Stop the servers and hold the HTML, interactive marketers. We are facing a rising tide that we may not see for some time. This economic crisis may seem like a tsunami for some, and, yes, it will wreck careers, erase revenue, and end businesses over the next quarter or three. However, this wave should be seen as a golden opportunity for anyone who likes a good fight and, even more so, a phenomenal opportunity.
I am talking about some serious momentum in email marketing, which has long been the pariah of the web world, thanks to the foggy premise that email marketing is spam, and spam is email marketing.
While I serve up the email Kool-Aid for a living, I'm not the only one who believes email marketing is poised to make great strides in this recession. Consider luminaries like Stan Rapp, known as the father of direct marketing. (Stay tuned for more insight from Stan in a future article.) He rattled the often staid world of email marketing at the recent Email Experience event by throwing out some of the following nuggets (based on a real-time Twitter play-by-play of Rapp's keynote):
- "The inbox is the beating heart of the internet, and email is the tightest link ever invested between seller and buyer."
- "Advertising's new role is to drive prospects to the web for relevant opt-in experiences."
- "Email is the backbone of all digital communications."
- "The value of an email address to a knowledgeable marketer is $118."
What Rapp stated is what the rest of the business community is only now beginning to grasp. Email marketing is simply the best way to communicate with customers and those who could become customers. Epsilon's new research echoes this. The firm found that 50 percent of consumers surveyed said they're more likely to buy products from companies that send them email, whether their purchases are online or at a place of business.
The money and resolve is following these sentiments, recession and all. The Aberdeen Group found that while 60 percent of marketers plan to cut their traditional marketing budgets this year, 47 percent of marketers plan to boost their email marketing budgets. A Datran Media 2009 survey of marketing executives found that email marketing was viewed as the strongest advertising performer.
While Twitter and Facebook still dominate the water cooler and cocktail talk among the digital masses, a lot of the smart money is moving to email marketing. So how do we seize this moment?
1. Act like a CEO.
Every leader knows what the end goal is and the plan on how their company will get there. The email program should be no different. Be clear on your goals and ensure everything communicated to your customers (and internal clients) is consistent with the overarching goals. Anything else should not land in your customers' inboxes. Remember, bad email can be damaging well beyond the inbox. Nearly a third of respondents to a Merkle study said they have stopped doing business with at least one company altogether as a result of its poor email practices.
2. Talk like a CFO.
Lose the emphasis on opens and clicks and provide meaningful insight on email's impact on the business in actual business terms. Use a quote from Jim Sterne, author and founding president of the Web Analytics Association, to guide you: "Do not use stats as a drunkard uses a lamp post -- for support rather than illumination... the only three business metrics that count are increased revenue, lower expenses, and increased customer satisfaction."
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