Email marketing is the oldest form of internet marketing. It is the “direct mail” of new media marketing; and, as such, it has been overused and abused. That doesn’t mean that it’s not effective. Even poorly implemented email marketing stemming from a shoddy marketing strategy tends to work pretty well. But it could work so much better.
Traditionally email marketing is the process of sending out emails to lists of people that have already interacted with you. Usually this is done in an attempt to get a repurchase or encourage continued subscription. But that’s not always the case. Some organizations buy huge lists of email addresses to market to the masses, and sometimes it pays off.
The best email marketing campaigns I have seen use email to reach out to a group of people that have come to you for a single reason. Too often, organizations simply put every email into a list and send out the same spam to all of them. It’s a poor strategy, to say the least.
Email marketing should be thought through. Every email should be put into a unique list based on interaction intent. That way you can really tailor your message to every individual, and improve your chances of moving people close to a sale or repurchase (or whatever the objective).
Far too many organizations aren’t making good use of the email addresses they have already collected. Someone once told them that they should be collecting email, so they started. The just aren’t doing much with them. If your organization falls into this category, knock it off! Do something with all those emails you’ve been getting. Even a poor strategy is better than doing nothing. But a great strategy will pay you back in dividends.
