Should I Be Doing More Email Marketing?

Email marketing is a form of marketing that is relatively easy, cost-effective and – if done right – can yield serious results.

Basically, email marketing is communicating to your customers and potential customers via email. Since almost everyone is online nowadays, it’s considered a much more effective form of advertising than print mail or newsletters, which typically get thrown away.

If you’re a small business owner, giving email marketing a try is worth the risk since you won’t lose anything except a bit of your time. If it works for you, the results will be well worth the time invested.

Pros of email marketing

Cost effective. Email marketing is significantly less expensive than sending something via standard mail. You don’t need to pay for postage, envelopes, paper or printing needs. These little needs really will add up if you’re sending newsletters or information packets on a weekly basis. Switch to email marketing and see the cost savings for yourself.

Quick and efficient. Email marketing will take some time in order for you to get the hang of things, but once you understand what you’re doing, emails can be created in just a few hours max and reach thousands and thousands of potential customers – including ones that are international. This is huge. Compare that to sending out thousands and thousands of flyers by hand and you’ll see just how much time you’re saving.

Mobile. Email reaches people instantly. Almost half of American’s have email on their phones and are alerted when something new is in their inbox.

Up-to-date and current. If an email address is no longer in use, the email will bounce back and you can remove that person from your marketing list. Everything is in real-time. If you strictly rely on print mail, you won’t necessarily be notified if someone moves or has a change of address.

Tracking. With emails, you can track who reads it, who deletes it and who no longer receives it or wishes to receive it. This allows you to be able to tell if email marketing is working for you.

Cons of email marketing

Junk mail. People typically do receive a good amount of emails from various companies and businesses. The fact of the matter is they are more often than not deleted or sent to the spam folder.

Annoyances. People may be bothered by having their inbox flooded with information about your business, and it may cause them to lose interest in what you’re about and what you do.

As you can see, the pros of email marketing definitely outweigh the cons.

It’s worth it to give this method a shot and see how it impacts your business. Since the costs are low (if any) and the results could be outstanding, it’s worth the time and effort it takes to build a good email campaign.

To prevent customers and potential customers from getting irritated with your emails, send them sparingly and use an eye-opening subject line – such as offering discounts, free product or other deals. Customers are more likely to open your email if they know there’s something in it for them.

Like any other marketing method, figuring out what works best for you and your type of business is trial and error. Take a few risks and see what works and what doesn’t work for your small business.