What Is Email Marketing? by Jeff Ginsberg @dad_ftw

What Is Email Marketing?

Email marketing is the most economical way to communicate a marketing message to a large number of people who have given you permission to do so. It is a powerful tool to achieve your marketing goals: brand exposure; introduction of products, updates and services; and customer acquisition, loyalty and engagement. Whenever you send an email to customers or potential customers, you are using email marketing, and, when done correctly, it is an extremely successful marketing strategy.

Various types of email programs and campaigns are used for distinct purposes and desired results.

• Email Newsletters are regularly delivered emails used to promote, advertise and deliver valuable information to subscribers.
• Transactional Emails are any messages used to confirm a purchase or transaction that typically has happened online. The benefit of a transactional email is that it does not need to adhere to the CAN-SPAM or other laws that pertain to opt-in permission. For example, these messages typically do not need to have unsubscribe links in them.
• Retention Emails have the goal of delivering lasting value and nurturing a long-term relationship. Rather than making a purchase request, for instance, the email benefits the customer by providing desirable and pertinent information or entertainment value.
• Re-engagement Emails target subscribers on your email list who are not actively opening your emails and haven’t done so for some time. Often geared to be provocative and personal, re-engagement emails have an emotional trigger designed to grab ‘sleepy’ subscribers’ long-lost attention. Those subscribers who aren’t revived by creative re-engagement campaigns – such as amazing offers, surveys, time-sensitive promos and birthday emails – can then be purged to clean up your email list.
• On-boarding Campaigns are typically an automated series of messages used to welcome, engage and set expectations for your new subscribers. Once the series of messages is designed and set in place, the emails go out on the days you choose (Day One, Two, and Seven, for instance) without you having to lift a finger.

Takeaway: Email marketing gives you powerful access to customers, an ROI of over 40:1 and tremendous potential in future sales. What is email marketing? It’s the best investment you can make to promote your business!