Everyone who worked in an office in the 90s will probably remember faxes coming in advertising everything from office supplies to vacations. So, just like fax marketing faded away you may be asking yourself if email marketing is still effective. The short answer is yes! Email marketing can be an effective way to reach and engage customers, but it’s not always the most efficient or cost-effective option.
When done correctly, email marketing can be an excellent way to build relationships with customers and promote your brand. However, it’s important to consider the costs and benefits of email marketing before deciding if it’s the right strategy for your business.
Benefits of email marketing for your Ottawa business
There are a number of reasons why email marketing can be beneficial for businesses, including:
- Reach a large audience: Email is one of the most widely used communication tools, which means businesses can reach a large number of people. All you need is an email list and a message to send.
- Cost-effective way to reach customers: Compared to other marketing strategies, email marketing is relatively inexpensive. You don’t need to spend money on advertising or printing materials. All you need is an email list and a message to send.
- Personalized messages: Email marketing allows you to send personalized messages to your customers. You can segment your email list to send targeted messages that are relevant to the recipients. This helps improve customer engagement and conversion rates.
- Builds relationships with customers: When done correctly, email marketing can help businesses build relationships with their customers. By sending helpful and informative content, you can establish trust and credibility with your audience. This can lead to repeat business and long-term customer loyalty.
- Measurable results: Email marketing provides businesses with a wealth of data that can be used to track and measure results. This includes things like open rates, click-through rates, and unsubscribe rates. This data can be used to improve future email campaigns.
Costs of email marketing
While email marketing can be great for your Ottawa business, there are also some hard and soft costs to consider. These include:
- Time investment: Email marketing requires a significant time investment. You need to spend time creating a list of contacts, segmenting your list, crafting personalized messages, and tracking results. This can be a full-time job for someone on your team.
- Monetary investment: While email marketing is cost-effective, it’s not free to do it well. You need to pay for an email service provider and you may need to hire someone to manage your campaign.
- Risk of spam: There is always the risk that your email messages will be considered spam by recipients. This can happen if you send too many messages or if your messages are not relevant to the recipients. This can damage your reputation and make it difficult to reach your target audience.
You should definitely consider email marketing as one of the digital marketing essentials that could help your Ottawa business grow. If you decide to move forward with email marketing, be sure to invest the time and resources necessary to make it successful. The digital marketing experts at WSI Ottawa can help you get started with an email marketing campaign. Contact us today.
