Week #4 :E-Marketing - How to Make It a Success?

First of all, what is 'E-Marketing'?

Electronic marketing, otherwise known as 'E-Marketing', is known as the application of marketing principles and techniques via electronic media and more specifically the Internet. E-Marketing is also synonymous with the terms 'Internet Marketing' and 'Online Marketing'.

Simply put, E-Marketing encompasses all the activities a business conducts via the worldwide web with the aim of attracting new businesses, retaining current businesses and developing its brand identity. 

Sounds like E-Marketing is quite an efficient way to spread the word about your product or service to the entire world!

So, how to make E-Marketing a success?

Well, there are many strategies that can be used, but these are the three most important ones: offers, content and relationship building. As long as all these three are adopted properly, good results can be expected. 

OFFERS

The basic idea is to urge people to get something that they really want and this can be done by offering a discount coupon or a general promotion for the products that your potential customers have indicated interest in. In order to pull off an attractive yet reliable offer, be sincere in wording the offers like a good friend trying to help people. When you appear sincere in that aspect, people would then think buying from you is a good decision.

For example, Julep regularly promotes offers during the holidays and seasons to their visitors and past customers.

CONTENT

It is important to inform people about the product or service that you are selling and strategically, it should be done in a succinct yet effective way. Sometimes, a brief introduction or a very information-rich e-mail are just not enough. You would want to persuade people into becoming your customers. So, a way to do this is to provide an email opt-in form after giving an attractive description about said product or service. This form would be a requirement for people to sign up on the site or connect to it with their Facebook account in order to get the full content and this becomes a better chance to convert them into customers. Also, when you designed the site in such a way that it caters to the customers' wants, they will start to see you as a trusted source, which makes them more likely to buy what you sell.

For example, on-demand podcast/radio show app Stitcher sends "Recommended For You" emails. This way, the emails feel like they are personalized just for the customers themselves and this sends a message that their preferences are being cared for, making them feel extremely special and happy.

RELATIONSHIP BUILDING

The objective here is to create a stronger emotional bond with your subscribers through feedback in the form of e-mails or the filling up of surveys. It is even more advantageous when your subscribers share similar beliefs and opinions with you. However, it is necessary to distance yourself from those  who do not. A way to avoid being in their blacklist is to only talk about things related to your product or service. When your audience share a similar opinion as you, you instantly appear more trustworthy to them because people trust people who are similar to them.

In the example below, KISSmetrics sends a segmented, personalized and personal e-mail to a potential or past customer in a way that persuades the person to check the content and give feedback, meaning that the customers' comments are treasured and taken seriously.

Combine all these three and do it well and you're all set for pretty good results! Of course, what's the point of a masterful e-mail if no one is reading it? So build your connections and advertise your business in as many platforms as you can!

So, hopefully, my post is informative for Week 4's topic 'doing business on the Internet'!