Email needs to be the hub of your marketing strategy.
Looking for email marketing tips to help you increase engagement and build relationships? Email is alive and well; even though people view it as an outdated form of connection, it is more popular than ever. Research shows that more than 300 billion emails are sent every day, and most consumers prefer to be contacted via email when connecting with companies.
In short, if you are not regularly connecting with your customers through email, you are missing one of your best marketing and business-building opportunities.
Email marketing is simple, effective, and inexpensive.
Five reasons you need to build an email list and use it
1. Personalization
While social media is like using a megaphone in a crowded field, email can be personalized using the contact information to merge with each connection, making it unique to that customer. Not only can you start your email with a personal greeting using their name, but by asking questions and learning about the contacts on your list, you can make sure to send them the right message at the right time.
2. Instant & direct line of communication with your community
When you hit send on your email campaign, usually within minutes, that message is delivered to that contact’s inbox. You are grabbing their attention in that moment.
Most social media platforms limit how many people see your post, and it is not delivered as soon as it is posted.
Email lives in that contact’s inbox until they make a conscious effort to open it, ignore it, or delete it. Regardless, your message was seen, even if it was only the from name and the subject line.
3. Reporting
Email gives you the power to learn more about your online community. Campaign reporting features can tell you who is opening your emails, what links they are clicking on, and more. Being able to send a new message based on the customer’s interaction with a previous message (opens and click rates) helps you refine your strategy.
4. Ownership
No one owns their social media accounts. Social media not only controls who sees our posts and when they see them, they also have a right to deactivate or delete your account at any time for any reason.
Email, by contrast, is an asset you own. Although it is hugely frowned upon selling or renting your list, it still adds significant value to your business. You can take your list with you and use it on your choice of platforms to send out messages. Would you rather have a business with 10K social media followers or 10K engaged email contacts?
5. Automation
This is the best part of an email marketing strategy. Doing email right can create a spider web of connections. Creating a layout of emails that go out automatically can give you a step ahead in building a relationship. Unlike your social media accounts, where you must create and post content all the time, you can build sequences of emails that go out based on contact interactions with your email strategy. As things change in your business, you can update the individual emails’ content without recreating a new structure. When you have a new email contact sign up, you can send them an instant welcome message series to inform them about what makes your company unique.
An added tip:
Email stands for electronic mail. Not newsletters, not junk or spam, but mail. If you treat your contact list the same as you would your personal contacts by creating conversations, people will get excited to open a message from you. Make sure your emails are personalized, engaging, and short. If you have lots to say, link to a landing page with more information and let the customer decide if they want to learn more.
Do not believe the hype. Email is not dead, and your contacts are waiting to hear from you. Besides, they gave you their email address for a reason.
Start connecting today. Looking for more inspo? Here are more email marketing hacks.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
At Restaurant Funnel, we work with you to custom build a completely trackable marketing system so that you can reach people who have never heard of your restaurant and turn them into SUPERFANS! A busy restaurant is easier to manage! By creating a marketing strategy that is personalized, engaging, systemized and trackable allows you to focus on the vital part of your business: serving the guest!
