The Bandwagon Has Room
Four reasons why e-mail reigns supreme in 2011.
Four reasons why e-mail reigns supreme in 2011.
You don’t hear much from the people who said e-mail was dead, but you sure hear from the folks jumping on the e-mail bandwagon these days. Whether due to the CFO-friendly ROI of the channel or the jaw-dropping valuations of an e-mail coupon company (Groupon is its formal name), e-mail has dropped its old school shackles and become the belle of the ball again.
Yep, e-mail is not just hot in a marketing kind of way, but in a central foundation business model kind of way. DailyCandy blazed trails, Groupon set them on fire, and now even the humble e-mail newsletter is the platform of choice for hot to trot entrepreneurs looking to distance themselves from the crowded social/Web 3.0 catfight.
As tech entrepreneur Jason Calacanis tweeted: “Everyone rocking email now! :)”
Think about it – if you have a brand, product, and/or service, something (content, offers, a new product) an audience might like to hear, and the wherewithal to see it through, you too can launch an e-mail marketing-fueled company. Let’s look at some things that will happen in 2011 to firmly plant the digital crown on e-mail’s battered head.
The M&A space is hot in this sector and among my e-mail marketing brethren, one has even just filed for an IPO. Expect a lot of transactions in the e-mail service and technology space in 2011, which will keep e-mail on the front page of the business section.
We all know people are using their mobile device for a plethora of tasks, and in multiple locations (meetings, grocery stores, dinner tables, etc). But what are they doing? Almost half of every hour on the mobile Internet is spent on e-mail, by far more than any other task (yes, that means you social networking). So get religious with mobile e-mail in 2011 and capitalize on location-based e-mail consumption, as most of your subscribers are reading your e-mails on the go – or it may be ugly.
The reality is most have great intentions but suffer from horrible creative and content (um, five direct mail type letters won’t get read, I promise!). Additionally, they are often plagued with high frequency and an internal marketing driven path rather than demonstrating clear value for your subscriber. Do these right or they will backfire.
Where do you think e-mail is going in 2011 and what are the top areas of interest you will be working on?
P.S. – RSS seems to be the dead man walking in 2011, as I have seen several stories this week declaring (and defending) that RSS is dead. Here’s Seth Godin’s take.