Why Email Marketing Needs to be Part of Your Budget

By Marina Hoffmeier July 12, 2016

Let’s face it. Email isn’t going anywhere.

Just check out this little fun fact: 91 percent of consumers check email on their smartphones daily.

And this one: 58 percent of adults check their email first thing in the morning. 

Let’s assume those numbers don’t do it for you. I have a better one: 89 percent of marketers say that email is their main source for lead generation.

In a digitally dominated industry, the stats tell a pretty clear message: email is essential for any small business owner.

Not yet convinced it’s right for you? Let’s take a closer look at the variety of benefits of using email to communicate with customers and promote your business.

But first… why email marketing?

Email marketing allows you to build relationships with customers and promote your products or services without spending excessive money on wads of paper and stamps. It’s the most effective way of delivering a value proposition to prospects and customers through a more personal channel: their inbox. 

When you grow your email subscribers, you’re not just collecting email addresses. You’re growing your tribe. When someone signs up to your email list, they’re telling you they’re interested in your business and what you have to send them. This is your chance to show your appreciation with valuable promotions, coupons and content that only subscribers have access to.

Plus, email opens up a direct line of communication and allows readers to access it at their leisure.  

Email marketing can also help you communicate with more people, and save time. Now I know that sounds a bit confusing, but here’s why: when you can communicate with multiple people through email, you gain a unique way to nurture relationships with each one through their inbox. Plus, when you can schedule emails ahead of time and use email automation, you can let your emails do the work when you’re busy doing other things.

The ROI of email

Getting your audience to take action

One big benefit of sending email is the ability to encourage people to take a desired action. Whether that’s to click through to your new blog post, product page or customer survey, email’s a great way to drive traffic to your other assets.

Incorporating original subject lines, exclusive promotions, courses and upcoming events are all ways to call this audience to action. Keep in mind that you’ll want to make sure you’re talking to subscribers in a way that resonates with them – this is key to creating engaging content and getting people to open your emails. 

Making a return on your investment

In order to make a difference in your pocket, you have to make a difference in the way you’re delivering information to your customers.

Email marketing is an inexpensive form of communicating to your audience.You might say, well, social media is free!

That may be true, but social media alone has it’s challenges. It’s a great channel for raising awareness of your brand, but it can limit your ability to communicate with them outside of those platforms. Not to mention, social platforms can change the rules of how brands interact with their followers whenever they please. If you couple your social activity with email, however, you get a more controlled and secure outlet to interact with your audience.

Look at what Cognique had to say:

Notice how  the majority of those consumers prefer business communication via email. Plus, email is simply an effective place to promote a product or sale.

In order to reach the overwhelming potential in the online world, you have to connect on their level. They’re already accessible! If 74 percent want email, give it to them.

Connecting with your favorite tools

Connecting with your audience via email is great, but you don’t have to stop there. You can continue guiding customers through the marketing funnel by sending them to other channels like blogs, landing pages and social platforms, too.

When you sync your email marketing strategy with the rest of your marketing, it can have a powerful impact on your overall business growth. Use WordPress, LeadPages and Facebook? Great! Connect those to your email list so you can gain subscribers directly from your blog or landing page. 

Growing your email list on the go

In a smartphone-oriented world, email allows you to remain accessible. When you’re on the go, you want to make sure you can stay connected with those you network with.

With your email list, you can encourage people you meet at networking events and conferences to subscribe so you can stay in touch. Whether you use the old fashioned pen-and-paper sign up sheet or download a mobile sign up form to your phone or table (like the example below), you can continue to grow your list wherever you are. 

Now, that’s mobility!

Tracking email performance and making improvements

Tracking user data such as click open rates, unsubscribe rates and other actions expose strengths and areas of opportunity for improving your email strategy and growing your business. You can even manage your subscribers and get more information about them to send more targeted email content.

When looking for an email service provider, you’ll want to pay attention to the different statistics each provides, as well as how they calculate the data. Some ESPs, for example, calculate their open rates differently, which can impact the story it’s telling about your subscriber engagement. Either way is accurate, but you’ll want to make sure you’re interpreting the data accurately so you can make improvements for your subscribers.

Easy marketing and resources to grow your business

It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner with little coding experience or an established web designer. A good email marketing service provider (ESP) will offer all the tools you need to help you get started on Day 1. Between easy-to-use editors, minimalist templates, automation, sign up form builders and more, you’ll have the resources you need to start growing your list and sending emails right away.

Don’t have a website? That’s okay, too!  Certain email service providers will allow you to create a web-hosted sign up form so you can still grow and maintain an engaged email list. Or, you can create a landing page that integrates with your ESP to host your sign up form if you don’t have a website.

Pro Tip: When choosing an email service provider, it’s important to select one that offers an onboarding service and continued resources that helps you grow.

Ready to incorporate email marketing into your business?

AWesome! Feel free to try AWeber for a free 30-day trial to explore the endless potential of email marketing.

You can also take a look at our Growing Your Business Guide for the full rundown on using email marketing to build your business.