Facebook, Twitter, Instagram-these popular social media platforms all pale in comparison to the power of email and an email newsletter.
Consider the stats:
- Close to two-thirds of consumers have made a purchase online as a result of receiving an email marketing message (Direct Marketing Association)
- Email has 3 times as many users as Facebook and Twitter combined (KissMetrics)
- For every $1 spent, the average ROI of email marketing is $44.25 (ExactTarget)
But enough about the numbers.
Just think about your inbox for a second. After the phone, email is likely the method you use most to communicate with others. When was the last time you had a personal conversation on Facebook? How often have you started a discussion on Twitter, then reverted to email to continue?
I like the way Chris Brogan puts it in (what else?) an email:
Recently, I restarted my weekly email newsletter, which I call HEADLINES. It's a mix of PR, social media and content marketing news designed to help marketers stay up to date on trends and best practices.
When I informed one of my marketing colleagues, Randy Milanovic, of the move, I was surprised to hear he was against it.
"We don't believe in email newsletters," he told me. "They interrupt people and they're hard for most people to maintain. I'd rather have blog subscribers."
It's certainly true that newsletters are difficult to keep going.
I know this firsthand. Back in 2003, I started HEADLINES and maintained it for 2 years. Then I got busy with clients and abandoned it.
However, I've now simplified the concept to reduce the amount of work involved and hired a marketing assistant to do the legwork. The first edition of the new newsletter took a couple of hours to set up, but it now takes less than 30 minutes of my time each week.
But what about Randy's other arguments?
Why email newsletters don't interrupt
When Randy said email newsletters interrupt people, he meant they were an annoying, old-school marketing tactic.
Perhaps the best example of "interruptive" marketing (or outbound marketing as it's also called) is the call you received from the local duct cleaner just as you're sitting down to dinner. But interruptive marketing is also used to describe traditional TV and radio advertising, email sent to you without permission and unsolicited direct mail.
It's possible an email newsletter could interrupt. But as long as folks subscribe in the first place, it's a perfectly legitimate-and effective-method to create and build relationships with customers and prospects.
Are blog subscribers better?
If someone subscribes to your blog, you do not have permission to email them anything except your blog. (If you're unclear about current Canadian law in this regard, check out my blog post on the country's new anti-spam legislation: What Canadian PR Agencies Should Know About New Anti-Spam Legislation).
You can't blast out a link to your latest ebook. You can't forward a clip of a recent television interview. You can't email an invitation to a local speaking gig. No matter how useful you feel the information would be to the recipient based on your prior interaction, you don't have permission to send it.
However, if someone subscribes to your email newsletter, the situation is quite different.
You can email them your blog to promote engagement. You can send survey results, case studies and other useful information to encourage them to advance along your sales funnel. You can send company news to keep them in the loop and information on upcoming product launches and promotions to drive sales.
In other words, you can send just about any information that is useful and helpful your audience.
Bottom line: email newsletter or blog subscriber?
Some might say you should pursue both blog subscribers and opt-in email subscribers. But if you give people too many sign-up options, you'll end up confusing them, which could reduce your overall subscriber numbers.
You'll also split your audience . . . and your marketing efforts.
Hands down, we believe it's better to have 6,000 newsletter subscribers who have given you permission to email them any type of useful information versus only 3,000 newsletter subscribers and another 3,000 subscribers who can receive only your blog.
What do you think? Would you rather have email newsletter subscribers or blog subscribers? Let us know in the comments below.
Photo Credit: Email Newsletter/shutterstock