If you are just beginning to explore digital marketing for your business you must turn your attention to building a robust email list. An email list is exactly what it sounds like: a list of names and email addresses of people who give you permission to send them updates and promotions from your business via email.
Do not underestimate the importance of this gift. According to Direct Marketing Association (DMA) email marketing on average is responsible for a 4300% return on investment for US businesses. You might want to keep that in mind as you move forward with your digital marketing efforts.
When someone joins your email list and verifies their identity by clicking on a link, chances are they are interested in something you have to offer. Conversion rates through email are typically much higher than those through social media campaigns We’ll get to the role and importance of social media campaigns in future articles. However, for now, just know that your email list is your foundational building block in your digital marketing efforts.
Think PPT when you think email. First of all, email is personal. Your message goes directly to a specific inbox. There is no ranking system limiting your reach like SEO rankings. Email is direct, personal and casual.
Secondly, email has a purpose. In order to receive emails from your business a person must sign up and confirm their email address. The only reason anyone would do this is because they are interested in hearing from you and will be receptive to your messages.
Thirdly email can be sorted and targeted depending on what the prospect is interested in. This is called segmentation and will be the focus of a future blog.
Most importantly of all you own your email list. You develop it on your own and you don’t buy it. So since you don’t own Facebook, Twitter or Google, your marketing efforts aren’t wasted when one of those platforms change their policies.
Now that you know how important building and developing your email list is, give it a go!