In the first quarter of 2009, marketers have witnessed a lot of change -- from a new U.S. president, to the stock market's rapid and persistent decline, to consumers jumping on social media and networks as layoffs sweep virtually all communities worldwide. Ironically, all of this change provides exceptional opportunities for marketers to innovate and better serve their target audiences with email, social, and mobile strategies and channels.
According to a recent report by Forrester's Julie Katz, "Marketers haven't had much impetus to improve email strategy and execution until now. The floundering economy and rapidly changing consumer behavior are now forcing marketers to take advantage of new tools." Katz went on to state, "Marketers now need to use solid metrics and integrate new channels into their marketing mix to keep their email programs engaging and focused on the customer." With this in mind, an integrated marketing strategy is the right discipline and best practice to embrace now.
Email is a proven method, and there are affordable and easy ways to bring innovation into messaging strategies and email marketing programs to successfully drive customer growth, lower marketing costs, and compete today -- as well as prepare for an eventual upturn. Here are four ideas to consider as you change for the times and adjust your strategies for the opportunities at hand.
1) Be authentic and optimistic
Don't dwell on the negative aspects of what is going on in the world. With a little perseverance and confidence in your messages, you can use assuring email messages to inspire your audiences to trust your brand. If you remember that online conversations are still conversations, you can create a sense of calm and response that is mutually beneficial. Stay on course with your core messages, and be willing to convey a bold point of view that is backed up by facts.
2) Tune in to your audiences
Marketers are not mind-readers, but it is important with email and integrated marketing to make sure you understand what your customers want, when they want it and how they want it. For example, when email programs start to flatten out in terms of results, it may seem natural to increase the amount and frequency of emails being sent to try and increase your chances of success. However, rather than inundating your subscribers, you need to strike a careful balance of anticipation, frequency and value so that you don't alienate potential and existing customers. Spend more time tuning in to the channels that your customers are on, and keep focused on how they want to engage; really understand their behavior. Monitor social networking and micro-blogging sites like Facebook and Twitter to gain insight into what your audiences are concerned with and how best to serve them.
3) Make it easy to experience and share
Brands that properly use email and integrated marketing to consistently engage their audiences with the right messages at the right time won't have anything to lose, even in tough times. Make sure your content is easy on the eyes and focus on making your recipients' experience a pleasure to engage with and share; keep content short and relevant. Deliver personalized content to your users, and don't treat your subscribers like items on a shopping list. Instead, apply segmentation and list-refinement strategies to understand and get to know the needs of specific user-groups. And remember, SMS messaging can inspire new ways of communicating; experiment with integrating your email messages with social and mobile channels so that you can engage with people in social networks and on the go.
4) Integrate new channels to serve 21st century audiences
With the rise of social networking and mobile internet services, consumers have gained an insatiable appetite for accessing content and services anywhere, at any time. Email now co-exists with online channels including social networking and mobile messaging, and in order to stay relevant in the cluttered space, the medium needs to adapt and integrate to keep up with the times. By adopting new ways to integrate email campaigns into a greater marketing strategy marketers can achieve greater impact with messaging that scales across other new channels; resulting in better engagement with larger audiences at lower costs to marketers.
Erick Mott is communications director for Lyris.
