EMAIL STILL A KEY PLAYER IN THE MARKETING MIX FOR 2015

Don’t write off email just yet as a key component of your communications mix. While I do think mobile and social are becoming more important every day, think of your overall approach as a moving target with email still a critical element in the mix. Mobile and social media evolution means your emails are more likely to be consumed “on the go” and should be taking advantage of the many capabilities of today’s smartphones and tablets, including multimedia and GPS/geolocator features.

While I have been advising many clients to become more active on Facebook over the past several years, it’s important to realize that no one strategy can remain static. Today’s communications involves both evolution and revolution. In November, Fast Company reported that posts from top brands on Facebook (and even Twitter) reach just two percent of their followers. Most communicators would have thought that number to be at least ten times higher.

Just two percent. And in terms of interactivity, only .07 percent of those Facebook followers react to, or share those posts. That’s not exactly a compelling case for engagement. This comes perhaps because Facebook has been slowing down free traffic for brands and replacing that with promotional content, increasingly becoming more of an advertising/marketing play for brands as opposed to being purely owned or even free “earned” media.

This means some of the old mainstays are just as important as they were before, whether it be your traditional, owned media, and even yes, email. We are defining owned media here as your website and your social sites. Forrester says adding subscribers to your email list is more effective than gaining new Facebook fans. Think about that. If only 2 percent of your Facebook followers are seeing your Posts, consider the fact that emails are delivered 90 percent of the time. So the original, creaky old engagement medium around since Internet 1.0 still has an important place. A carefully maintained email list is a list of potential customers who have “opted in” to stay in touch with you. That’s an important building block for lasting engagement and one that should not be abused.

We all know the inbox is increasingly crowded. With that in mind, email personalization is expected to become a key trend in 2015. Big data mining will result in your emails being more personalized and targeted to your needs. Email will be more focused on building engagement and deepening the relationship with the consumer. Email strategies will be smarter, recognizing when messages are being read on a smartphone or other device and optimizing the links, attachments and multimedia for that device. And data mining doesn’t necessarily have to be about creeping into someone’s personal preferences. Marketers are increasingly better at sending emails that match the culture, look and feel of a reader’s location because personalization is also about an understanding of a location and the person who lives there.

Mobile engagement is going to be increasingly important, but not every communicator has accepted this yet. 30% of marketers are saying that mobile is still an unproven channel, per CMO Council, SAS. To me, that means those 30% are still behind the curve.

In summary, the first “app” on the internet is still one of the best. In 2015, don’t forget to email. Questions, comments, send me an email to ben@bengarrettgroup.net