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With the rise of Twitter and other social media channels, some are predicting the impending death of email marketing. There are rumours that email is outdated and that social should be the new strategy. While the appeal of social media as a communications vehicle is undeniable, email has not lost its lustre. In fact, email marketing is stronger than ever. In 2013, the conversion rate for email was higher than both search and social media combined.

Why and how should a small business invest in email marketing?

Email is a powerful sales tool

Email is a tried and true marketing strategy for small businesses, and one of the most efficient ways to convert your target audience into customers. While social media lets you communicate with a wide consumer base, it can also be impersonal. The targeted, direct, personalized nature of email communication has proven its power. In 2013, email accounted for $67.8 billion in sales for small businesses with 35% of email marketing recipients having acted on a promotion within the last week.

Curated content costs less and sells more

Creating content for email communications is time consuming and expensive. It would be great for a local furniture store to create emails featuring furniture assembly videos, decorating advice, and maintenance techniques. But the resources for this scale of content creation are not compatible with a small-business budget. By curating rather than creating, small businesses can create over 8 times as many email campaigns. Content curation doesn’t require a staff of creatives and creators – just an awareness of your target audience and the content that will interest them. Aim to create email communications that include links to content that will offer value to your audience. Do the work of finding great resources online, so that they don’t have to. They’ll appreciate your work and engage with your communications as a result.

Email is alive and kicking because targeted, one-to-one communication with your customers is the most powerful way to reach out to them. Curated content is a cost-effective way to keep up the conversation, strengthen engagement with your audience, and ultimately, inspire action.

Do you believe email is going the way of the Dodo? Let us know what you think in the comments below.