Email marketing is with no doubt, one of the oldest internet marketing approaches in internet history. It has been in existence almost as soon as email itself was born.

To be honest, I haven’t seen much of its use in the capital, -Kampala, or by any company in Uganda at large. Some times I think no one understands it’s importance for business, but I often get spammed by a few promotional offers from Ugandan based e-commerce platforms and a few scams, so I guess some people actually know it works. Scams are mostly not Ugandan though, I find them more Nigerian-ish and south Africa based, but mostly India.

What is email marketing?

Simply—the use of email to promote your brand, products and/or services.

That however is an old way of defining it. Today email marketing has changed and is no longer just about promoting, but also building relationships with potential customers as well as current ones.

Email is by far the best marketing tool the internet has ever seen, the most widely used and for the longest time, yet it is still effective.

Do you ever receive emails (mostly in your spam folder), about some free offer or discount on this and that? That right there is a good example of email marketing, but at it’s worst experience.

Why Email Marketing?

Email is and has been a big part of almost every internet user, ever since they got introduced to the internet.

They use it almost everywhere in their lives. Whether it is professional or individual based, you will find most of your customers have an email address, or at least have used it at some point.

In a recent study by a research company Radicati Group, there are more than 3.7 billion people worldwide using email. That’s more than half the world’s population.

In addition to statistics, there is quite a number of reasons I submit email marketing as one of the best there has ever been, some of which include the below;

Email has larger and better reach.

Remember when we talked about facebook organic reach? How about SEO? I talked about how your posts will be seen by just about 7 people for every 100 likes on your page, cutting down reach is a common practice by all social media networks like twitter, Instagram as they evolve. Similarly, SEO—Search Engine Optimization requires hard work to reach your potential or existing customers. That’s not the issue with email.

With email, you can send your message, any time, anywhere, how you want it, and no one will cut down your reach or restrict you, on any communications to your email list. Beware of spam filters though, sending spammy emails, may land your communications in their “Spam” folder.

Email is here to stay.

In 1978, the very first promotional email marketing campaign was sent to a total of 400 people. Since then, email has been growing better and better, consistently. Never has there been a time in internet history where email usage dropped significantly.

Email marketing is inexpensive

Emailing provides one of the most inexpensive solutions to internet marketing for your brand, products and/or services.

Your message can always be sent to your chosen email list, at no cost at all, all you need is a list of email addresses for people interested (or could be) in what you are selling, that’s it.

Getting people to willingly give you, their email addresses is however the hardest part. But in return for your hard work, you enjoy a better delivery channel for your message, to your existing and/or soon to be customers; once you have built that email list big enough.

Use that list to communicate if any upcoming events, special offers, and of course, Remember content marketing?, Send them content, but first, make sure its of value to them.

The three big advantages of email marketing are price, stability, and a great reach. Other great advantages include; Better conversions, a higher ROI—Return on investment, being the preferred communication channel and ease to measure performance.

How to start now

You’ll need a good Email Marketing Software like Mailstalk.

The software should enable you to build your email list (Potential or existing customer email addresses). You will create and send personalized emails as campaigns and be able to track who opened, what they clicked, and more. You will also be able to automate emails with certain conditions.

For example, You can create an automation sequence/instance so that every new subscriber/customer on your list receives a welcome message introducing you and your company, at which, another email will be sent automatically depending on whether they opened it or not, etc. This is what automation in email marketing is.

You can start your email marketing with a free account by Mailstalk here: https://mailstalk.com/start

In Conclution

I think Email Marketing is so good,  it is one of, if not the best for B2B and B2C companies, and I’d definitely recommend it for almost any business trying internet marketing.

This Article was re-modeled from a book by Peter E. Bampaire, Called “Internet Marketing In Under 1 Hour“

Do you want more information on something? drop your comments below, i’ll answer soon as i can. Thanks for reading.