I could probably give you myriad reasons to get started with email marketing, but let’s be honest, none of us has got all day to read them. So let’s discuss the most salient points to get you motivated into action.

7 reasons to get started with email marketing

1. Email is content you own, and control who it's sent to (with their permission)
   
   In context, compare email to social media posts. The former is content you create and distribute to a list of people you have worked to gather and grow. The latter is content you create that is hosted on a third party platform which controls how it distributes your content and should it wish to remove it, or should the platform close, your content is gone.
   
   Which would you choose? You don’t have to choose either, but don’t do one in isolation because that’s a lot like putting all your eggs in one basket.
   

2. Email always lands in your audience’s inbox
   
   When something lands in your inbox that you’ve signed up for there’s always some action involved in handling it. Therefore absorbing at least some of it. And thus taking some form of action: they have to act to open it/read it/scan it/click on it/delete it/unsubscribe from it - but it always requires some action from them (social media doesn't).
   
   If you get a bit spammy with your content or send it to too many people too soon, that might upset email providers, but you’ll soon notice that and have the opportunity to fix it.
   

3. Email creates an opportunity for wider storytelling
   
   First off, you can include more than one topic in your email communications, therefore creating a deeper opportunity for engagement and brand buy-in by the reader.
   
   But perhaps more importantly, email newsletters are the gentlest form of nurturing your audience while plenishing them with helpful tips, insights, background info & storytelling as well as inviting them to indulge in your own favourite sources of inspiration and learning.

   
   

4. Email is a one-click route to your website
   
   If you get your email marketing strategy right, people will read the newsletters you send them and click through. And in one quick click, they’ll land on your website (if that’s where you’re pointing them). From there, your website has to do the work to point them where you want (that’s another conversation).
   
   There’s no harm in pointing to other people’s websites from your newsletter some of the time, especially if you’re pointing your audience to content that reinforces your ethos or qualifies your perspective. The point is to send them to the correct page and the quickest route to their most favourable outcome.
   

5. Email is private and therefore can be personalised
   
   With some clever jiggerypokery you can tailor what your email newsletter recipient receives according to their previous behaviour on your website or prior purchases/downloads.
   
   You’re bound to have been on the receiving end of an ‘abandon cart’ email or an ‘anniversary email’. What’s stopping you from sending time-triggered emails to your audience too?
   

6. Email marketing to nurture your customers
   
   Email isn’t just an opportunity to sell. It’s instinctive when you get started with email marketing to think that’s all it’s for, but actually, the brands that do it best use it as a form of information and insight sharing. It’s a fabulous opportunity to educate and entertain your audience. And trust me, they’ll appreciate you not selling to them every time (however frequent or infrequent that is).

   
   However, choosing when you use email marketing to sell is all part of your email strategy. Frequency of sends is the place to begin and that is largely determined by the size or breadth of your offering.
   
   Pre-Covid, some travel brands were distributing their email newsletters as frequently twice a week. Yes, personalisation played a part in their sends - this was sophisticated customer relationship marketing (CRM). But still, when frequency is that high, overall performance isn’t comparable to a similar brand sending once a week or even once a month.
   
   If your email marketing frequency is high, the hard sell has to take a back seat or rather a very specific seat in the mix. Otherwise, you’ll find unsubscribe rates soaring and open and click-through rates falling through the floor.

7. Email marketing as a sales tool
   
   Email marketing can be used to drive sales and to launch new products. You can use email to attract a bank of user testers and brand advocates. Email newsletters are also highly successful for promoting discounts as well as other bottom line business growth exercises.
   
   But don’t tell yourself that you can do or achieve this every week (definitely not every day).

   Ready to get started with email marketing? You’ll reap the benefits in no time.

   Need a hand getting it off the ground? Drop me a line