Can We Develop Better Email Marketing Campaigns?

Whilst I’m happy enough to get email newsletters from a select company or two and some of my favourite bloggers, it seems there’s been a downturn in the quality of newsletters coming through of late. Often, they’re just pure and simple attempts at email marketing – trying to get me to buy something, pushing services and products at me.

With so much content marketing out there now (and finding its way into Inboxes), businesses should be looking at the quality of the messages they’re sending out. A link to a product with stacks of glowing “personal” recommendations doesn’t cut it.

To stand out from the crowd, I want to see something meaningful and valuable.

Is Video the Answer?

One of the things I’ve been looking at developing with a client, for example, is using newsletters to direct subscribers to quality video content:

• online training videos
• important How To guides

With high-speed broadband increasingly common and the proliferation of online video, I think now could be the time to use direct marketing to direct subscribers to video content.

Video is an incredibly dynamic way of showing what you have to say – more so perhaps than words on a page (or screen). If you’re promoting yourself as an authority or thought leader, video is a great way of showing who you are and where you’re at. But if you’re a school or college trying to recruit more students, you could offer an insight into how you teach or a tour of your facilities. With video you can show so much more of your story, get a different message across.

People don’t just discover you on YouTube. Sometimes you need to direct them to where the quality content is available online.

What about you?

Do you think email marketing is on the wane? Running out of new ideas?
Do you really read those newsletters you subscribe to?

I’m curious to know more about what you think.

Image:FlickrCC

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1. Direct Marketing with Twitter is a Turn Off
2. Content Marketing Tips: Don’t Forget the Ebook
3. Understanding Content Marketing with Sharon Hurley Hall
4. How to Approach a Social Media Marketing Campaign
5. Twitter’s Hot – But Nurture Your Website