Regardless of the size of the business, the way that marketing dollars are allocated is very important. This is especially true for small businesses that have smaller budgets and unique needs.
Every penny spent on marketing must be worth it, and small businesses especially need to ensure they’re seeing a number of benefits all at once. Unfortunately, most small businesses don’t have the budget or luxury to run several concurrent campaigns that cover all types of mediums. Return on investment is key.
Email marketing is an efficient way to ensure that small businesses can reach out to their customers, grow their customer base, and build their reputation.
Best of all, managing an email campaign is easier than most people imagine.
Read on to discover the top benefits of email marketing for small businesses as well as why email marketing is the right way to reach your goals.
Email marketing is used by some of the largest businesses in the world. However, email marketing isn’t just for big brands with big budgets.
In fact, email marketing is one of the best marketing methods available for small businesses with strict budget considerations.
Ready to make the most of your small business marketing budget? Here are the top benefits of email marketing for small businesses.
1. Build Strong Customer Relationships
Your customers like to know that you’re thinking about them. They want to be made aware of the latest that’s happening in your business. Why wouldn’t you keep them up to date, if that’s what they want?
Obviously, it’s nearly impossible to reach out to all of your customers by phone. Not to mention that would be a very time-consuming task. Sending mailouts is costly and wasteful.
Email is the best way to reach out with an update for your customers quickly.
The latest product launch, your next big event, and any news about your business are all great topics for regular newsletters. If a customer has opted in to receive emails from you, then you shouldn’t be shy about actually sending out emails and making contact with them.
2. Easy to Use
Setting-up an email campaign is relatively easy. There are many email marketing resources and software companies online that enable you to upload subscribers’ information, segment your lists, use email templates and fill-in your content, and send emails to subscribers on a regular basis.
Two of our favorite email marketing service providers are Constant Contact and Mail Chimp. To really stand out, instead of using a pre-made template, having an email template custom designed for your business that matches your company’s brand can be even more effective.
Moreover it is relatively easy to measure metrics and reports of open rates, click-through rates, bounce rates, and conversion rates for each email sent. This information is key to understanding what is working and what needs to be improved upon.
3. Targeted Audiences
Being able to target your audience solves all the inherent problems of non-targeted marketing. Gone are the days of placing an advertisement on television, on a diner placemat, or in a periodical with no control of who will see it.
With email marketing, you have more control who sees it by segmenting your contacts list based on their lead status, demographics, location, or other data points. Targeting emails ensure that your audience receives content suited specifically to his/her needs.
Customers and business owners benefit because you can customize a message for each customer depending on a segment to foster a higher conversion rate.
4. You Can Track Your ROI
One of the hardest things about marketing is determining a specific ROI. You want to know what’s working and to what extent so you can decide if it’s worth your investment. Things like billboard ads and postcard marketing don’t make it easy to measure their worth.
Email marketing removes some of this guesswork. You can track things like opens, clicks, and actual sales to see what you’re really getting from your efforts. You can compare these metrics to what you’re spending on email marketing to gauge your effectiveness.
Keep in mind that sales shouldn’t be the only thing you measure when determining ROI. Things like brand impressions and website clicks are also important, even if they don’t result in immediate sales. These things can’t be calculated in your ROI, but they can give you a sense that your marketing is working.
5. Earning And Maintaining Leads
People are busy these days. They may be looking for a product or service that you provide, land on your website, are interested but then get distracted. As a result, they forget about your company and you lose a potential customer.
However, if they had signed up to receive your newsletter, then you have more opportunities to remind them of your business. By sending out periodical email newsletters (or other related campaigns), you keep your business on the front of your lead's mind.
Not only that, but email marketing allows you to consistently touch base with current customers. So you're constantly increasing your chances of earning new leads and maintaining a relationship with those you've already done business with.
In today’s ever-changing digital world, email marketing tends to take a backseat. However, if you haven’t considered it for your business already, now is the time. Working with a trusted marketing advisor makes the process simple and cost-effective. With a strategic approach, proper guidance and a strong message, your business is sure to benefit and we are here to help you with exactly that. If you need any help with setting up an email marketing campaign then feel free to shoot us an email. We will be glad to help you out.