Email is sometimes seen as the dreary cousin of Facebook who never gets invited to the marketing party.
It has this image of mundaneness because it has been around for decades and is all about work. Often it is perceived as that necessary evil that that can’t compete on marketing terms with the rather fun Twitter chap. YouTube or Pinterest is like a super model compared to the dowdy and buttoned up email dingleberry.
But if you talk to any serious marketer, blogger or online store owner who has been around a while, then building an email list from day one is a number one priority.
You own it and it is known to deliver!
It may not be the life of the party but it is that efficient PA that just gets the job done. It is like your accountant that understands the meaning of numbers.
Some of us have been too distracted by the shiny new marketing tool called “social media”
Email marketing
Email marketing is one of the basic principles of an internet marketing strategy. Often it was the only marketing tool available to bloggers when blogging was in its infancy. It becomes essential whenever you are pursuing numerous leads for marketing your brands and products. With so many tasks to manage, such as:
- Handling an auto-responder
- Managing subscriptions of your clients
- Sending of emails to your potential customers
- Sending out follow up emails
This can be a very daunting task. That is why an email marketing software becomes a very valuable marketing tool for bloggers and companies that help them manage their email lists and is designed for ease of use and convenience.
Aweber has some competition
AWeber is an internet email marketing software that is very popular among digital marketers who are engaged in serious marketing. This software has evolved to become a very useful tool that helps both the newbies and the pros alike in email marketing. It comes with convenient features that assist everyone who want to earn money from email marketing and AWeber is often the email marketing platform of choice.
Whenever email marketing software is concerned, AWeber has been a dominant tool for quite a long time. But for the benefit of others who want to have other choices, here are 5 email marketing options that provide some email marketing competition for AWeber.
1. MailChimp
MailChimp is an easy to use tool and also a powerful option for those who want to focus on business and eCommerce rather than just affiliate marketing for earning money in their business.
MailChimp’s email service allows you to
- Integrate your emails with shopping carts and CRM’s
- Allows a free email service for your first 500 subscribers.
- It also creates a personalized sign up form that matches your brand, giving you the opportunity to post them on your social media account on Facebook.
- Its custom forms allow you to send emails and display sign up posts that carry your brand.
- You can also create a template for your own customization preferences and you can also send customized messages to send out to your subscribers.
- With the help of MailChimp, email marketing is easier with its drag and drop feature.
Now, you can manage your email marketing campaign without using AWeber.
2. My Emma
Another option for an email marketing service that you can use is the My Emma email service. Its main specialization is making visual designs for your email newsletters which is more preferable for marketers who like visualization rather than just text in their email newsletter.
With My Emma you can:
- Create visual designs by choosing the downloadable options for customizing your email brand
- Track your visual optimized email campaigns easily
- It is easy to create your own email newsletter designs
- Provides a mobile optimized feature with over 100 free templates that you can choose from
- If you need help to create your own email newsletter designs, they also have in-house professionals who could give you a hand
- Use a “drag and drop” interface
- Social media tools are available to help you reach a wider audience
- Integrate your email marketing campaign with your social media account and other existing websites that you own.
- Share analytics with other team members that will help guide you in your email marketing campaigns.
3. Constant Contact
If you are looking for a free email campaign to start with, then Constant Contact provides a great solution for your email marketing needs. If you are just starting out and want to get the feel on how an email marketing campaign will work for you, it is best to start from opting for a free email service than paying for AWeber’s paid email marketing tools.
This email marketing solution offers you guaranteed results that your email campaign will reach their inbox.
Some of the features it provides include:
- Control on how you want to design your customizable templates and make your professional looking emails and newsletters using its drag and drop editing tool.
- Helps you to manage your growing email lists and you can start enjoying its social integration feature for your email marketing campaign
- Track down your results in real time
The 60 day free trial may be enough to help you decide whether the tool offers you a better solution for your business. With its $15 per month subscription afterwards you will find that Constant Contact offers you a productive email marketing campaign that is worth the investment.
4. Get Response
Get Response is another email marketing software solution that can take the place of AWeber because of its intuitive designs and tools for creating beautiful and attractive email newsletters. They have numerous template designs that allow its users to unlock their creativity in making their own email design to promote their brand and business.
Some of Get Response’s features include:
- Smart editing tools
- Blocking features for adding text and buttons
- Save snippets and retrieve your email history
- If you have the talent in managing your HTML code editor, you can explore all creative possibilities in creating your own email design or you can easily use the pre-designed templates available
- Has numerous custom templates for creating your email newsletter with more than 1000 iStock images to create a more impressive design for your email and newsletter
5. Vertical Response
Vertical Response is another email marketing software that you can use that offers some easy to use features and allows a 30 day free trial.
Features include:
- Over 700 designs for email newsletter templates created by professionals that you can flaunt to offer in social media sites and for event marketing campaigns. You can also make use of their
- Free list management tools
- Send out online surveys and direct mail postcards
- Provides a free Webinar and marketing guide that will help you improve your email marketing campaigns.
Vertical response offers a more flexible pricing for their services with its Pay As You Go program.
What About You?
Which email marketing tool do you use? Has your email marketing been effective and could you do better? Do you even use email marketing or have you only focused on social media such as Facebook and Twitter?
Look forward to hearing about your stories and insights in the comments below.
Image by Shutterstock
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