When digital marketing first moved into a position of prominence among entities in the private sector, analysts would often hail these branding capabilities for their abilities to level the playing field between larger enterprises and smaller businesses. These assertions have largely come to be realities in the past few years, as entrepreneurs who get their strategies right will tend to enjoy much higher levels of visibility, conversions and loyalty than would have been possible before the Internet became a battleground for marketing.
What has always been the crux of these digital endeavors, and likely will remain as the most important piece for years to come, is email marketing, which consistently yields the highest conversion rates across all types of Internet advertising. In fact, small business owners who do not embrace email marketing might experience issues in their other digital advertising endeavors, as this reliable medium comes with a variety of indirect benefits as well.
At the end of the day, entrepreneurs first need to understand the importance of email marketing, then work to research which types of strategies, campaigns, policies and refinements will be best-suited to their specific needs and objectives. Finding evidence of how effective a successful email marketing campaign can truly be is not all that difficult, as so many use cases and research are now regularly available through popular media sources.
value of email marketing for small business
Mashable recently listed some of the reasons why it believes email marketing is such a boon to small business branding strategies, affirming that the indirect advantages – or those that do not directly lead to conversions and higher revenues – are nothing to shake a fist at. The source stated that the information garnered from analysis within a long-term email ad campaign is highly actionable and prescriptive, leading to a better understanding of clientele.
In a sense, this can help small business owners tailor their other marketing endeavors in a more accurate and efficient fashion over time, all the while continuing to build visibility and loyalty among prospects and current customers. Mashable added that email will often raise the bar among advertisers, pushing them to be more involved in evaluation and refinement to maximize the success of each individual campaign.
Furthermore, the publication stated that email marketing is often less time-consuming than other pursuits, allowing leaders to focus on other aspects of strategy. According to the website, the direct benefits should not be forgotten, and is tied to the much higher returns on investment seen from these types of endeavors than other channels.
Massive email marketing ROI
Net Imperative recently reported that one study has revealed the average ROI experienced among email marketers can be very high, and equated it to $78 to every $1.11 spent.
The report, from the Direct Marketing Association, revealed that many advertisers are expecting to see even higher ROI in the coming years, while DMA’s executive director Chris Combemale believes that the campaigns can help to drive a brand in the right direction through other channels as well.
“Email is the oldest digital medium still in use, growing out of the early internet {caps},” he told Net Imperative. “Even now, an email address is one of those things that helps define you in the digital world. It has endured because it is so useful. It also works. ROI figures alone show this, rising from $27.79 last year to $42.36 this year. Email is resurgent.”
By focusing efforts on first getting email advertising right and then using the lessons learned to guide other endeavors, small business owners can quickly build their stature in the market.
