What is Email Marketing?

Introduction

Have you ever received a special promotion, a newsletter or an invitation to an event via email? If you have then you've experienced email marketing first hand.

Here's Google's definition of email marketing:

Email marketing is a form of direct marketing which uses electronic mail as a means of communicating to an audience. In its broadest sense, the term is usually used to refer to sending emails with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its new and existing customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business.

It's the last sentence that makes email marketing such a powerful communication tool:

"... sending emails with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its new and existing customers and to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business."

When a customer is loyal to you he or she will buy from you over and over again, because they trust in you and your products or services. Trust is one of the major reasons why customers buy from one company over another.

In todays world of relentless "let's do anything for a sale" advertising bombardments and over-hyped buy-one-get-one-free offers, earning trust can be difficult. This is where email marketing can help you stand ahead of your competition.

Let's look at an example below.

Earning Trust With Email Marketing

Trent owns a small accounting firm in Sydney. He understands that trust and email marketing go hand-in-hand and so he spends about an hour each month typing up an email to send to his subscribers. Trent's subscribers include his current clients as well as people who have signed up to receive his email by visiting his web site.

In his email Trent shares tips to help his small business clients reduce their tax and also reminds them of any information from the Australian Tax Office which might be important to them. Trent sends out his email at the end of every month, without fail. When any of his email subscribers have a taxation problem Trent is the first person they call.

Why?...

Because they trust him. Over the last few months all of Trent's email subscribers have received informative, money-saving tax tips via email free of charge. To them, Trent is perceived as an accounting and taxation expert and he already has their trust from sending out his emails, so who better to call when they have a tax inquiry?

Trent's monthly email tips also help his word-of-mouth advertising, as his clients are more likely to recommend his as a knowledgeable accountant to friends and family members by forwarding his emails. In this situation everyone wins: Trent gets more clients and his subscribers and their friends and famiy receive free tax advice.

Conclusion

Email marketing builds trust and trust is a powerful motivator to buy from (and then remain loyal to) a small business or industry professional such as yourself, producing repeat sales and countless referrals from friends, family and associates. If you want to experience real, consistent growth and unbreakable customer loyalty then email marketing is the fastest, most affordable way to do so.