3 Reasons Why Email Marketing Still Matters

While we find ourselves in a social media frenzy, with new social networks popping up everywhere and with their attempts to target niche audience. It’s easy to forget the one communication channel that has withstood it all. Which also remains one of the most effective sales tool for business. That’s right, I’m talking about email!

And out of all the ways we can communicate with each other, a study by ExactTarget showed that 77% of people prefer to receive marketing messages through email!

You might also be interested to know Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn came in at 4%, 1% and 0% respectively in the same study. Meaning that while social media allows to reach the masses, it’s not necessarily the place to be going for the hard sell. Instead, they’re more for raising awareness and getting people onto your website.

Below you’ll discover three compelling reasons why email still plays a role in inbound marketing.

3 Reasons Why Email Marketing Still Matters

1. You Own The List

In an earlier post about email marketing, I briefly mentioned how all your contacts and followers could not be exported to say MailChimp or Aweber. What this means is that the large following you’ve attracted on Twitter is not yours to control and do as you please, because that data is owned by Twitter.

You’ll probably have noticed how Instagram blocked Twitter’s “Find Friends” access a while back, and more recently Path being denied the same access by Facebook. And you never know when the Terms and Services can change.

Case in point, the emails you collect stay with you and most importantly are under your control! So whenever you’re launching a new product, feature or event, you’re able to contact the emails you’ve collected to let everyone know what you’re up to.

2. People Check Their Email Inbox Regularly

I consider my inbox an intimate place for content that is 100% worth reading. I’m probably not alone, and you can bet others feel the same way.

What this means is when people subscribe to your email list, they actually want to receive updates from you. I mean they’ve already given you permission to contact them.

So since an email inbox is where you want your most valuable content to appear – folks are checking their email more regularly than social media.

Another key issue to pay attention to is that the shelf life of social media update is very short – leading to your updates being lost in the shuffle!

3. You Stay Top Of Mind

When you go check out the email settings on Facebook and LinkedIn, you’ll notice a large variety of ways they can contact you through email.

The simple reason is they want you coming to the website. After all it’s on the website where money is made, both for you and Facebook.

As with any inbound marketing activity, whether it’s social media marketing, podcasting or email marketing – the main goal is getting as many people back to your website.

More importantly you stay top of mind. People will remember you and think of your business when they’re in need of your services.

Now the first thing which comes to most people’s mind when they hear the words “email marketing” is spam. And let me be clear by saying that we are not suggesting you send out an email blast to everyone you know.

Instead, you want to be growing a list where folks have given you permission to send them marketing messages. And in case you’re worried you think you’re spamming people – remember they can unsubscribe anytime from your list. If you’re getting a lot of unsubscribers you might want to change the content you’re delivering.

To find out more about growing your list check out: 5 Ways To Instantly Grow Your Email List

And for tools to manage your email marketing efforts take a look at MailChimp and AWeber.

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