Back when Lynyrd Skynyrd was the king of rock and roll, John Travolta was greased with lightin’, and Space Invaders were taking over arcades nationwide, something else was brewing in the world of marketing.
1978 feels like it was both forever ago and just yesterday, but way back in 1978 the very first marketing email was sent. Gary Thuerk, the Marketing Manager of Digital Equipment Corporation built up his courage and sent an email to 400 people. While email lists nowadays number into the thousands this doesn’t seem like a lot of people. Although, even with his small list, Gary’s email resulted in $13 million worth of sales for DEC machines!
Just like Gary, your email marketing strategy can be used to drive sales. A Nielsen study found that 27 percent of US online shoppers subscribe to store-of-product emails in order to save money. Offering exclusive coupons and promotions to your email subscribers is a fantastic way to drive sales both online and in-store.
In a world where if your opinion has more than 240 characters it won’t be heard, it is difficult for customers to get detailed information. Emails can be a great place to keep your customers informed and let them know about things that are happening with your business. Giving customers the detailed information that they are looking for, may lead them to your website or get them walking through your front door.
The best part of this whole email rigmarole is that it’s cheap! Email marketing campaigns allow you to reach a large group of customers that with other tactics would be expensive and impractical to reach. For small business owners on a tight budget email marketing can be just what the doctor ordered.
Email marketing isn’t spam but it’s also not a letter from your electronic pen pal from Portugal either. Marketing emails have to find their home somewhere in the middle of those two places and not veer too far from that path. If you sound too much like a robot, you will get sent straight to the trash and unsubscribed from. If you are just writing an email without CTA’s and content that your customers care about then you are serving no real purpose to you or them.
Everybody can take advantage of email marketing and if you are too busy to handle it by yourself, a professional marketing firm can be the catalyst for your campaign (hint, hint). For more information on our email marketing packages give us a call at 605-716-5666.
