“Email is dead” is a common line that we’ve all heard tossed around at least once. The truth is that email isn’t dead — far from it, in fact. And if you’ve somehow been convinced that it is, it’s probably time for a strategy shake-up to ensure that your email marketing strategy is being implemented correctly and effectively.
Successful email marketing entails so much more than just whipping up some content and pressing send. Having a comprehensive strategy is crucial for reaching your audience, reaching your conversion goals, and staying top of mind with leads and prospects. What it’s often not, however, is intuitive. Putting together an email marketing strategy takes real work, as well as an investment of time and resources. So what’s the use?
Keep reading to learn why having an email strategy isn’t an option if you want to make a real and lasting impact on your prospects and customers.
It Helps You Put a Personalization Plan Into Place
Whether you’re B2B or B2C, personalization is crucial for effective marketing. Among leading marketers, 90 percent say that personalization lends a significant boost to the profitability of their business, which speaks volumes to the importance of a personalized email marketing approach.
When you’re able to identify your audience better and segment them based on their on-site behavior, patterns, and where they are in the buyer’s journey, you’re able to build a stronger connection with your leads. You’re proving that you know a lot about them, that you have the right resources to answer their questions, and that you’re the resource they need for valuable information.
It Moves Leads Down the Funnel
Emails are meant to achieve a lot of things, but ultimately, their main purpose is to guide leads down the funnel and toward a purchase decision. Easier said than done, though, right?
When you take the time to strategize, you have the opportunity to really think about the route that your leads will (hopefully) take. Instead of guessing what steps need to happen, you’ll create drip campaigns filled with the right content and calls-to-action that move your leads closer and closer to a decision. Just be sure to loop sales into the conversation, since they have a unique perspective on the hurdles you need to overcome.
It Ensures Your Content is Distributed Correctly
Content fuels your email marketing. An email marketing strategy directly complements your content strategy by helping distribute your content to the right people at the right time. Each piece of content you create should be crafted with your audience in mind. Particularly, you should be thinking about what questions the content helps your audience answer and what stage of their journey it is most applicable to. Doing so will ensure your email marketing plays a key role in how, where, and to whom that content gets sent. It’s a much better way to approach content distribution than just throwing it all out there and seeing what sticks.
It’s Integral to Cohesive Campaigns
Email marketing campaigns help you build trust over time with your audience. To really work, though, there needs to be cohesion in terms of your message and your approach. That can be hard to achieve on the fly, which is where a thorough strategy comes in.
Plan out your email campaigns in advance, covering also other channels your content will go through (i.e., social media). This big picture view is part and parcel of a successful campaign, and pretty much only achievable if you strategize ahead of time.
It’s Helps Plan Out Promos
Email marketing is more than just offering nurture. Including promotional email marketing in your strategy is a must, as it can lead to more sales and other key conversions. When mapping out your email marketing strategy, you can carefully plan out these specific promos you’ll need to make room for, and how you’ll go about rolling them out. This can help you hone in on the areas that need targeted promotion, like a newly released whitepaper, discount pricing, or a special trial that is limited and won’t last long.
It Just Works
Your audience wants to hear from you, why else would they opt-in to your email outreach? More than 50 percent of consumers check their emails at least ten times a day, and it’s their preferred way to receive brand updates. Meanwhile, more than 59 percent of marketers say that emails are their number one source of ROI. However, it stands to reason that if you want the maximum return on your email efforts, you’re going to have to put in the maximum effort. An email marketing strategy is designed to help you capitalize on this opportunity to connect with your audience, avoid missteps, and get as many benefits as possible out of your digital outreach. Sounds like as good of a reason as any to make it a priority!
Need help putting together a great email marketing strategy? Our blog is the place to go. View our archive of past articles and check back regularly for more need-to-know info. Or, subscribe to our emails and receive the content you need to help you make better email marketing decisions. With the right advice and the right approach, you’ll have an email marketing strategy ready to go — and ready to convert — in no time.