A couple of months back, we marked the 25^th year anniversary of the internet. It’s really hard to imagine a life without the internet. I would like you to take time out to reflect on how the internet has made our lives better. It is a lot easier to get things done, we can reach out to anyone at any time, and we can transform our ideas into documents and share them with anyone in the world. Indeed using the internet has changed the way we get information, run our businesses and has made communication a lot quicker and affordable and it mind-boggling to say the least.

One of the ways the internet has made it easier to reach out to your customers is by using Email Marketing. Email Marketing is a type of direct marketing method that uses emails as the main method of communicating with your customers. Marketing is very important for any business that desires to survive and thrive in a competitive environment. You can make consumers aware of your products and services, give them an informed decision about their needs to make them like your brand, because when a customer is familiar with a specific brand and like it, they tend to stay longer with them. Some other forms of advertising are print and media, and they are great ways to advertise your products, but they can be very expensive and require a lot of logistics. Here are some reasons why businesses like Email Marketing.

1. Email marketing is inexpensive and saves time. Anytime I watch a TV commercial, I try to imagine all the work that has been put in, to making the commercial a success. A team of Ad Executives come up with various ideas for an ad to entertain and also capture the attention of their potential customers, next they get actors to shoot the commercial, get location, costume… you catch my drift. A lot of time and money is put into making TV commercial a success. In reality, not all businesses can afford to allocate all that time and money for such forms of advertising. That is where Email Marketing comes in, all that is required is a computer, the internet and the ability to write and you can reach millions of your customers at a go.

1. Ability to target ideal client. Every business has its ideal client. Two different businesses that offer the same products can have different ideal customer base because as people we all have our individual preferences. Can you imagine a company that makes baby products like food and diapers marketing their products to families with teenagers? Since customers have a say in deciding if they want to receive communication from a business by opting into their newsletters, businesses can optimise their marketing budget by marketing only to people who are most likely to buy from them.

1. Ability to personalise messages. Some businesses would want to connect more with their audience by sending out warm wishes or special offers to their customers on special occasions like birthdays, anniversaries etc. This helps to keep them engaged with their customers. Sending these messages by email is easier because emails can be scheduled to get to the customers at a specified date and time.

1. Increase frequency in reaching customers. Sending emails is as easy as type, read, send and done, in literally a few minutes, you can send emails to any email address. This makes it possible for the business to be in contact with their customers several times in one day.

1. Ability to track user engagement and sales. Most Email Service Providers have metrics that users can rely on to measure the success of their marketing campaigns. Businesses can run reports that show the number of subscribers, how many people open emails, click links and more. This is beneficial because the business can see what is working and what is not and constantly make changes to their marketing techniques to suit their customer’s needs.

Stay Positive, Stay Inspired.