Although the headlines are often dominated by social media and mobile, email is still one of the best marketing tools around. It lends its talents to companies of all sizes, including smaller businesses that operate exclusively on the local scene. Without further ado, here are 10 things a mom and pop shop should know about email marketing.
- Its Cheap - When compared to traditional marketing tactics, email marketing is flat out cheap. Prices vary, but with most service plans, you are only paying mere pennies on the dollar.
- Its Fast - Most traditional methods operate at a snails pace when matched against the speed of email. A campaign can literally reach hundreds to thousands of customers in just a few hours versus days with some techniques.
- Its Easy to Use - Marketing via email couldnt be any easier. With an intuitive piece of software, the management aspects can be handled by anyone with general computing knowledge.
- It Suits a Variety of Goals - Email marketing can help mom and pop shops meet just about any objective they have outlined for the business. From driving more traffic to the store to increasing sales at the cash register, it is truly a multipurpose tool.
- Its Great for Local Marketing - Email offers global reach, but it can be just as effective for local marketing initiatives. Whether its informing locals about new product launches or keeping them update on the latest company happenings through a newsletter, it gets the job done.
- Its Targeted - With many traditional marketing techniques, there is no guarantee who your message will reach. With email, you can ensure that it not only reaches an entire audience, but specific individuals.
- Its Personal - Although a local business may be targeting dozens or even hundreds of local consumers, the very nature of email marketing makes it great for personalized, one-to-one communications. Plus, skilled marketers can personalize their communications even further the better they know the members of their audience.
- Its Accountable - One of the many great perks of email marketing is its accountability. This means it can be measured to find out how youre doing it terms of opens, clicks, and much more.
- Its Permission-based - One of the most important things mom and pop shops should know about email marketing is that when done right, it is strictly permission-based. This simply means that instead of just firing away, you only communicate with people who have given you the permission to contact them.
- It Makes No Guarantees - While email marketing can provide seemingly endless benefits, the one thing it does not offer is guarantees. Mom and pop shops who want to make the most of this phenomenal tool must abide by the best practices and constantly educate themselves to keep up with the evolving business of sending email.
In the right strategy, email marketing can be one of the most powerful weapons in the arsenal of any business. Mom and pop shops in need of a boost can enjoy that added jolt and then some by adopting this tried and proven method.
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I dont know. I’ve lost faith with email marketing. Still use a lot of Aweber though, but other than that, social media is the way to go for me. It is the future. The only reason I’ve stuck with email till now is the fact that its targeted and yields a good ROI since the startup and running costs are cheap. But then again, Facebook is free, and nothing is as cheap as free right?
Email marketing will always be around. It may not be as hip as social media marketing, but its an important layer of marketing that should also be tapped into. I agree that social media is the future, and because of that many email marketing companies are already integrating social media with their services.