Did you know that there are almost 5.6 billion active email accounts worldwide?
This number is only likely to increase in the coming years. After all, email is essential for both personal and professional communications.
It’s also a powerful resource for digital marketers, and it’s often overlooked. Email marketing campaigns, however, can be every business owner’s secret to building an effective brand image.
They can even turn those leads into conversions!
What is the importance of email marketing, especially in Ireland? We answer this question (and several others) in this post. Keep reading for insight.
Email marketing uses email channels to advertise a service or product. Marketers acquire a list of “subscribers” and periodically distribute content to the addresses in this list.
This is a very general definition of email marketing. So much more can go into an email marketing campaign.
For one thing, email marketing does not have to explicitly sell a product (although it can!). Email marketers may send subscribers newsletters, for example. Newsletters may contain video content, blog posts, coupons, and direct links to a website.
Savvy marketers may also launch targeted email marketing campaigns. These send different kinds of emails to subscribers at different points in a “buyer’s journey.”
For example, a new subscriber may receive a welcome email–and potentially a discount or other incentive. That subscriber may receive additional emails to compel conversion, including coupons or full shopping cart reminders.
Eventually, that subscriber may convert by making a purchase or other significant decision.
It is possible to launch an email marketing campaign entirely on your own, provided you use a platform like MailChimp or Constant Contact. If you have built your own website, you will likely be able to sync your site with this marketing provider.
Before we discuss this, however, let’s linger a little longer on the importance of email marketing.
Email marketing may feel like just another digital marketing tool. However, it’s importance is often underestimated.
Here are just a few insights into why email marketing should be your next advertising move, especially if you are based in Ireland or catering to a global audience.
We mentioned at the start of this post that there are nearly 5.6 billion active email accounts in the world. Plus, this number is expected to grow in the coming years (and decades).
Email is a comfortable, convenient means of communication. It enables individuals on opposite sides of the world to converse. It’s vital for businesses and employees who must send daily correspondence with clients, other businesses, and colleagues.
In fact, the majority of these accounts are business-related. What does that mean for you?
If you are in the business-to-business (B2B) industry, this is particularly valuable. The more businesses use email, the greater your means of connecting with them via this channel.
It also means that more and more people are using email for business (i.e., marketing) purposes. Email is much like social media in this regard. It began as a social, personal platform, but now it is becoming a vast arena ideal for marketers from all over the world.
Email is global. If your business is based in Ireland, email gives you an instantaneous means of connecting with leads and customers, no matter their time zone.
Do you have a social media campaign in place? If so, great! But it may not be giving you as many leads or conversions as email marketing.
In fact, email marketing can have up to 80% acquisition and retention rates, in comparison to social media’s average 50% acquisition and retention. These digits even surpass paid and organic search methods.
We’re not saying that you should halt your social media campaigns (or your organic and paid search campaigns). These are still vital tools that still have fairly high acquisition and retention rates, and you should not skimp on them.
We are saying that you should be putting your money where the gold really is: email marketing. Investing in a higher-acquisition form of marketing means less effort on your part for higher reward.
Marketing can get expensive, and it can get expensive fast!
Most business owners know they should be spending 5-10% of their revenue on advertising aims, but this may feel like a stretch, especially if you are a small business owner in Ireland.
For this reason, it’s essential to seek out advertising opportunities that are effective and not terribly costly. Yes, these do exist.
We have already discussed the importance of email marketing from an acquisition standpoint. Email marketing is also incredibly cost-effective.
In fact, businesses in Ireland can spend as little as 8 euros (9 USD) per month for an effective email marketing campaign! This number does go up depending on whether or not you market yourself or work with an agency.
What does the equate to in price-per-email? This comes to far, far less than a single cent.
Given that email marketing can have an incredible return on investment (ROI), this is astoundingly cheap. Allocate more funds to your email marketing campaign to maximize ROI and save on your marketing capital.
Email marketing is an excellent supplement to any other online marketing efforts you have in place.
You may have, for example, an active Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) campaign. Excellent! SEO can help you take advantage of the over 40,000 searches Google processes every single second.
You may also have a social media campaign, as discussed earlier. Perhaps you supplement your Instagram efforts with regular blogging, especially if you love educating and inspiring potential customers.
This is all great, but even the most well-executed advertising campaigns need a leg up. Email marketing can be so valuable in this regard.
For one thing, most emails in a marketing campaign include a call to action. Calls to action are vital for compelling readers to do something, whether that something is signing up for an offer, claiming a coupon code, or visiting your website.
Email marketers can thus draw subscribers where they want them to go, easily and effectively.
Do you want to highlight your recent blog post on your website? Get more social media followers? Share a cool video about a new product? Simply drive traffic to your site?
Emails can help you do all of this, and sometimes all at once. It’s not uncommon to receive a newsletter, for example, that includes video content, website links, and social media send-offs.
Customers love it when brands get personal. In fact, the more personalised you can be in your advertising efforts, the better!
This is because customers are becoming more and more wary of overtly sales-y copy. No one really wants to respond to an explicit ad. Everyone wants to feel recognised as an individual, and everyone wants to connect with meaningful, relatable brands.
This may sound like a fairly high bar, but believe it or not, email marketing can help you get there.
It’s one of the best channels for getting personal with your subscribers. Most marketing emails, after all, address the recipient by first name. Subject lines may even incorporate emojis, exclamation points, and slang!
This can be a striking addition to a subscriber’s inbox, especially in comparison to other spammy ads from businesses. Customers want to click on something personal and inspiring.
You may be nervous about being both personal and professional. After all, it’s also important to impress your clients! That’s where a little bit of help can go a long way.
Hiring an email marketer or copywriter, for example, can be just what you need to capture your brand voice and deliver that nice bit of personal touch into a customer’s mailbox.
If you operate a local business, your livelihood depends on your visibility. This is particularly the case in Ireland.
There were over 238,000 active businesses in Ireland in 2014, and half of these accounted for services.
How do you set yourself apart as a local business in the midst of such competition? One thing is to take advantage of Google My Business, which can get you on the map (literally).
Another way is to embrace email marketing. Email marketing is still at that point where not everyone is doing it, despite its incredible value. It can easily help you surpass your competitors, especially if you can add a personal flair.
From another perspective, email marketing helps you stay visible in your prospective customers’ inboxes. Customers can all too easily forget the businesses they patronize, and sometimes they just need a visual cue as a reminder of what’s out there.
Sending regular, targeted emails to your subscribers keeps them in the loop and, more importantly, keeps you visible.
The importance of email marketing can’t be emphasised enough, especially for Irish business owners. Email marketing helps even the smallest businesses stay visible, get personal, and acquire leads.
What else do you need to launch a successful email marketing campaign? A website hosted by an excellent provider! Learn more about choosing a reputable hosting provider here.
