Online Marketing: Is Email Enough?

from Net Atlantic

There has been a shift in customer communication methods. It's already clear that business advertising no longer revolves solely around traditional media (TV, radio, print, direct mail). Today you need to build a strong presence in digital media (web, email, social, and mobile), and engage online visitors, followers, viewers, fans, and friends in multiple channels.

Until now, inbound engagement on the web meant having a website, while outbound engagement meant sending email. Email is still a powerful way to reach your subscribed audience. But is email enough by itself?

Multi-channel marketing has roots in the age-old “mixed media” idea, which essentially said that buyers are best reached at different times in different ways, and that the most successful marketing campaigns contained the best promotional and media mix available for efficiently reaching the targeted audience. The theory was that effective use of multiple media helped an organization become top-of-mind when the buyer was ready to make a purchase. This theory is still very true today.

Due to the ever-expanding access to information, consumers are not only more savvy… they demand and expect more. Today, consumers are being more cautious and selective with their spending and some consumers are now less loyal to any one brand or company. When it comes to online marketing strategies, marketers must devise creative advertising and marketing campaigns that get their customers and prospects engaged in conversations around their brand, and increasingly leverage multiple channels to deliver more relevant messages to the right person at the right time.

With the emergence of so many communication channels, we recommend a "cross-channel" or "multi-channel" approach to achieve a better customer experience and improved results. Highlighted below are the unique strengths of Email, Social and Mobile:

• Email Marketing. Email lets you send targeted email messages to drive traffic to your website. Instant delivery makes email an ideal complement to traditional print marketing campaigns. Unlike other forms of marketing, email can result in immediate action by the customer, such as completing a sale, registering for a webinar, or subscribing to a newsletter.
• Social Platforms. Social media easily allows community marketing campaigns across multiple social networks (e.g. Facebook, Twitter). The method is not new, but the newer technology allows marketers to track behavior and conversion rates like never before. The ability to track social activity lets you go beyond branding and customer retention to drive customer acquisition and revenue.
• Mobile SMS Text. Reaching subscribers where they are creates opportunities to deliver timely promotional campaigns in a context that really matters. You can entice customers to purchases with mobile coupons and messages based on geolocation. Combined with email and social sharing, text is a gateway to expanding communications for a true multi-channel messaging strategy.

Today, customers are living in a multi-channel environment, engaging with brands in many different ways and generating multiple conversations. You should extend the reach of your online presence by integrating social media and mobile SMS text into a multi-channel marketing plan.

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