There is more to email marketing than newsletters. If this is the first time you’re hearing this, then great. You can easily make changes to your email marketing strategy.

There are 12 different types of emails you can send as a marketer. A newsletter is only one of them. So, if this is all you have, you’re only harnessing less than 10% of email marketing true potential.

1MMV 032 - Email Marketing Isn’t Limited to Newsletters

In addition, it is important to note that your newsletter may not actually be a newsletter. If it is ridden with content about your products/services, then that is not a newsletter.

You might think that this is just a play on words, but trust me, it’s not.

It is how global and successful organizations differentiate the marketing emails they send.

What does this mean for you?

Email marketing is not limited to newsletters.

If you believe that product/service discounts in your email marketing are the only content you can send, then you have to start looking outside your own organization and industry.

Subscribe to newsletters of other organizations. If they have email courses, enroll in one. Download some white papers or eBooks. See if they have some lead nurturing emails after that.

Study them. Analyze them. What do you like? What do you don’t like?

Lastly, and the most important one when doing this exercise, look at it from the perspective of the user in that specific context.

Don’t wear your marketer hat; otherwise, this will make you look at the wrong things.

Oftentimes, as marketers, we are enamored by what we see other marketers do. But we will never know for sure if they are bringing in results.

Just ask yourself, do you trust the quality of a brand that is always on sale?

(You have a couple of brands in your head right now, huh?)

While you may see a spike in revenues after a sale, do that long enough and you’ll train your customers to stop buying at regular prices.

You’ll end up having to discount over and over in order to reach the same revenue level. This is the same tactic used by majority of organizations — one of which I wrote about before. The company is now closed.

Do you want to follow in their footsteps? Or would you rather be different and have a better chance of being successful?

3 Reasons Why Your Digital Marketing Efforts Suck

digital-marketing-platforms

Digital marketing is young. If you plot this against a Product Lifecycle Stage, it will be in its early growth stage. Now, what does that mean for you as a marketer of today?

Since digital marketing is in its early growth stages, no one has that extensive research and data to say that a certain set of practices are, in fact, the best. However, if you are keeping track of the big players in the internet (in the likes of Google and Facebook) and where they are moving towards, you should have noticed that they give priority to searches or updates that is helpful to the user. Their algorithms have changed to only show those which are relevant to them, burying those they do not care about.

If you still do not get it, sorry to say but you are not cut out to be an effective marketer. But if you do, and want to know why your efforts do not bring in the numbers you think you should be getting, start by changing the way you use digital marketing.

Reason 1: You transferred your traditional activities to digital — literally

Don’t you hate it when you go to the malls and you see a group of people handing out flyers? They follow you, ask if you have credit cards already, or if you are looking for an investment, or what not. When I see them, I get so irritated. They are forceful, obtrusive, and you know they only want to get that sale.

There are two options for you at that point — either you want it or not. 99% of the time, you don’t want it. And because you are busy, you (1) go through the herd, appear busy and don’t mind them at all, or (2) go out of your way to avoid them altogether. And because Filipinos are such nice people, you fake a smile, take the flyer to not offend the person, then throw it in the trash at the next corner (of course, if you really want the flyer, you would go and get it).

Now you, the recipient, gets irritated. You go out of your way because of them. You’re busy. You have other things to do. Every second matters.

Imagine those efforts carried out digitally. You are browsing Facebook and you see tons of ads. You go through websites, you see popups. You check your email and see ones from people you don’t know or companies you don’t even recognize. Instead of handing out those flyers physically, you receive them via social media sites and your personal email. Yes, as the company, you cut down costs of printing and payroll. But at what expense? Irritating your market? Not a good return on investment.

Reason 2: Keep posting about your products, services, promos and discounts

People’s behaviors have changed. They are no longer swayed by your company’s efforts to make them buy. People buy when they want to buy, not when you want them to buy. If the only thing people see about your brand is promos and discounts, you will end up getting a dissatisfied audience. Your brand will be thought of as cheap and incapable of generating revenues without inducing a short-term demand. If this persists, you will not build any credibility. Your audience will not trust you. At some point, you will no longer be able to sell anything at a regular price. People will learn that every other week you are on sale so they will just wait for it. In turn, you get lower margins. Or worse, you will be known as a cheap brand that they no longer want to associate themselves with.

Reason 3: Not Being Personal

The internet has turned what used to be a one-way communication into a two-way street. Billboards, tv and radio ads are examples of the former. Social media, if done right, is a great example of the latter. People want to talk to people. B2B and B2C does not matter that much nowadays. The buzz now is P2P or person-to-person. If your email newsletters still come from [email protected] then you are way behind. When people asks you a question on Twitter or comments on your Facebook posts then your reply is “Thank you for your comment. Please send us an email so we can answer your questions” — OMG — you have so much to learn.

Stop acting behind the company name. Treat your audience the way you want to be treated. Engage with them by answering their questions directly by replying to them. That is the whole purpose of social media — ENGAGEMENT. Only discuss over email if the conversation demands private details like username and credentials.

Stop hurting your business’ digital marketing efforts. Understand that people behave differently online. Just like you, they like to be treated as humans. They love talking to other people. People are demanding. It’s time to change your marketing.