Email marketing is more than just blasting emails to a customer list in the hope of making a sale.
Kevan Baker, Founder of BrandMail has been helping businesses succeed online for almost 20 years and believes many companies are undervaluing email marketing, because they either don’t do it or are not doing it correctly. The key to email marketing success is to know your target audience and to deliver an exchange of value – not just to try and sell.
Kevan Baker says “Email marketing is extremely effective and the most cost-effective marketing channel available. Simply choose your target audience, create something valuable and irresistible and give it to them in return for their information. Many websites don’t focus on delivering value. They talk incessantly about themselves, without solving any of their visitors problems. Unfortunately, your prospects never wake up in the morning caring if your business is making enough profit, they are only concerned about their problems. Email marketing gives you real-time insight to the interests and preferences of your suspects, prospects and customers. The more you know about your audience, the more likely you are to create ready to buy customers through your marketing.”
According to Baker, there is a real lack of understanding of how email marketing truly works. It’s not a relentless sales megaphone, blasting messages that result in “unsubscribes” or un-opened emails. Treat it as an education channel to help your audience understand how you can help them and be better customers for you in the process.
Not all customers have the same needs, so segmenting means you can create messages to suit specific parts of your list. Through your education process for example, you can not only show your audience they have a $20,000 a month problem (most never put a dollar figure on their problems) but your one-off $3000 solution fixes it.
Business is about creating trust, through value and integrity. Do your customers have a reason to stay when a sharp talking competitor comes along? If you are not sending email every 7-21 days to your list, you are not only handing potential business to your competitors but missing an opportunity to build stronger relationships with your customers and audience in general.
Seth Godin, widely acclaimed as one of the best marketing brains on the planet agrees: “Permission based email marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them. It recognises the new power of the best consumers to ignore marketing. It realises that treating people with respect is the best way to earn their attention.”
BrandMail provides businesses of all sizes with a full service email marketing solution that empowers them to connect and re-connect with their data base on a regular basis and build profitable relationships.
Research shows the number one reason customers switch suppliers is a feeling of indifference from the company they are dealing with. This indifference is easily resolved through regular communication. When was the last time your business communicated with your customers other than to try and sell them something?
Kevan Bakers says: “Working with a professional email marketing company shortens the time to profit and shortens the learning curve. Get started fast and on the right track and you can see results within a week. You will avoid many of the costly mistakes people make with their data base and a large part of the sales and marketing process can be automated, reducing staff resources and human error.”
Sending and reading emails is still the number one online activity and 50% of all social shares are still powered by email. Email usage is high for all age groups, and open rates are actually increasing, so it makes sense that email marketing, when done correctly can produce significant positive results.
To learn more about BrandMail, visit www.brandmail.com.au/free-trial