Don’t Underestimate the Power of Email Marketing
Email marketing (also referred to as e-newsletter marketing) is a great way to keep your current customers and clients informed with business news, product or service updates and also, the most up-to-date industry news. One of the sole purposes of email marketing is to enhance the existing relationships that you already have established between you and your customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business. Your customers already trust the information that you give them while they are in your company or over the phone, that’s why they are your customers! Why wait to have an appointment or conference scheduled with them, when you can email them at your (and their) convenience.
Email marketing is also a great way to attract new customers. Many e-newsletter companies (MailChimp, Constant Contact et.) give you the option to share your e-newsletter on your social media sites. So, you are ultimately sharing your e-mail to potential clients along with your current ones. You current customers that opt-in to be emailed by you and your business also have the ability to forward your email on to others. From there, that new prospective customer is able to subscribe to get your next emails.
There are a lot of perks to this powerful marketing tool and they are:
Inexpensive – There are some e-newsletter companies that are free to use up to so many emails that are sent out and there are others that you pay a monthly fee.
Measurable – Once your email is sent out, you are able to see information that is gathered on your sent email. Most companies provide you with very in-depth information, such as who opened your email, what links they clicked on, where the people that opened your email live, who forwarded your email on and much more.
Flexible – These email blasts go out when and how you want them to go out. You can also create ‘auto-responders’ to go out anytime you have a new subscriber or patient join your list.
Universal – You can provide your customers the ability to sign up for your list at your business, on your website, even on Facebook! Most email marketing companies have easy forms that you or your web designer can install on your various sites.
Effective & Immediate – Your customers aren’t just getting emails while they are sitting in front of a computer anymore. They get emails on their iPads and their smart phones. You essentially can reach them whenever, doing whatever though email! A few weeks ago, I wrote about Demand Force and how their clients are using Mobile Marketing to stay in contact with their current and prospective customers. Demand Force also uses newsletters along with Mobile Marketing to create powerful campaigns and promotions with a wide reach. Here is more from their site: “Keep in touch and build relationships. Demand force makes it easy to connect with your existing customers and attract new ones. By syncing with your current work flow software, we can automatically target clients who need a little extra attention. It is effortless to send appointment reminders, create campaigns, reactivate lost customers and prompt your biggest fans to refer new clients.”