Facebook. Twitter. Blogging. YouTube…the explosive popularity of social media is positively overwhelming. In fact, it makes one wonder…”Is eMail Marketing dying…or worse yet, already dead”? Not so, we say!
Visit any successful company’s website…from Amazon to Pottery Barn…to Home Depot…heck, visit the White House’s web site and what you’ll find is that everyone is still collecting visitor eMail addresses to send updates, eNewsletters, targeted announcements, etc.
Social networking is a wonderful thing and we support any vehicle that helps people communicate digitally…it’s what we’re all about, after all! But combine the power of multiple communication avenues together, including eMarketing, and you’ve got an information dissemination system that is far greater than any service individually.
Now, eMarketing has definitely taken a hit from the proliferation of spam…that’s for certain. But there are absolutely ways around spam filters that can help improve deliverability rates…such as the use of a professional eMarketing service like Vertical Response (which is who we use and highly recommend, by the way). It’s safe to say that Spam has impaired eMarketing response rates, but it certainly hasn’t killed it.
Aside from using a professional delivery service such as Vertical Response, the real trick to successful eMarketing is to provide your recipients with visually appealing and high quality content from the outset of your eMarketing efforts. People will open your emails when your relationship with them is built on trust and interest.
As far as the future of eMail marketing…it will undergo changes to keep up with the times, so continuing to collect (or beginning to collect, if you don’t already) eMail addresses on your website is still very important.
Done correctly, there’s no question that it is still the most effective method to reach your mass audience of current and potential clients…just ask those guys over at The White House how many people they have on their list…
