You’ve likely heard a lot of discussion recently about email marketing and its importance to small businesses. Maybe you’re even dabbling in it yourself and seeing some success. But what you may not know is that email marketing has the highest return on investment (ROI) of any marketing channel—including social media, search engine optimization, and Pay-Per-Click advertising. In other words, for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an average return of $38.
Why is email marketing so effective?
For one, it’s personal. Unlike other forms of marketing that are aimed at a mass audience, email allows you to target specific individuals with highly personalized messages. This helps build relationships with your leads and customers and increase the likelihood that they’ll do business with you.
Second, it’s immediate. Once you hit “send,” your message is delivered straight to your contact’s inbox—which means there’s no waiting around for them to see it in their newsfeed or perform a search. And because most people check their email multiple times per day, there’s a good chance they’ll see your message right away.
Finally, it’s affordable. You don’t need a big budget to get started with email marketing; in fact, many email service providers offer free plans for small businesses. Plus, compared to other marketing channels that require ongoing investments (such as PPC), email only requires a one-time effort to set up and send out your campaign.
How to get started with email marketing
Now that we’ve gone over some of the reasons why email marketing is such a valuable tool for small businesses, let’s take a look at how you can get started using it to reach your goals.
The first step is to build a list of contacts—that is, people who have expressed an interest in hearing from you via their email address. There are a few different ways to do this:
- Place sign-up forms on your website: Add forms to your website so visitors can opt in to receive emails from you. Make sure the forms are prominently placed and easy to fill out; consider offering a discount or freebie in exchange for an email address.
- Include sign-up links in your emails: If you already have a list of existing customers or contacts, include a link in your emails inviting recipients to sign up for your mailing list if they haven’t already done so.
- Grow organically: As your business expands and you meet new people (e.g., at trade shows or networking events), make sure to collect their business cards so you can add them to your list later on.
Conclusion on email marketing ROI
By now, hopefully you understand why email marketing is such a valuable tool—and why it should be a key component of your small business’s marketing strategy moving forward. If you don’t already have an email list full of potential leads and customers, now is the time to start building one! Just remember to focus on quality over quantity; it’s better to have 100 engaged subscribers than 10,000 uninterested ones.”
