Email Marketing: What Lies Ahead?
Before the days of the internet, there was email. As the web has developed, especially with the popularity of sophisticated social media tools, some internet marketing professionals have questioned the power of email to carry a brand message or attract users to a website. Could email be a thing of the past, best left out when developing your SEO strategy? Not quite.
The Ongoing Popularity of Email
Like many basic products and services, email remains popular even as more sophisticated options become available. Web users are normally willing to sign up on new social media sites, shopping sites, and other value-added websites which they test out for a few days or weeks, but email accounts stay quite constant due to the need to stay in touch. Studies have also shown that email remains the most trusted form of communication – in short, the email address is here to stay.
Mobile Email: Pocket Marketing
With the introduction of mobile email on most smart phones, you don’t have to wait for your target users to be at their computers anymore – emails can now be read as soon as they are delivered and that presents a marketing opportunity.
It’s worth noting that email content which is going to be read on a smart phone needs to be designed so that it opens quickly and displays well. Also, when you design your email content make sure your links aren’t buried too deeply in the text or mobile users may miss them. When it comes to tracking you may not want to use open rates, opting for shares and clicks may be a better strategy.
The New Approach to Email Marketing
Rather than viewing email and social media marketing as two separate things, the approach we need to take today is to integrate them. Make email a feature on your websites when it comes to content sharing, and include links to your Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages in email correspondence.
Remember, the average reader’s attention span is nine seconds. To take advantage of this fact, make your content short, sharp and captivating. Once you draw your reader in, your marketing message will make a big impact.