One challenge facing small business entrepreneurs is the difficulty and expense of communicating with prospects and customers. Although a great deal of attention is focused on the “shiny penny” of social media marketing, don’t forget the effectiveness of that old stand-by – email marketing. A well-curated list and consistent communications go a long way towards engaging prospects and building relationships.
As evidenced in a survey conducted by Ascend2 and its research partners on marketingcharts.com, marketers continue to rate email the most effective digital marketing tactic. It still outpaces social media marketing and SEO marketing in effectiveness and ease of implementation. Given its strong ability to communicate a message directly to a target audience, here are some guidelines that small business entrepreneurs can use to incorporate email marketing into their communications strategy:
- • Build Your List: Ask for email addresses as a routine part of every business interaction. Your website should have a way of collecting email addresses. Ask for emails at trade shows, at the end of your blogs and in any advertising. Use your signature block in outgoing emails to provide a link back to your website sign-up page. Your social media can remind prospects of the benefits of receiving regular email communications from you. Once you have a new name, add it immediately and then make sure to send a thank you note. At the other end of the spectrum, you must immediately honor any unsubscribe requests and remove any bounced or undeliverable addresses.
