Email Marketing is Much More than “Mad Men” with Computers

by | Feb 11, 2014

The primary reason why companies fail in their email marketing campaigns is the fact that nothing is new in their message. They use a powerful, modern email delivery system to send promotional messages that are similar to the traditional advertising used more than a decade ago.

Those with an extremely technical mindset are the worst. The tools used by a creative copywriter cannot be dissected easily with metrics and keywords. Many of them simply discount the value of such skills and slink back into something that makes sense to them. That usually means using easily defined information like buyer qualification and benefits of the product or service.

If these brilliant people could just devise a way to replicate the black art of copywriting with machines, they would do it in a heartbeat. Then good content creation would make sense to them. Right now, digital content based on metrics and keywords is called SPAM.

Growth Hacking

The term “growth hacking” was first used to launch leaner manufacturing processes a couple of decades ago. The process-based mindset was laser focused on reducing waste. Every activity and resource had to be a contribution to the end consumer. With the efficiencies of manufacturing with the end consumer in mind has led to an increase in volume and quality of the goods available in the marketplace.

In most companies, the focus on the end user has escaped the minds of those who develop marketing efforts. This inefficient method carries over into email marketing and destroys the opportunity to influence the email recipient.

Shift Perspective

It is time for your email marketing campaigns to stop making people “want things” and begin to “make things” people want. Peter Drucker is quoted as saying, “There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.” Cranking out automated email campaigns efficiently certainly falls into that category.

Digital tools like email marketing programs and CRM software have enabled your marketing to become streamlined and more efficient. A larger number of messages can be delivered to your sales leads than ever before with little or no effort once it is in your digital system. Single digit conversion rates are acceptable to most companies – but they are a clear sign that improvement can be made.

Hockey-Stick Stage Marketing

Growth hacking, when it applies to email marketing, applies to campaigns designed and targeted directly at a specific stage of growth called the hockey-stick stage. It involves digging into the products and/or services being demanded by the end user and offering valuable content that this target group appreciates.

Developing a specific persona for your email marketing message that represents a composite of end users who search for your company offering is the beginning. With this fictional person in mind, develop content for your email campaigns that deepen your relationship with customers in the area where there is huge growth potential.

While this way of developing email marketing campaigns may take significantly more time in the beginning, it can make a huge difference in the results you can expect. Refocusing your email marketing efforts like has been done in the manufacturing business can bring enormous ROI.