Where it Fits

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That’s how good email marketing works. But it doesn’t work in a vacuum. The best email marketing campaigns work as part of larger internet marketing campaign. It also incorporates social media, content marketing, et cetera.

For instance, Facebook and email marketing are a match made in heaven. You can even import your contact lists from most auto responders straight into Facebook and use that as a way to reach in with targeted ads. Likewise, you can find people who’ve liked your Facebook page who are also on your mailing list. There’s lots of ways you can integrate the two.

Often, a list will be used as part of a sales funnel. A sales funnel is basically a strategic step by step approach to selling a product where you increase engagement and trust with your audience. You do this first by providing free content on your website, then by getting them to sign up to your email list and look out for messages, then perhaps by getting them to download something for free, then something that doesn’t cost very much. And eventually, you sell that big ticket item.

Most people don’t want to buy something expensive from someone they don’t know anything about. But if they’ve already done it with something much more affordable, if they’ve been receiving emails for a long time, they know exactly the kind of thing to expect from you. And they know they can trust you. Thus, you’re far more likely to sell. And this is a great way to use an email list.

I like to think of this as dating. You wouldn’t just walk up to someone in a bar and ask them to be your girlfriend or boyfriend. Instead, you’d walk up to them and start chatting, so they can get to know you a little bit and see that you’re not a psychopath. After that, you might exchange numbers. This is where the email list comes in.

And then you can message them a little bit more, so they get to know you even better. You might chat on the phone, so they feel a bit more comfortable with you, go on a few dates, invite them to meet your parents. Then you ask if you’re in a relationship. And having an email list is just as important for internet marketing as having a phone is for dating.