Email Marketing (What is it and Why is it Important?)
We’ve all heard the headlines…“Email is king!”“Email is dead!”“Email, the most addicting drug on the planet”“How to handle inbox overwhelm” And on,and on they go. In the blue corner you have “Expert #1”claiming social media is the way of the future. And email is obsolete and ineffective. And in the red corner you have “Guru #2”stating that email is the ONLY channel youneed to use. And that it has been, and will continue tobe the most effective form of digital marketingavailable. So who’s right?Well…Neither (but the edge in this argument goesto Guru #2). Which is why in this episode we’re talkingall about email marketing, and why it’smore important than ever. Hello and welcome, my name is Adam Erhartand you are watching the Modern MarketingShow. Where we take different marketing tactics,tools, tips and strategies and break themdown into bite sized actionable clips thatyou can use to immediately take your businessto the next level. So is email marketing important?Does it work?And most importantly, Is email marketing somethingyou should invest your businesses precioustime, money, and resources into?To answer this, let’s look at a few simplefacts. Fact #1, Email marketing works. Email is 40 times more effective at acquiringcustomers than Facebook or Twitter. What makes this fact so impressive is thatFacebook and Twitter areactually pretty effective tools for acquiringnew customers. So imagine multiplying that by 40, and youstart to see the real power of email marketing. So what makes it just so darn effective?There are a number of reasons but they allboil down to a couple simple things. One, We all use email for both personal, andprofessional. This means an email from your Mom is likelyto appear right beside a new promotion toa store you subscribe to. This adds trust and credibility. And two, Email is a medium that allows thedevelopment of a relationship by telling longerstories, including videos, and getting yourcustomers to take action with embedded links. This means you aren’t limited to 140 characters or the choice between photos,video, or posting a long and detailed story . Pro Tip: Use social media ads like Facebookand Twitter to drive traffic to your emaillist, so you can follow-up and continue therelationship there. When you combine social media marketing withemail marketing you get a powerhouse comboFact #2, email is everywhere. 92% of online adults use email. I’ve always wondered about the other 8%that don’t use email. Who are these people?I mean, Even my grandparents who are 85 yearsold have email. But Moving on. Most of us use email. Most of us need email. And we tend to trust (at least to a certainextent) the quality of the information wereceive there above other places. Which is perhaps the biggest reason it worksso well. Email is an integral part of our everydaypersonal and professional lives. And it is for your customers as well. It’s fast. Convenient. And customers actually prefer receiving promotionalmaterial via email over social media. This means it is OK to sell with email. As long as you do it tastefully, respectfully,and keep it relevant, you have your customerspermission to do so. Fact #3, A message is 5 times more likelyto be seen in an email than through Facebook. If you thought your email inbox was overwhelming,just take a quick look at your social mediafeed. Chaos!It’s like a high school talent show witheveryone trying to get attention and be heardabove the noise. You also have a limited time to grab yourprospects attention, make your point, andget them to take action. Of course this can be done (and is somethingwe do everyday in our agency) but it’s alot more challenging to do it in a few shortwords than with an email where you can includestory, imagery, video, links, and more. Email adds some “fudge factor” and ensuresthat even if you’re not a copywriting pro– you can still get your message across. Fact #4, show me the money. Email marketing has an ROI of 3800% And I’msure I don’t need to tell you that an ROIof 3800% is HUGE!(Some statistics show the ROI is as high as4300%) Regardless, That’s a whole lottareturn on your marketing investment. Especially when compared to average ROI’sin real estate … Or the stock market …Or even that “super incredible deal” yourUncle Lonny offered you a few years back toinvest in his Llama Farm with the potentialfor an 80% ROI…. (that came bundled witha 100% chance of loss when positioned againstuncle Lonny’s previous business “opportunities”)No thanks!But I’ll take the 3800% ROI every day ofthe week. And I suggest you do too. So here’s how to make it all work. First, you’re doing to need an email serviceprovider. This is what’s going to allow you to addsubscribers, send emails, and keep everythingon track. I’ve tried a bunch, and now use – andrecommend – only one. Drip – which I’ll link to in the shownotes below. Forget Mailchimp (which has pretty limitedfeatures) and ignore Aweber (which is kindof a dinosaur in the marketing world thatI happily abandoned awhile back. Save yourself the headaches, and go with Drip. It’s simply the best one out there rightnow, and even has a 100% free plan if you’rejust getting started. Next, you’re probably going to need justa little bit of training on how to write amazing,revenue generating emails. I’ve taken more email marketing coursesthan I can count. And 1 course stands head and shoulders aboveall the others. It’s called AutoResponder Madness and it’samazing. I’ll make sure to link to it in the shownotes as well. It’s relatively fast (can do it in an houra day, or jam it all into a weekend) It’sfun And it works. (The advice in the course is what others usewhen creating their own courses and advice. It’s absolute GOLD) Drip is great, and AutoResponderMadness is great. And when you combine the two you get a killercombo. And a secret cocktail of marketing goodness. One of the biggest obstacles to getting startedwith email marketing is this: “What am Igoing to write about?”Fear not!You don’t need to be a modern day Hemmingwayto write effective emails to your customers. In fact, in today’s age, authenticity andtransparency are far more important than goodspelling and grammar. Add value where you can, be you, be real,and just write. You also don’t need to come up with a 50,000word email sequence. No, 3 simple emails to get you started willdo just fine. For email #1 Solve your customers biggestproblem or answer the #1 question you getin your business. For email #2 Introduce yourself, your business,and your story. For email #3 Introduce another problem, explainit in a little more detail, and the describehow your product or service solves that issue. Done!Congratulations, you’re now an email marketerwell on your way to more leads, a better relationshipwith current and potential customers, andan 3800% ROI. So thanks so much for watching. If you enjoyed this episode be sure to subscribeto the channel, give it a thumbs up, and ifyou have any questions, comments or suggestionsfor a future video, be sure to leave themin the comments section below. If you’d like more content like this, thenhead over to AdamErhart. com and sign up forthe Modern Marketing Newsletter because thisis where I share my best tips, tricks, andstrategies that I don’t share anywhere else. Take care for now, and I’ll catch you nexttime on The Modern Marketing Show