What's the first thing you check on your phone?
Email or Instagram ?
Emails still get the time share from most of the professional unlike other social media channels which many avoid as they see them as distraction or or something optional. There would not a single professional who would skip checking their Email. Would love to hear your views on this!!
Whether it is the “Primary Tab” in Gmail or “Focused Tab” section in Outlook, the user is always curious to see what is in the other tabs. This helps brand messaging that end up in the non-Priority tabs as well get some attention, attention that can help in connecting with their user/ prospective user
This when paired with the cost of creation & dissemination of email marketing message is ensuring all Marketing plans carry a fair share of Budget to leverage Email Marketing as a mean to:
- Reach new prospects
- Engage in a non-disruptive manner
- Convert prospects
- Engage the New & Existing customers.
It’s not surprising that 4 out of 5 marketers are ready to give up social media rather than email marketing. 87% of B2B marketers assert email to be one of their top free organic distribution channels.
First, what is B2B Email Marketing?
Revisiting for the academic sake, we all know that B2B or Business-to-Business is all about the exchange of products, services, or information between two or more businesses. In B2B Marketing, the focus is on educating consumers (i.e business entities) on products or services being offered by the seller with the ultimate goal of establishing and maintaining long-term win-win & profitable business relationships.
Introducing, educating, engaging & converting a prospective B2B customer requires time, plan, energy & effort. While face to face meeting help open the window of conversation, decisions rarely are taken in the 1st meeting. The prospective customer will still need time and confidence building window, before finally signing the 1st business order. The duration between the first meeting to the order signoff is a fertile period for developing confidence & Trust. This is best achieved in a non-interrupting way via emails.
The businesses using B2B emails to engage with their prospects use several types of emails that help walk the prospective customer from Lead stage to customer stage.
What makes Email Marketing for B2B the best option?
With so many marketing channels in the market, what makes email marketing for businesses worth the investment?
Market research studies proved email marketing to be generating approximately $55 ROI on every $1 spent. Not just that, 59% of marketers consider email as their top revenue generation funnel. This validates the dual benefit: Best ROI & Top of the line Revenue Generator title.
Campaign Monitor recently conducted a survey stated that businesses get 6x more clicks from email than tweets. How likely are you to make a purchase on the first instance from a search engine or social media results if you’re running a company? Sure, social media is the best way to draw traffic to the brand. However, your purchase decision is highly influenced by the initial/sequence of emails you receive from the Brand/Company.
Many statistics in recent times have shown that B2B Email Marketing is likely to stay longer, and this, for good reasons
- Email newsletters are the Best performing content types for organizations to nurture leads.
- 8 our 10 people expect a welcome email. And one in four will click through to your site.
- 90% of Content Marketers track Email Engagement to measure their content performance.
- More than 81% of B2B marketers love to distribute content through emails.
- 73% of marketers rate the ROI of email “good” to “excellent.”
- 85% of B2B organizations use email marketing software, making it the second most used tool, followed by Analytics tools.
More organizations are now switching to automated email strategies. And 9 out of 10 marketers use email software for creation and distribution.
What makes Email Marketing for B2B the best option?
Segmentation
With segmented email campaigns earning 100.95% higher clickthrough rates than un-segmented email campaigns, segmentation is the future of content marketing. Businesses want more relevant, contextual and customized content that resonates/aligns with their requirements. Nobody wants to read content that does not speak to them or their business. Sharing highly personalized content is crucial. With Email Marketing, you can segment your customers into different personas to deliver personalized messaging
Cost-Effectiveness
Email marketing is one of the biggest revenue generators for B2B. With more options emerging to gather data, businesses are investing in purchasing email lists. This is cost-effective and the best way to scale B2B lead generation efforts and quickly reach a large audience unaware of their services or solutions. Emails not only help to build brand awareness but also generates leads for your marketing and sales funnels. With the right email marketing software and quality data, purchased lists can be a tangible asset to your business.
Effective Lead Nurturing
B2B companies have a longer sales cycle than other formats. Customers do not want to get bombed with information. In fact, they look forward to understanding the product or solution prior to investing. A well-planned email marketing campaign keeps them informed about your company. Eventually, it builds trust among the customers about the brand without being overly promotional. This not only saves your time and budget but also helps you keep them engaged. This assists the team in identifying where a particular lead is within the brand's buying model. And likewise, formulate a clear track of how to best communicate with such potential leads.
Tangible Results
Businesses want tangible results; more than ever NOW! Each email marketing platform has its own built-in analytics to help companies track and measure the ROI of different email campaigns. Plus, you get immediate results and hence, trigger a quick sales pitch for wider audiences. This saves your time, effort, and money that is otherwise spent on other advertising channels. With easy customization & plenty of format variants, email marketing has become quite feasible and the best way to understand the customer's persona, how they want to be reached and what makes them stay loyal towards the brand.
B2B Email Marketing vs. Other Options
(When & Why to go for B2B Email Marketing?)
Flexibility
Each social media platforms have their own audience. For instance, LinkedIn is more about professional connections. While Instagram is more about visual and informal content. Twitter is unique in itself with its short format messaging. With email marketing, your brand can be different things to different perspectives & customers at different points of time; a flexibility not possible with any of the social media platforms.
Enriched Messaging
Sure, blog posts and social media posts create brand awareness, but they may not give you accurate metrics that drive sales. Data on email engagement & the following click-throughs provides that intelligence, letting you know what compels your audience to take the decisions and further adapt the messaging to support the perspectives and customers alike in timely decision making.
Relationship Nurchuring
You've already got the customers. Now what? How would you retain the already converted leads? Email marketing can be the bridge that helps your audience feel connected with your brand. Emails are perfect for providing value and nurture vibrant relationships with customers.
The Preferred Medium
Email marketing still tops the charts when it comes to user engagement. There are 3.9 billion email users worldwide compared to 2.6 billion social media users. By the next three years, there will be 4.3 billion email users worldwide. More users mean more potential to reach a smartly segmented audience via emails.
Personalization Rules
Who doesn't like personalized content? Curated just for them! Emails are not the only but also the most feasible marketing content to give value-rich content to customers. Social media does help you cater to a particular audience, but for more laser-focused personalization, emails top the list.
The Trust Factor
Studies have shown that 75% of the audience does not trust social media platforms with their data. And they feel safe to share their data with the brands they trust and engage with rather than social media. This makes emails the most preferred way of communication among millennials.
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Wrapping Up
Want to know how you can “Custom Create” Email marketing that that works & delivers? Aligned Initiative has supported businesses from a spectrum of industries in gaining, growing, retaining, and expanding their customers with email marketing. Ask for our “Complimentary Needs Analysis “conversation so we can hand hold you while you do a self-assessment on the potential benefits that can accrue from activating an Email Marketing program. Success of your business in our business.
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