New channels. Updated tools. Social media standards. Television commercials and print advertising. Regardless of the tool or the medium, it’s all marketing. The job is still the same — to get and keep attention. To establish and grow the relationship. To expose and increase the understanding of what you have and why it matters to your audience.
It’s all marketing.
After reading Lisa Barone’s article about how email remains king for promotional messaging and reviewing the new survey from ExactTarget that she referenced, I am left with one key thought (the same one I had before reviewing the survey):
There is no marketing miracle.
This is what I mean. Launching a FaceBook page is not a marketing fix for your company — it’s just a first step, as is any other marketing medium.
According to the ExactTarget survey, email is the preferred channel for personal written communication as well as permission-based promotional messages. But you can’t just take that and run with it.
What age range do you serve? How is your message packaged and delivered? How urgent and how interesting is your message? All of these questions should impact your marketing behavior.
There is a place for email marketing, text messaging, post cards through the mail, Facebook Fan Pages and commercials. But ultimately it’s about the marketing mix based your audience and your message.
Quick Take Away
Email is far from dead. And while direct mail is not as popular as it used to be — it has its place. According to the survey email and direct mail may be a great way to:
- say “thank you”
- receive promotional messages
- ask for customer feedback via surveys, polls and questionnaires
At the end of the day, it’s always about focused effort. Instead of spreading yourself thin with a little bit of effort in every marketing outlet that you hear about, consider email marketing as a base for communicating with your customers and then add from there.
Slice Business Photo via Shutterstock
Agreed. You don’t want to miss out on platforms that will help, but if you have expertise in only two platforms, why are you trying 15?
TXTNLRN Dan
I agree. Try two ways, be focused on those and keep a timeline. If it dows not work then pick other two.
thank you
Great advice here Jamillah, since there are a lot of ways to market our business or product, we are able to use those tools to achieve our goals. And e-mail marketing is still good to use as a strategy.
I totally agree that email is an evergreen channel for disseminating marketing messages. Any marketing campaigns should start off with research (through surveys and polls) then disseminate messages the most reliable way and express gratitude towards customers. The three points you highlighted are the capital ones for my strategy too.
And email is still the most important center of managing online correspondence.
Caitlin R.
Agreed – there is NO such thing as a marketing miracle. The basis of marketing lies in thorough consumer behavior research and technological trends. It is what marketers do with this research that leads to success (or failure). There are hundreds if not thousands of ways to market a message. Research paired with some raw creativity and technological innovation will help your voice be heard.
Adam Robinson
Marketing is both art and science. There is no magic bullet and it takes time and effort in order for a markting campaign to be successful. I agree that email marketing and direct mail marketing are still effective marketing channels when used properly. A successful marketing campaign must be well planned and executed in order to achieve results.
Chris Tompkins
I agree with this 100%. My team and I always tell prospective clients that social media marketing is not the golden egg. Rather it is the oil that makes the marketing wheels move a bit faster and smoother.
good article, sometimes its too easy to get caught up in the latest marketing fad, without thinking what you will actually achieve.
I agree with your post totally! Regardless of the marketing tool, the basics of marketing remain the same…especially the foundation of marketing, which I believe to be KNOW YOUR CUSTOMER. Any messaging or creative choices should always flow from there, not the other way around. Unfortunately, many SMBs – as one commented above – get caught up in the hype of a new marketing fad and lose sight of good old marketing basics.
I’m in to you Jam. Email marketing is an indispensable marketing tool that should not be neglected by anyone. It magnificently works for us. The formula to be successful in this endeavor is to exert more efforts, right approach and all of the other which you think you can get your prospects attention.
Thanks Jam for sharing with us. 🙂
I agree. We can’t forget or ignore the marketing basics of understanding your target your audience, having a clear/differentiated message, reason for the communication and follow-up. Too often we get caught up on the channel instead – especially with everything moving so fast.
Ankit
Constantly communicating with your customer base is marketing. Mediums might differ but marketing at its core is simply “Communication”