E-mail marketing far from kicking the bucket
It is no secret that each and every person in the marketing world
has thought about which type of marketing campaign can give their business the
most exposure. Sure there are a lot of strategies that can be followed and can
possibly show some return on the time spent on these campaigns, but do they
really work?
To try and explain this we should look at what has been done in
the marketing world so far and what can be done for future generations.
Door to
door
Now this just makes me giggle, to be honest. Door to door sales
and marketing is probably one of the most archaic marketing tools. These salesmen have the worst timing in the
world. When I am relaxing at home with friends and family and these people take
the time to interrupt or disturb me, they will probably get the door slammed in
their face. Door to door marketing is (luckily) mostly dead. People do not take
kindly to strange people at their doorstep.
Flyers
Everyone that drives around in Johannesburg or anywhere else in South Africa knows
about flyers. I can’t help but feel sorry for those guys handing them out,
people don’t actually give them the time of day. On the rare occasion that
motorists do take a flyer it is purely out of desperation or preventing
themselves from being harassed into taking a flyer. At one stage I had 20
flyers in my car and to be honest when I threw them out I could not remember a
single advertisement on any of them. I think it is safe to say that this
marketing tool is maybe the least successful, never mind the money that got
spent on making these flyers and all the trees that had to make way for the
paper to print them.
Bill boards
There are some seriously big, bold and wonderful bill board
advertisements out there. Some even have flashy light displays, mechanical
parts protruding or rotating. This is great, but honestly when I am speeding
down the high way at 120km/h, I really don’t have the time to grab my phone to
capture the telephone number of the company. All that you will remember is the
pretty bill board somewhere close to the Grayston or Marlboro off-ramp.
Phone
calls
This is definitely a far superior way of marketing, to an extent.
It has its limitations though, for instance, if I am in a meeting, having dinner
or watching television it is very difficult for me to give the person on the
other side of the line my undivided attention. More often than not will I cut
the person short and I bet you that he will be quite upset about that and won’t
bother to phone me again.
SMS
Marketing
SMS marketing, in my eyes is definitely almost at the top of my
list on successful marketing strategies. It is effective, non-obtrusive, quick
and easy. It is lower in cost than lengthy phone calls. It sparks a thought at
the back of your mind, you will probably not delete the message and when the
need arises the message is easily retrievable.
And here it is the poster child of marketing. Absolutely everyone
I know and most of the population in the world have access to the internet and
have an e-mail account. It is the quickest, easiest way to get information
across. It is also the most affordable way to get your name out there. People communicate over the
internet constantly and regularly this ensures that your company’s information
and information on specific campaigns can be easily distributed. These types of
campaigns get the word out and thus create awareness of your business. People
talk and word of mouth has been tried and tested in showing that it works.
Studies have shown that in 2016, 80% of the world’s business will be done via
the internet. Don’t you think that it’s beneficial to be doing e-mail
marketing?
A lot of professionals will disagree with me on this matter. For
some time now it has been debated that e-mail marketing is a dying breed. They
are of the point of view that e-mail marketing will make way for the new “in”
thing; social media marketing. I beg to differ (my personal view). As earlier
mentioned, e-mail remains the biggest means of communication for a lot of
people and even more so for CEO’s and
people in the business world.
Systems to
ensure successful e-mail marketing and just all-round business success
There is a little, well quite big and wonderful thing called eCRM.
A lot of businesses have been running successfully on this type of system
because of its capabilities and what it can do for a business. Customer Relationship
Management, plainly put, is what eCRM is all about. It is a complete business
solution capable of handling all your customer related business processes. This
includes all data capturing, customer and company records and all necessary
details on marketing campaigns.
This is the beautiful part of this system. All the functions are
at your disposal for running successful marketing campaigns. CRM systems consist
of software that keeps records on your existing clients and prospective clients
this allow for leads to get followed up on. Knowing which companies benefit
from a specific marketing campaign makes it easier to determine what other
marketing campaign to use for a different client base. And then, all that still
needs to be done is set your e-mail marketing “tool” in place
to reach your clients.
E-mail
marketing will survive
To say that e-mail marketing will die out in the near future is
very difficult for me to believe. As we said, e-mail is still an integral part
of any business and the way these businesses communicate with each other. The future
is still looking bright for e-mail
marketing. Let’s go out there and spam (legally please – CPA is watching
you!) to our heart’s content.
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