Hess Marketing BlogThink It Up!

We drive the importance of social media an awful lot. Well because it is important and becoming necessary in just about every industry! Although this “buzz word” seems like just that, a buzz word, it truly isn’t. I think you all are getting the idea that in order to drive success in this market, social media networking is imperative.

Even with social media taking over the way we communicate, email still remains a primary source of communication and is equally important as social media in the digital age. Back to the basics- email dates back all the way to the mid-60′s. However, it wasnt until the late-80′s/early 90′s that the general public caught on and began utilizing the new medium. Electronic mail is a natural and perhaps inevitable use of networked communication technology that developed along with the evolution of the internet. Businesses quickly figured out this was a great way to reach customers. It was also less expensive than mailing out advertisements to homes. By 1995 the number of email advertisements sent out that year was more than the number sent out by regular mail. Businesses spend a great deal of money creating email marketing campaigns that won’t be confused with spam.

Email marketing is the newest version of direct marketing. Instead of using the postal system- the traditional direct marketing tool- most of the businesses today opt for sending mass emails to consumers with information of merchandises. Email marketing  is a tool for building relationships with both existing and potential customers and has proven to be more cost effective. The Process of direct email marketing is as follows:

1. Generate Traffic for your website,
2. Encourage Visitors to sign up for newsletter, etc…
3. Create and sending promotional email or newsletter,
4. Genetare sales or more traffic to your website

Now, this being said, there are some rules and guidelines we want you to be aware of to follow in order for email to successfully accomplish these goals.

• You want to grab your audience’s attention while being concise, frequent, and visable. The subject line must be eye -catching and interesting; simplicty is the key.
• Make it obvious why your sending your message and make it relevant to the consumer. Genreate a plan. Who you will target? Which segments of an industry will be more likely to positively respond to your message? For example, some areas of an email blast may require small changes based on the various consumers you are trying to reach.
• Like social media, you must be very careful of how you approach the audience, along with the information you approach them with. You want to lure in your audience with humor, stats, facts, discounts etc…But be careful not to be too forward or overload them with a “sales pitch.”
• Be conscious of the day and time in which you are sending your emails. You do not want to send out an email marketing campaign at 9:00am. People first arriving to work and checking their emails are more likely to trash anything that may seem irrelevant. But, after lunch perhaps, when everyone is settling in after break, they will be more likely to filter through and read intriguing emails.
• Track your results. There are many ways via the internet to track your open rate (Campaign Monitor is one  for example). These types of programs will give you the open rate, the click through rate, bounce rate, and how many remain unopened. This will give you a better idea of what is deemed interesting by your audience and what campaigns to continue with.