5 Reasons Email Marketing Can’t Be Ignored — and How It Benefits Bloggers and Online Businesses

Social media is a great way to grow your business. But it isn’t the best use of your time because algorithms for Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Twitter are constantly charing.

I do not envy social media strategists and how they must shift and amend tactics all the time.

When you’re looking to build and maintain relationships, cultivate trust and ask for sales, we can’t have you worrying about how to get in front of your fans when you want to.

But there’s one medium that makes it easy to get in touch with your people (potential clients or customers) whenever you darn-well please.

Email.

Once someone is on your email list, you won’t need to fight funky algorithms or spend ad dollars to get in front of them again and again.

The email marketing journey

Email marketing — or any online marketing, for that matter — follows a simple funnel formula that takes consumers through several steps from awareness to making a purchase.

Using your email to target your readers where they’re at on their journey is key to success as a blogger and business owner.

Let’s look at the stratosphere that is online marketing:

It starts with lead generation, then jumps to lead nurturing and ends when the consumer makes a purchase.

But here’s the catch:

How you reach people at the “top of your funnel” with lead generation will likely change over time.

And you can’t rely on social media to reach them when you need to.

Algorithms are constantly changing, keeping us guessing on Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest — plus, there seems to be a new networking site on the horizon with new ones popping up all the time.

Yes, we need to get people’s attention.

Yes, you need to be adding to the top of your funnel.

This is very important.

But so help me if this is the only strategy you have in place to connect with your audience long-term.

Because where your audience is hanging out today may not even exist as a platform in two years (RIP Periscope).

5 key reasons to invest in email marketing

5 Reasons Why You Can’t Ignore Email Marketing, watch the video here

01 | Email isn’t going anywhere

How often do people change their email address?

Exactly. People are dedicated to their email addresses. It’s definitely commitment, if I’ve ever seen it.

Your audience isn’t shifting away from email, even as all sorts of other social networking arenas come and go. Some say you “own” your email list — that means no one can take those email addresses away from you.

I created my current personal email address in 2008 (back when I learned about Gmail and said goodbye to Hotmail). I’ve created new work emails since then, but I still use my same-ol’ personal email for everything else.

With email, there’s a steady, reliable way to get in touch with people without needing to “rebuild your list” through someone else’s platform.

Email marketing can withstand any trends in online marketing.

Related: 3 fears you may have about email marketing — and what to do about it.

02 | Email is fundamental to building long-term relationships as an online business

If you’re going to stay in touch with someone, you need to know how to reach out to them. And if you’re staying connected through relevant content sent through email, you’re building the “Know, Like and Trust Factor” that we all covet in our digitally-based relationships.

Sending an email isn’t a “flash in the pan” — it doesn’t disappear after 24 hours. You can form relationships through being authentic, explaining yourself fully (no 280 character max here… I’m talking to you, Twitter) and personalize your follow-up messages.

Related: How to add personality to your email marketing with custom gifs

03 | Email subscribers can be segmented with personalized messages

When you post a photo on Facebook or Instagram — it goes to everyone. Even if your product is only intended for “professional women who live in NYC,” you can’t filter out everyone else when posting about a promotion.

With email, you can send your content to who its for, saving the rest of your audience from unnecessary “digital noise.”

Related: How to use segmentation to personalize your marketing and increase email open rates.

04 | Email marketing can be automated, so your business can run on autopilot

This is my favorite thing about email (no secret here), because you can have a timely response to people and provide them with what they need, when they need it, based on what they’ve shown interest in.

And you don’t have to manage it. An email goes out, they get lots of good stuff. They’re happy, you’re happy.

It lets you run your business and connect with your readers without having to sit in the hot seat 24/7.

Plus, if you can master RSS feeds, you’ll discover how extremely timely email marketing can be.

Related: Explore how RSS emails can connect you with subscribers quickly and consistently.

05 | Emails — newsletters or automated sequences — create space for dialogue with readers (and potential clients or customers)

I had a new client tell me, “I want my emails to engage in a dialogue and not a monologue with my audience.”

If that ain’t the truth.

As much as email has a reputation for “blasting” people’s inboxes, we don’t have to think of it that way. We can ask for engagement, follow up with timely and personalized content and actually build relationships.

It’s possible with email.

You could argue that it’s possible on social media, too. But platforms are always changing. And you’re more likely to get a more personalized response to an email than if you asked your audience to comment on a public platform.

It’s about creating a connection and building trust.

And email is the key to making that happen.

Leave a comment and let me know: What’s your next step to automate your email to connect with your readers now and in the future?