Two of my favorite activities are meeting new people and maintaining relationships. Today, I focus a lot of my time on serving customers and establishing solid relationships. I believe, relationships are our most important asset.
What separates direct marketing from other forms of marketing is the goal of direct marketing is to cultivate relationships with people all along the customer journey.
Relationships are the key to building a solid customer base and long-term business. Relationships make a big difference in your overall business and bottom line. Relationships are what truly make a difference in your life and your customer’s life.
When it comes to building relationships with suspects and long-term customers, think of how relationships are built in real life.
There is no difference in building long-term relationships with customers than with any other person you meet.
Think about the differences between a prospect, who does not know anything about your business, and a loyal advocate, who is the most engaged, tells everyone about your business, and purchases often.
How do you facilitate the relationship and interact with prospects and customers all throughout the customer journey?
Today, there are many different types of media available to build relationships with your audience from videos, articles, podcasts, Facebook groups, webinars, text messaging, etc. All of these different types of media can help you build relationships. I encourage you to use as many as you can, so people can get to know you.
But email is the primary way I communicate with prospects and customers.
Here are 8 reasons why email is invaluable for building better relationships.
- Email is one of the most profitable marketing channels.
“66% of consumers have made a purchase online as a direct result of an email marketing message.”- the Direct Marketing Association.
Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales ready leads at 33% lower cost according to Forrester Research.
According to the Direct Marketing Association for small businesses in the United States every dollar invested in email marketing yields 4,300% return on investment.
- Email is scalable and leverages your time
It takes the same amount of time to create an email that is going to one person as to 20,000 people. When subscribers receive the email in their inbox, they do not know how many other people received the email. But as your list grows, if you are building a good relationship with your list, then revenue should increase also.
- Email is personable
You can connect with your subscribers by sharing personal experiences, plus keep them updated on your business, new events, and new products, etc. You can make the emails as personable as you want to connect with folks.
- Cost Effective
All marketing channels require an investment to maintain relationships with your prospects and customers. For instance, snail mail newsletters require printing and postage. Facebook pages often require you to boost a post for the people following your page and for new people to see the post. With email marketing, you only pay for each subscriber on your list. Plus, you can send as many messages as you desire. This makes email marketing one of the most cost-effective ways to maintain customer relationships.
- You Own the Subscriber List
We live in an age where everything seems to happen in real time. Social media channels change a lot and often. Rules and expectations change. Social media pages are owned by the social media company, not the company who started the page. Therefore, with enough policy violations, pages can be lost and ad accounts can be banned. With email, you own your list. So even if you change email providers, you can always import your list into the new provider. Building marketing channels and media that you control is a huge advantage.
- Stealth Communication
Like direct mail, with email marketing, you can segment your lists and send unique messages to certain people. You can make exclusive offers to your best customers, and lower price point product offers to prospects. Plus, you can segment people based on specific actions such as opening certain emails and clicking on specific links.
- Nurture Prospects and Customers
Often before someone purchases, it can take several interactions with your company to build trust. Email is the perfect medium to provide value and gently ask for the purchase. The content drives engagement, builds relationships, and can lead people to purchase.
- Multiple Ways to Earn Revenue
Other than building relationships, my favorite aspect of email marketing is all the different revenue opportunities an email list creates. Here are just a few email revenue streams affiliate promotions, promoting your events, promoting your own products, speaking engagements, and selling sponsorships.
There you have 8 reasons why email is one of the most powerful ways to build relationships with prospects and customers. Increasing the size of your email list is key and then sending personal emails with valuable content is a proven way to build a robust business.
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