I recently read a great article, Email is Still the Best Thing on the Internet, by Alexis C. Madrigal, about the history of email. What struck me was the realization that I was in the industry during that time and remember most of it. So as I read it, I really thought about how far email has come and how well it still plays into today’s current strategies, including multi-channel engagement.
The article mentions a now infamous quote by Business tech reporter Ashlee Vance, “E-mail is dead, or at least that’s what Silicon Valley is banking on.” Funny, we just condtradicted this last week in our post titled Email Engagement: Inbound Marketing’s Secret Weapon.
The article goes on to say “email is actually a tremendous, decentralized, open platform on which new, innovative things can and have been built. In that way, email represents a different model from the closed ecosystems we see proliferating across our computers and devices.”
So what does this have to do with multi-channel engagement strategies? This resilience allows email to continue to reach your broad audience in a way that no other platform can. You can and should use email to direct your reader to the right channel, such as social media or a blog post, to deliver highly personalized and relevant marketing messages and offers to drive sales and brand loyalty at the right time to the right audience. Research has proven that email marketing programs outperform other channels in increasing sales, driving traffic, and building loyalty. For every $1 spent, $44.25 is the average return on email marketing investment (Experian). Thus, as you create content in your other channels using email to get your word out will increase your visits and click rates.
Email was, is, and will continue to be the quiet, reliable powerhouse of the internet and online communications. As you explore and embrace newer technologies to share your messages, don’t forget about the importance email marketing should play in that strategy.
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