Email Marketing

What Is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is one of the oldest types of Internet Marketing out there. It was for many years the simplest and only way of getting your digital message out to your client-base. Today, our inboxes are filled with email marketing messages. Unfortunately, many of them we regard as spam – such was the success of e-mail marketing!

When done well email marketing allows you to connect with your audience to promote your business, products and brand. Assuming you have grown your mailing list ethically and legally, your email marketing subscribers will be people who have expressed an interest in your business themselves, by signing up to your newsletters or blog.

Does Email marketing Work?

In short, yes, e-mail marketing does work. However, its success and return on investment (ROI) will depend upon a number of factors:
  • The relevance of your mailshots to your audience.
  • The quality of the information and call-to-action in your mailshots.
  • The perceived value and “need” for your product or service by your audience.
Get these right and your e-mail marketing campaigns will give you success. You will find that e-mail marketing is better suited to certain businesses and may not work for others. You may also find that social media marketing has superceded email marketing in your business sector, so be aware of this and test your market for what works best for you.

How Do I Build An Email List?

Building an email marketing list takes time and effort. In the era of GDPR, privacy is paramount. Therefore, to build a list the person subscribing must have an impelling reason to want to receive emailed information from you. It is no longer simply the case that they enter their e-mail address into a form on your website, they now have to go through the double opt-in process of acknowledging an email by clicking on a link before they are actually subscribed to your email marketing list. Therefore, to build an email list, you will need to take some proactive steps to encourage your audience to sign-up to your messages.

  • Create landing pages which entice your visitor into wanting to keep in touch with you. Play upon the importance of your product or brand, let the visitor feel the “need” for your product or service, provide the visitor with information they cannot do without.
  • Offer a free guide or “how to” manual in return for the visitor’s sign-up.
  • Offer a discount or special off, which is only available to new subscribers to your email marketing list. Incentives are great for encouraging new sign-ups.
  • Offer the latest news on a must-have product launch to entice visitors to sign-up.
  • Use social media to engage with your audience and drive interest in what you have to offer, so that the visitor signs-up to your mailing list.
  • In your mailshots, encourage the recipient to share the email by either forwarding it to friends, or sharing it on social media. This can help bring in new subscribers to your email list.

The Cost Of Email Marketing

E-mail marketing need not be expensive. For small e-mail marketing lists (under 2,000 subscribers) you can often create e-mail lists and e-mail marketing campaigns for free – Mailchimp, offers such a  service, though it will be branded with their logo. Larger lists usually require a subscription and this will vary from provider to provider, depending upon the services and tools they offer. You will need to weigh up the cost against the return on investment you expect to receive to see if it is right for your business.

The other cost you need to factor in is your time in promoting and managing your e-mail marketing campaigns. Do you have the necessary experience and time to do this effectively – or would you benefit more from an Internet Marketing specialist handling your e-mail marketing for you?

Cotswold Websites is experienced in managing e-mail marketing campaigns. Contact us today to find out how we can help you run a successful e-mail marketing campaign to bring you new business.