Why is Email Marketing So Powerful?
In a single word, it’s all about … CONTROL!
Email Marketing provides you unlimited power to “Always enter the conversation already taking place in the customer’s mind.” (Robert Collier). Email Marketing gives you this access, this power, unlike any other digital marketing channel available.
Is your prospect new to your service or product? Did she just learn that your brand exists?
Then a Nurturing Email Sequence designed to educate, build trust, and build authority is the perfect conversation already taking place in her mind.
Did your customer just make his first purchase?
Then a Welcome / Thank You Email Sequence to reinforce he made the right decision and let him know he is appreciated and valued is the right conversation to have.
And Email Marketing gives you complete control to have the right conversation at the right time through:
Breaking down your email list through different parameters – customers v. prospect; interests; actions taken; etc. – so that you can personalize your conversation to their specific needs.
With the help of the segmentation, personalization is saying the right things at the right time to build a stronger relationship with your customer or prospect.
You have the power to meet your customer or prospect in his “mind”, and assure him that his needs can be fulfilled while addressing any concerns that may be holding him back.
Automation is the ability to deploy your perfect message at the perfect time … “automatically”.
The second-most common technology B2B organizations use to assist with content marketing is email marketing software. Roughly 85% of marketers say they work with these tools. (Content Marketing Institute, 2020)
The best part is that there are many great email marketing software tools available, to fit each businesses’ individual needs and budgets.
What is Email Marketing’s Kryptonite?
We’ve talked about how powerful Email Marketing is when unleashed on your curated email list.
But what if you don’t currently have an email list? How do you start building a list? Here’s what you need to know.
Always Work On Your Email List!
It’s important to think of your email list as a living breathing entity.
If you don’t have one, then you must focus on growing and curating a list with prospects that show interest in your service or product.
If you have an email list, your email list needs to keep evolving. You should connect and nurture your current list to build a strong relationship. Establish yourself as the authority in your space and get them to know, like, and trust you over time.
And like growing your backyard garden, do a little pruning once in a while. It’s okay to let go of prospects that no longer have any need or interest in your help.
How do I go about building a curated email list?
Unfortunately, while Email Marketing is great for continuing a conversation, it isn’t always the best to start a conversation.
The good news is that Email Marketing has several friends who can help build out your curated list.
The 3 biggest first steps are:
1) Who is your ideal customer?
So many prospects come to me excited to do Paid Advertising or Social Media Marketing, only to find they have not taken the time to identify who they want to target.
This is why building a Customer Avatar is important. It serves as the foundation for all your marketing efforts to be built upon.
Where are your ideal customers hanging out?
How do you communicate with them? What to say?
What’s important to them? What do they want? What do they need?
2) Where does your ideal customer hangout?
When asked how we get great results, the answer is simple and boring at the same time … it starts with great research.
A deep dive into understanding your business, your customer, your industry, and your competition provides valuable data. It tells you what strategy and what channels are best suited for you.
Are your ideal customers searching for you online? Then a Google Adwords + Search Engine Optimization strategy can exponentially grow your business.
Perhaps your ideal customers love social media! Are they on Facebook? Instagram? YouTube?
3) What can you deliver that’s valuable?
Be a giver first!
Deliver something that is helpful and valuable to your prospective customer and start building a relationship before ever asking for the sale.
Too many businesses ask for the sale too soon.
Learn what your prospects think is valuable, and how they would like to consume your value!
Would an infographic, or catalog, or newsletter be the perfect delivery?
Maybe a video? Delivery via YouTube, or webinar/workshop, or a private course may be the perfect fit.
Give value first to start a relationship. Then provide something more valuable in exchange for an email address.
This offer is referred to as a Lead Magnet.
Some marketers will incorrectly say they are giving their Lead Magnet away for free. But that’s not true. You are giving it away in exchange for an email address. So be respectful and make sure you over-deliver value.
How Can Other Digital Marketing Channels Help Email Marketing?
Now that we know who we are targeting, where they are hanging out, and what to deliver to them … what is the outreach strategy?
First, understand that your website, your email list, and your social media channels are all part of your “Universe”. Kind of like how Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, etc. team up to form the Justice League. Or, if you are a Marvel fan, joining superheroes to form the Avengers.
Second, understand the concept of “bouncing”. Bouncing is having prospects find you on one channel, then interact with you on other channels. For example, discovering you through Facebook, then interacting through Instagram or Twitter.
When your Universe is in alignment, this is when your business is Omnipresent and growth becomes exponential.
Let’s look at an example!
Let’s say that your ideal customers love video, so you create a 30-minute YouTube video full of valuable content.
That video can be spliced up into smaller pieces – Joe Rogan’s podcast is a great example – and delivered on multiple channels in your Universe. YouTube again. Facebook and Instagram posts. Tweets.
That video can also be turned into a transcript and deployed across your Universe.
That video and transcript can be deployed at the center of your Universe – your website as a Vlog / Blog – Tedx does a great job of this. This will also improve your Search Engine Optimization.
One video can be deployed as multiple pieces of content across multiple channels in your Universe to get the word out about your awesome services or products.
Now comes the magic of bouncing!
A prospect can now find you on multiple channels throughout your Universe since you have created different ways to consume your valuable content. Website, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
You can then “bounce” them to different channels, or redirect them to your Lead Magnet, where you deliver more value in exchange for their email address.
Content on your website can easily be set up to have viewers/readers share your content via their social media, reaching a new audience you previously did not have access to.
Likewise, delivering new content to your email list can then be shared to their social media. This is how you get your happy customers to become brand ambassadors!
On social media, interacting with posts and having conversations allow you to be seen by your customer and prospect’s network.
Put together, this is how businesses can grow their reach quickly and effectively.
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