Websites provide a great medium for publishing content and creating a virtual storefront for any business.
As search engines continue to replace traditional print directories such as the Yellow Pages as the way consumers seek out information, simply having a website with relevant information about your business is an excellent first step to an effective online presence.
But it is only the first step, because …
Websites can’t do it all!
A website is only part of the online marketing equation. Here’s why:
Websites are built on a passive technologyWhether most first-time visitors come from search engines, links from other sites, or finding an address elsewhere, they have taken some type of initiative of their own to seek out information..The problem is, since websites can’t “push” content to people at a later point, first-time visitors often remain as one-time visitors, never returning to the website they found.Effective marketing often requires more time and information than a single website visit allows forAny business owner would love for their product to sell itself instantly to their prospects. But we all know that marketing is usually a process, not an incident, and most prospects don’t buy the first time they visit.Websites can facilitate impulse buys, but what about all of those other prospects who need facts over time to decide on a purchase when they’re ready?Interaction over the web is mostly anonymous with no opportunity for one-on-one communicationTo visitors, websites often appear as brochures or virtual storefronts – where information is collected and stored for viewing. Meanwhile, to website owners, if they are tracked at all, visitors appear as statistics.There is very little room for the kind of personal touch that often affects purchasing decisions offline, “in the real world”.Here’s How Email Marketing Can Help
Email newsletters are an important component to effective online marketing because:
Email pro-actively sends information to prospectsWhile websites alone rely on visitors to return, an email newsletter allows a website owner to “push” valuable marketing to prospects, allowing them to build a much longer lasting business relationship than the one that ends with a single visit with no returnEmail can provide content over a period of time in consumable piecesTrust takes time, and email newsletters provide that dimension to online marketing campaigns. Once a visitor requests email from a website, that initial interest can be built upon and turned into a profitable relationship.Content can then be strategically placed in front of subscribers in the form of well planned campaign, with information broken up into smaller pieces, allowing website owners to prospect more effectively to more prospects.Email provides a more personal medium than the webPeople are well-acquainted with email as a way to communicate one-on-one with friends and associates, and in every email, there is a distinct sender and recipient, unlike the web pages containing one-way URL addresses.By sending email newsletters to leads sourced from their sites, website owners can convert anonymous visitors into engaged subscribers who they can more personally engage with.You Can Profit From Email Marketing
Is your online marketing plan one dimensional? Or, do you have a client or associate who hasn’t yet adopted email as part of their marketing plan?
