Getting someone to hand over their email address can be a challenge. Getting an email opened, read and then acted upon can be an even greater challenge.
That being said, if a prospect or a customer supplies you with their email address and opts in to be kept up to date, email newsletters are a great way to keep communication channels open, build relationships and prompt sales.
However, if you are not sure about the benefits of email and whether building email marketing lists is suitable for your business, here are some reasons why you should consider it as part of your digital marketing campaign moving forward.
The Real Benefits of Email Marketing for Small Business.
1. Establish your business as a trusted expert.
When people sign up to your email list they do so because you have promised to provide them information on a given subject. If through your email campaign you deliver incredible value, you are educational, enlightening and entertaining, then active members of your list will begin to see you as a subject matter expert. When they want to know something in relation to your field they will look to you for the answer.
2. Keep your brand fresh.
Sending targeted emails or a newsletter keeps your brand fresh in the minds of your customer. By sending content regularly, it offers you the opportunity to keep your users informed and how your services can help the consumer while at the same time continuing to build your credibility.
3. Build Relationships
Building relationships with your email marketing list is crucial. Everyone knows that people buy from people that they know, like and trust. Regular email is a great way to build the foundations of a strong relationship consisting of familiarity and trust.
Share with the readers a little about yourself and also mention a bit about your company and what it is doing but be careful not to go all out for the sale as this will drive people to the unsubscribe button faster than a speeding bullet.
Remember, relationship building first.
4. Drive targeted traffic to your website.
If your website is the hub of your online business, then building an email list and sending emails to inform subscribers of new content on your blog is a great way to increase traffic. Likewise, the regular updates should also further enhance your brand and reputation in the eyes of the people on your list.
To do this, simply send an email broadcast to your list providing a “hook” into your new blog post and then inform the user to click on a link within your email to view the post in its entirety.
Having loyal subscribers who are already familiar with your posts, reading your work also means that you will increase the likelihood of getting blog comments and increasing your social standing.
5. Create a library of compelling and actionable content that can be recycled
When you begin to build email lists you will need to create more quality content. Don’t be put off by this! Instead, see this as a great way to grow your content library. The more emails you write, the better you become at copy writing. When you find you are starting to get a good response from certain emails you can restructure that content and convert it into full blog posts or articles. This content can then be used to start the whole cycle again: Drive more traffic to you r website, attracting more new visitors, adding more people to your email marketing list and growing sales.
Email marketing is crucial element of any marketing plan. If the information you distribute to the people within your list is considered worthwhile, correlates with the reason they joined your list and you have a targeted and measured email marketing plan, then your brand and reputation will soar.
However, if the only content that you are sending to your email list is the latest sales offer then your audience will lose interest pretty quickly. Give your audience a reason beyond cost savings to want to open your email, give good advice, educate them about your product show them behind your business brand you are in fact a human being too.
The benefits of email for small business far outweigh the negatives. If your business can take the time to construct a strong email marketing campaign you may be able to reactivate customers who have been sitting idle on your database for years while at the same time engaging new customers that could be the lifeblood of your business moving forward.
Your Turn: What have the benefits of email marketing been for your small business?