Email: The Best Way to Grow Your Business
George & Mary-Lynn share how to grow your business with email in this BIGG Success Show podcast. Click PLAY to listen. (Duration 6:26)
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Email. Facebook. Twitter. LinkedIn. Pinterest. Google Plus. So many options. What’s the best way to grow your business?
We talk with a lot of business owners and organization executives. Many of them are still trying to grasp how to make social media work in their enterprise.
We’ve seen many of them rush to set up a Facebook Page or open a Twitter account. It may be in response to a competitive threat or just a desire to get in the space.
However, in our experience, many bricks-and-mortar businesses often overlook the single best way to communicate with their customers digitally.
Email!
Yes, email is much maligned, if it’s even given a thought at all.
It’s not as glamorous as Facebook or Twitter. The world doesn’t see your efforts.
But do you care if it gets results? Of course not.
Besides that, your competitors can easily see what you’re doing with social media. Email flies under the radar.
Email is universal
Most likely, some (probably most) of your customers are on Facebook. Some are on Twitter and LinkedIn. ALL of them use email.
In fact – there are three times the number of email users than there are Twitter and Facebook accounts combined. Of all the people who share content online, 90% of them say they use dark social channels (i.e. shared privately through email or text). Nearly one-third of them only use dark social.
When you look at these numbers, you see that email is the single most cost-effective way to reach all of your customers.
Email comes in second
The first thing you want to do online is to look at your website. You’re looking at design and functionality.
Good design helps keep them on your site. Functionality leads them down the path you want to take them.
That’s where email comes in. For example, you may want people to contact you. That’s your primary goal.
But what if they aren’t ready? Wouldn’t you like to be able to continue communicating with them? Of course – so get their email address.
Buy versus rent
So you set up a Facebook Page or a Twitter account. You have a number of fans or followers.
There’s just one problem – it’s rented real estate!
Social networks are great. But there are a number of ways you may lose the list. The social network could discontinue operations. Your account could be suspended.
When you build your own list, you own it!
“Renting” has its advantages. These places come with a lot of potential traffic for you. However, you shouldn’t forsake developing your own list.
The secret of online marketing
The very best online marketers sing in unison on this issue:
Build your list.
Only you have a head start. Online marketers would spend tons of money to build a list that’s at your fingertips:
Your customer base.
Yet many real world businesses we talk with don’t have the emails of a lot of their customers. Actually, that’s not quite true…
They have almost all their customers’ email addresses. Some are on one person’s desk. Others are on another person’s.
So rather than thinking about building your list, start by assembling it.
Experts often say you should reach out to your entire customer base at least six times a year. The beautiful thing about email is that it will cost you next to nothing to grow your business!
If you’d like help building your bricks-and-mortar business, give us a call at 877.988.2444 or email us at bigginfo@biggsuccess.com
Direct link to The Bigg Success Show audio file | podcast:
http://traffic.libsyn.com/biggsuccess/00908-032915.mp3
