The thrill of getting a real letter in your post box is an archaic throwback to a more romantic era. Bills, credit card statements and brochure from my local realtor-cougar are all swept aside for the joy of an actual letter or postcard. In the fast-paced cyber world, the email is the last vestige of the personal; it’s the hand-written letter that is opened and read because it’s remarkable and stands out from all that realtor cleavage.
Don’t get lost in the crowd
Sure, the Twitter-Tumblr-Facebook-Google+ industrial complex is more convenient. There is nothing easier than sharing your hopes and dreams with millions of strangers with a single click of the mouse. But it’s this very convenience that is the downfall of social media—there’s just too much noise. When I open my social media platforms, pictures of what my friend Sandra had for lunch fight a dozen small babies, two cute dogs and a grumpy cat meme for my attention and in the end, none of them get it.
Be remarkable
Seth Godin has a solution for all this noise: “Be remarkable.” Stand out from the noise and the crowds and people will notice. Not only will they notice, but they will tell their friends. Hell, they may even share it on Facebook or Twitter.
It’s tough to be remarkable in only 140 characters or when you’re competing with cute cats and Sandra’s lunch. Email marketing is private, rather than public and it’s personal too. This means you can tailor each email to the recipient rather than sending out something generic. The added space that emails provide mean you have more time to get your message across and nothing is better at garnering attention than quality content. Nothing grabs attention or leaves a better impression than a line well written. Email enables you to practice visual alchemy, video magic and written wizardry all in a single post.
Doing the math
While valuable content and being remarkable are noble pursuits, email may still seem like a lost cause to you because, in the words of Sweet Brown: “Ain’t nobody got time for that.” Right? Wrong! The success of email is right here in the facts and figures. There are twice as many email accounts than there are Twitter and Facebook accounts combined (that’s a whopping 2.9 billion.)
From Higher Ground Creative: “Custora analytics firm showed that customer acquisition via email has actually quadrupled since 2009. Email is the most popular online activity with 94% of people sending or reading emails.
2012 statistics showed that 41% of new subscribers are engaged, either opening or clicking on emails and in 2013, there is a 21.47% open rate for emails across all industries in the UK (ESP Sign-up).”
Compete Pro shows that email is the second highest source of incoming traffic for retail stores after search engines.
Email marketing allows you to establish a database of potential and existing clients and to communicate in a professional, personal way. Email marketing is cheaper and elicits a much higher ROI than other forms of direct marketing. Email marketing isn’t dead, is alive, kicking and taking up 28% of your work time. Make collecting email contacts a priority and add email marketing to the top of your direct marketing strategy.
