It’s a given that businesses these days use e-mail in some form or another, it’s still one of the simplest yet most powerful channels for communication in the digital age so no organization in their right mind will do without it. However, what many don’t realize is that the medium also has uses outside of just communication. With a properly set-up email list, a company will have a very effective way to build their brand, nurture a relationship with their customers, and ultimately increase their bottomline.
Many companies already have their mailing list, but the potential is being wasted because they keep pumping out newsletters that are only being ignored (or worse, reported as spam) by the recipients. To truly maximize the use of your email list for your brand, you have to ensure that the emails will reach their target, and will be opened and read- and that’s just the first few steps.
The biggest thing that companies miss out on is the amount of data that recipients intentionally provide when they sign up for the email list. These can be used to segment the lists based on a wide variety of factors, to ensure that readers will receive mails that are custom-tailored to their preferences, and therefore relevant. This alone will do wonders for your mails’ chances of getting read and opened, which in turn will have a significant effect on your brand’s recall on customers – as opposed to mails that won’t get opened.
Another one companies need to remember if they want to maximize the potential of emails for branding is consistency. HTML emails allow you to customize the look of each email, and email marketing service providers let you design, customize, and improve the layouts significantly without having to do it every time you send out a mail.
Consistency in this case means you have to ensure that the layout of the emails are consistent with the look of your website, of your marketing materials, and your products – whether it’s color scheme or the use of logo and fonts. This will go a long way in establishing the image of your brand in the minds of customers.
Lastly, you need to remember that email lists these days are no longer confined to the inbox. There are various tools and services available to ensure that you can tie in your newsletters with several social networking sites. This ensures that you have a revolving door of eyeballs and that you can reach potential customers on social media, simply by allowing your mailing list members to act as evangelists – usually through “forward this” or “share this” controls on the newsletter itself. What’s even more beneficial about this is that having multiple channels for communication will help build your brand’s image as up to date with the times and willing to meet customers halfway.
