As a small business owner, there's a good chance you are doing all the marketing for your business yourself. Which means you're the CMO now, and every good CMO in the world wants to make sure that their marketing budget goes as far as possible.
Which is why it's crucial to keep up to date on what is working, what isn't working in the marketing world in general, so you can take those high level learnings and apply and test them in your own business.
If you've been keeping up with the marketing world at all, you'll know that everyone is trying to have an incredible social media presence... across platforms, reaching the right type of viewers, building engagement and followers, etc.
Which has left some folks asking, if social media is the new king, is email dying? Do I still need to send my people emails?
The long and the short of it?
No email is not dying.
What are the numbers?
There were 3.2 billion email accounts across the globe in 2017, and that number is growing. A staggering 269 billion emails get sent every single day.
Contrary to popular belief, people are spending more, not less time in their inboxes every day. According to a study from Litmus in 2011 users were spending 10.4 seconds reading an email, in 2016 that number grew 7% to 11.1 seconds. And not only are we spending more time in our inboxes, but we're also checking them all over the place... while watching TV, or in bed, working out, or even during a formal ceremony (8% of people admitted to that).
What else do the users say?
Email is overwhelmingly the way that people prefer to contacted with branded content. 61% of people polled self-selected that they'd prefer to receive email over any other form of communication, including social media, mobile apps, and texts.
These types of numbers hold true across all business markets as well, regardless of the market you're in, email is still number one.
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People of all ages know and trust email.
People like what they know and trust. Email has been around long enough now for it to become a 'known quantity.'
Even your grandma has an email account and knows not only how to use it, but how to forward you that funny email of the dog video that is three years old she finally saw.
Across all age demographics, over 68% of people polled said they believe that email will still be around in 10 years according to a study by Litmus
What are the marketers saying?
Email still offers the highest ROI per market segment, even higher than social media and paid search options. This held true across all channels and throughout all industries. If you aren't effectively using your subscribers inbox, you're doing yourself and your business a disservice.
Even better, when email openers were shown Facebook ads by the same company/with the same product, they were 22% more likely to purchase than email or Facebook ads alone.
"Email is still the number one most effective one-to-one communication channel for marketers, even though there is more noise in all of our inboxes, and despite growth in mobile apps, social media, and text. Power rests in being close to the data to help determine the right email message and when to deliver it."
- Adobe
Since email isn't dead, and not even at death's door, this is a great opportunity for small business owners, like you, to make the most out of the subscribers you have. Because honestly, it's the best way to reach them.
As small business owners, it can feel like your to-do list each is 25 hours long and each and everything needs your specific attention (and that's just before you've had coffee). The easiest way to handle this overwhelm is to find some tools that do this work for you. There are a slew of email automation tools out there are various price points, there are also contractors you can work with to write you emails, campaigns, and ads.
Adding these tools to your business toolbelt will allow you to spend more time doing what you're great at (or maybe even more time at the beach). If you're getting a headache thinking about managing your books or doing your taxes next season, all you need to do is add Halon to your toolbelt. Not only will we do your tax, but we'll keep your books organized throughout the year and help plan your taxes out so you get the most deductions you can. Think of us as your business's financial Swiss army knife.
