Businesses are more likely to integrate email and so­cial media  than any other marketing channels.

It may seem plau­sible to conclude that this is because both media are digital; however, the next three most frequently integrated activities are physical: events, personal contact, and direct mail. Coordination with SEO, print ads, and online display ads all followed.

Knowing all of this, here are some tips on how to integrate five of the top marketing activities with your email strategy.

  1. Public Relations: Include links to important press releases in your email newsletters. Don’t include every press release – just use those that will resonate with your audience the most. Also try to include in your press release links to pages on your website featuring prominent email subscription forms (see #3 Paid Search/SEO).
  2. Trade Shows/Events: Email should be used to promote and follow up on any trade show and event-type activities. Events are expensive, so try to collect as much customer data as possible during the show.

At many trade events it is possible to rent badge-scanning equipment that will allow you to segment visitors accordingly and upload details quickly and efficiently to your email marketing software. Never sit on emails collected at trade events.

It is good practice to send an email thanking visitors in the days following your event while you are still fresh in their mind, and then follow up accordingly. This is just one way you can maximize your event efforts.

Paid Search/SEO: Ultimately, when you pay to drive traffic to your website via paid search or SEO, you’ll want visitors to convert. If you make a sale, the good news is you get to add another customer to your email list. If you don’t, you’ve paid for traffic you may never see a return on investment from again.

This is why it is important to make your email marketing sign-up form prominent on your landing page. It should incentivize visitors to subscribe with the promise of a good offer or valuable information. Making your subscription form easy to access across your entire site is a great way to increase your email list size. And remember, just offering a weekly or monthly newsletter is not an incentive

4. Social Media: In an ideal world, your social media followers will also be your email subscribers and vice versa.

iContact and Vocus offer a number of social media tools to enhance your email marketing campaigns, allowing you to place social media buttons in your email creative and post emails directly to your social networks, as well as incorporate email subscription forms on your social media networks

5. Face to Face: Everyday meetings and business transactions offer an ideal opportunity to collect segmented customer data.

The retail environment in particular wastes countless opportunities to grow subscriptions by letting customers leave stores after purchasing goods without leaving any contact details (an online retailer would never be so naïve). Tablet computers and even smartphones offer a simple and cost-effective way to collect customer data at the point of sale. Remember (as with #3), try to incentivize people to surrender their contact details.