5 Bullpoop-Free Reasons You Should Be Email Marketing
My first thoughts on email marketing for Frameable Faces Photography was “Nah I’m not doing that…no way. Seems like a hassle and people don’t want more emails.” I’ll admit it. Unfortunately I cannot remember what triggered me to give it a try - that would be a great part of this story, I just don’t remember who or what it was.
But the main point here is that first thought was WRONG.
Services like Mailchimp (which I use) or Constant Contact make it easy to do and not only have we had a lot of success with our email newsletter, but I manage a few for clients that have gone really well too. I read a recent article by Anthony Gaenzle about email marketing (which I’ll return to further down) that got me thinking I should add my two cents. So here we go…
5 Bullpoop-Free Reasons You Should Be Email Marketing
1. No algorithms. One of the frustrating things about getting your content in front of people online is that each social media platform has a different and ever-changing algorithm that determines who sees what as they try to maximize their revenues. And that’s fair - after all each platform is a business and they need to provide the most value to end users by curating the best experience so the users will STAY on their platform. The challenging part is trying to figure these out as a marketer and keep up with them. *As a side note you shouldn’t make yourself crazy worrying about these algorithms - just create and post GOOD stuff. The best & most consistent content and engagement will rise to the top as a GENERAL rule of thumb. But back to email marketing…………where you do NOT rely on algorithms. You send an email. It goes into the receiver’s inbox. They open it. Or they don’t. That’s it. You don’t have to worry about whether it will appear in the inbox at all due to some algorithm.
Exchange with Anthony Gaenzle in response to his question on LinkedIn “Where do you stand on email marketing? Powerful marketing tool, or outdated tactic? 🤔”
2. People like email. Yep I said it. Okay that’s not totally true which makes my “bullpoop-free” claim a little questionable, but hear me out. People do indeed like GOOD email. They don’t like CRAPPY or SPAMMY email, and that is the challenge AND the opportunity of email marketing. It’s a challenge because there’s plenty of crappy and spammy email out there which gives email a bad name overall. It’s why my first reaction was not to do it in the first place. It’s an opportunity because you can easily differentiate your emails from the crap if they don’t suck. Simple. Some of the best memories of people’s LIVES are tied to email. Our daughter found out she got accepted to Michigan in an email she received on her iPhone just North of Atlanta on a family road trip. We will never forget that moment. She was praying for that email and she got it. People do make associations with those feelings of getting a great email in their inbox. While your emails might not always be life changing, they can certainly provide value and a smile and that will be more than enough to keep your peeps opening them and even looking forward to them.
3. Everyone has email. Literally (okay almost) everyone. There are always going to be people who you can only get your content in front of via email because they are not on social media. I mean, they’re weird AF yes if they aren’t on social media, but a) everyone is a little weird and b) weird clients can be best clients. And okay so maybe it’s a broad generalization to call them all weird - fine I’ll stop. The point is without email what else are you going to do - call these people and read them your content over the phone once per week? Lol…. probably not practical. Email is the only way to reach certain people.
4. The analytics are solid. Ever try to sort through Google Analytics? Or draw legit conclusions from TikTok, Snapchat or LinkedIn (free version) analytics? I’m not completely dismissing any of these, but the analytics on an email campaign from platforms like Mailchimp, Constant Contact (or even Paubox to a lesser degree) tend to be a good combination of robust enough, straightforward and accurate. They’ll tell you exactly who opened the emails, who clicked on what and even a history of one recipient’s behavior. Good real time accurate and digestible data. You can’t always say that about other methods of content marketing.
5. No restrictions on the culture of the community and the content. With social media you have to know the audience and the platform in terms of the culture. Even with the copycat trends between the different platforms which make them a little less unique from each other, there are still different expectations and ways that end users consume content on them. You can certainly give your content that special flavor of your brand when creating for TikTok, LinkedIn, Twitter etc. and you should. But you still have to consider what’s expected by the community, what’s accepted by the platform itself, and what will play better from one to the next based on the communities of each. Now, email marketing isn’t necessarily a one-size-fits-all proposition as segmenting your audiences in an email strategy can be very effective, but it’s still YOUR community. There is no “culture” of behavior in email newsletters. It can be whatever the heck you want it to be. Some of this comes back to the algorithm point from earlier. You can try to swim against the current of the algorithm with a strategy that isn’t quite a fit but it can be tough sledding. With email once again you can send whatever your audience responds to - it’s YOUR audience, YOUR community - email is simply the mode of delivery for whatever the heck you want to deliver. That’s it.
Now that you know my reasons why for email marketing, I want to pass the baton for a little more how to Anthony Gaenzle with this deeper dive on his website that was written by Ian Haynes and inspired this post. I connected with Anthony when he was the guest on Madalyn Sklar’s #TwitterSmarter weekly chat recently and I’ve learned some things from him - he knows his stuff. You may come away from reading all of this thinking “this sounds great - totally the push I need to get rolling and I can totally do this”. If that’s the case great - tell me so I can subscribe to your new newsletter! If you come away thinking “holy crap I do need this but I have no idea how to do it nor do I have the bandwidth” well that’s when you call ME. I can help! Sorry - had to include one tiny call to action there…
Thoughts? Comments? Be sure to let me know below and share this with anyone you like! If you want to sign up for our Frameable Faces email newsletter to check it out you can do it here:
M10 Social is owned by Doug Cohen in West Bloomfield, MI and provides social media training and digital marketing services from the Frameable Faces Photography studio Doug owns with his wife Ally. He can be reached there at tel:248-790-7317, by mobile at tel:248-346-4121 or via email at mailto:doug@frameablefaces.com. You can also connect with Doug on Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram, and/or M10 Social on Twitter or Facebook.
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