Email marketing is still relevant in 2021, and it will likely continue to be in the years to come. Why? Because you can monetize your list of contacts.
With email marketing, in contrast to Facebook Custom Audiences or Google Ads targeting, you don’t have to build your business on rented land. Maybe Facebook will turn off the Custom Audiences feature tomorrow, or Google will restrict targeting options. If you build your business exclusively on third-party systems, you run the risk of losing revenue sources.
That’s why your email list is a treasure. The contacts are your contacts, and you can contact them whenever you want (until they unsubscribe) — for free.
Drawing on my own experience with email marketing, here's my advice on who it is for, what tools you can use and how to get started.
Who Is Email Marketing For?
Email marketing makes sense for most businesses, whether you have a Shopify store or are a local dentist. Why? Because it is an easy and cheap way to get in contact with your customers and leads.
Consider these two cases in more detail:
• A Shopify store: Let’s say you have a small range of baby products and have generated many sales in the last few years. Now you have a new collection of baby shoes in different colors and sizes. You already have a lot of customers who are happy with your products. They are exactly the right audience. Leverage your previous sales by sending out a few emails to the people who've already purchased from you. You will likely get sales without spending anything on advertising.
• A local dentist: If you collect email addresses from your customers, you can get in touch and boost your sales dramatically. Maybe you offer a new bleaching service and want to make it public. The best way to do so is to email clients who already trust you.
As you can see, email marketing can work for just about any kind of business. It can be effective for B2B marketing too.
The Connection Between Your Audience and Your Business
In my experience, no advertising method is as effective as an email in your customer's inbox. You can build trust by sharing valuable content, generate engagement by sharing insights from your company, or sell more by sending great offers.
One of the many significant benefits is that the audience already has a connection with you. Your contacts already gave you their email addresses — maybe during the purchasing process or in exchange for a white paper or another goodie.
Trust can be the key to boosting sales. If customers were happy with their previous purchases, why shouldn't they buy another product from you?
Let's jump back to the Shopify store with the baby products. Maybe a young mother purchased a bathtub for infants in January. It makes sense to show her your collection of infant rompers in February and shoes six months later.
With this logical understanding of your audience, you can turn your email list into money.
Email Marketing Software
There are a lot of email marketing tools out there. There are fantastic free tools and also complex and expensive tools.
I'll be completely honest: If you are a consulting business and have 50 clients, you likely don't need email marketing software. It may be enough to manage your contacts in Outlook or Gmail and send out messages from your personal inbox. You can use the BCC field to send emails to your crowd without letting them know who else is getting the email.
If you have a large contact list or need additional features, I recommend using tools like Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign or HubSpot.
To choose the right email marketing software for your business, make sure you have the end in sight. What's your main goal for your list? What would you like to accomplish in two to three years? Perhaps you would like to automate your lead generation and send out many emails in a special order to your contacts or automate birthday and Christmas wishes for your clients. No matter what ideas you have to boost your business, there is a tool for you.
The Best Time to Start Email Marketing
Do you already have a thousand ideas on how you can boost your sales, push your customer engagement and leverage your business with email marketing?
The best moment to start is right now. The sooner you start, the faster you will see results.
Maybe the automation stuff above sounds overwhelming to you. Do not let that distract you. Start small. Just collect email addresses, and send out your first message after collecting 100 or 500. Get familiar with the tools and your crowd.
Email marketing is a process that never ends. And the best moment to start this process is right now.
