C. STINNETT: There's still a role for email in marketing, consultant says

HENDERSON, Ky. – Don’t tell Dana M. Nelson that email is extinct.

“A lot of times you hear email is dead,” the Evansville marketing and social media consultant said.

Nelson disagrees. “At the core of the relationship you’re building with your customers or your donors or your volunteers is email,” she told Kyndle Brown Bag audience recently. “It still has the highest delivery response.”

Email, she noted, can be used to deliver newsletters, announcements, special offers, product and event promotions, surveys, event registrations and for gaining feedback.

Nelson is a Constant Contact Authorized Local Expert. Constant Contact is an online marketing service used by organizations such as Kyndle, the Downtown Henderson Project, Henderson Community College and the United Way of Henderson County.

Others use services such as Mail Chimp or Boomerang, among others. What they have in common is that they make it easy to send colorful messages with logos, photos and other graphics — a sort of portable Web page as opposed to plain-text email.

But that’s just the tool. What’s key to online marketing, she said, is strategy,

“At its core, marketing is about eliciting a physical and measurable response,” Nelson said.

In email marketing, she recommends asking the customer or recipient to take some kind of action that can be measured — to click on a link, download a document, call or come into the office, schedule an appointment or donate.

“Don’t just push information: ‘25 percent off,’ ” she advised. “Say, ‘25 percent off, come in today!’ “

The key, Nelson said, is to provide “information and offers relevant to those customers,” Nelson said. “If you do it right, they will bring their friends with them.”

“Your new best friends are ‘forward’ and ‘share,"” she said. “If you use an email marketing service, you’re going to have a ‘share’ button or a ‘like on Facebook’ ” link that can be part of every message.

Getting customers, donors or volunteers to interact with your organization on social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest can increase their level of engagement.

“Word-of-mouth is now (happening) on those social media platforms,” she said.

“You need to make it easy to share your content” by incorporating links to such platforms in email messages.

“You want to be sure to give an opportunity (for people) to share with others,” such as after an event: “It was awesome, you should go to the next one!”

Nelson believes online marketing can be at its best when it reflects the personality of the business owner or the mission of the organization.

“You can be your authentic self,” she said. “You could have someone else do it, but they don’t have your passion.”

“You want it to seem like a genuine relationship, not a gimmick,” Nelson said.

A marketing campaign should have goals.

It can have general goals, such as to reach new customers or donors; drive repeat business; nurture leads and relationships; and engage members or volunteers.

But Nelson said it’s valuable to set specific goals, such as to drive donations up a certain amount this month or fill 90 percent of the seats in your church this Sunday.

“Put a specific measure on it,” she said.

Business Editor Chuck Stinnett can be reached at 270-831-8343 or cstinnett@thegleaner.com.

C. STINNETT: There"s still a role for email in marketing, consultant says