59% of marketers cite it as their number one source of ROI (Emma, 2018).
For every $1 you spend, you can expect an average return of $42 (DMA, 2019).
81% of businesses say that this vehicle drives customer acquisition, and 80% for retention (Emarsys)
What is this amazing marketing vehicle, you ask?
Email.
The consistent workhorse of our daily communications that has been around since the earliest days of the internet is still one of the most valuable tools in our marketing arsenal.
At Interprose, we design and develop a lot of email campaigns for our B2B and industry association clients – over 500 in 2019 alone. Beyond the special offers, corporate enewsletters and holiday emails, there are still many ways to incorporate email into your B2B communication strategies for impact. Consider the following:
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- Stretching your earned media. Don’t just think about PR as publications and media outreach; also think about your customers sharing informational newsletters. Include recent media placements in prospect emails where it can serve almost like a testimonial and third-party educational source. Highlighting press coverage in customer emails and corporate newsletters provides you with go-to content and helps reassure customers that they’ve made the right choice in working with your business.
- Email can help in a crisis. All businesses are vulnerable to crises from product recalls to natural disasters. During these times, email can be the most effective option to communicate with staff and customers allowing them to hear from you directly before other, less substantiated sources. As the crisis resolves, again communicating through email can help you get accurate details out fast and maintain a positive brand.
- Amplify a product or service announcement. Your own staff can be some of the best and most powerful mouthpieces to the community, so be sure to share the announcement to internal audiences as part of your launch. In addition to a verbal all-hands announcement, distribute the actual press release/announcement information via email with easy links for forwarding and social sharing.
- Email can highlight your thought leadership. B2B companies can harness the power of email to accelerate buyers through the sales funnel. When developing emails for opt-in email audiences, delivering educational content is optimal. People buy from people so we recommend a mix of actual organization personnel presenting information in email articles (ghost writing is ok!) to develop trust in your business and nurture relationships.
Email is an ideal cornerstone to your communication strategies. It continues to have a strong reach – most of us have at least one work-related email address we check multiple times per day.
People pay attention to email – are you?
Statistical Sources: Foundationinc.co
New privacy standards for California in 2020
2019 was the year of GDPR compliance and this year, businesses need to be aware of CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act).
CCPA applies to you if you are a for-profit company and have gross revenue of $25+ million, collect data for at least 50,000 California residents, or derive at least 50% of annual revenue from the sale of personal information.
Started Jan. 1, 2020, many businesses that serve California residents will need to abide by stricter privacy standards. Enforcement begins six months after the final regulations are published or July 1, 2020 — whichever is earlier, CCPA requires subjected companies to identify and provide upon request all collected personal information, along with opt out and deletion protocols.
The requirements are not the same as GDPR so we encourage you to check with your legal team to verify what you need to do.
Learn more at the official CCPA page.
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