Email marketing is the advertisement of a product, service, or brand through electronic mail. Email marketing can be used to improve the relationship between a business and its customers or to gain new customers. In order to gain the email addresses of potential customers, businesses must either pay a fee to an email broker, use a subscription service, or rely on referrals from existing customers. Many companies, of course, use a combination of these methods
What is Email Marketing?
Email Marketing is using email to distribute your marketing messages.
- Most popular is growing your own list, for example a newsletter, and sending emails to the list containing tips along with things subscribers might be interested in buying.
- As well as your own list of tip-readers and potential customers, Email Marketing can also cover advertising on email newsletters or follow-up emails to your own customers.
- While you could include these other wider definitions, most people when talking about Email Marketing are mainly using the term to describe building a list with a view to growing reader loyalty and making sales.
What are the Advantages of Email Marketing?
As just mentioned, a good email list, well run, can grow your reader loyalty. Hearing from you again and again with good content reminds readers of your value, especially if they take your advice and find it works for them. That said, the obvious reason why most people try email marketing is because it is profitable. This is because of the following attributes:
- Low Cost – Communicating via email has many of the advantages of traditional direct mail but with much lower costs
- Speed – If you need to you can get a message out to your entire list very fast
- Ease (both for you and the reader).
- Push – While websites and RSS are “pull”,.with email you can send your messages out.
- Personalized – The more information you collect, the more messages can be tailored and personalized..
- Viral – It’s so easy for people to forward your message on to others, spreading further than you could alone.
- Tracking – Everything from how many emails were opened, through to each individual link click can be tracked.
- Testing – Along with tracking, you can test different subject lines, calls to action, use of images, and so on.
- Complimentary – Email, .does not replace your other marketing activities but compliments them extremely well.
- Opt-In – The best email lists are always opt-in, meaning you have permission to contact the person.
