What is E-mail Marketing ?

✎ What is E-mail Marketing ?

Whilst surfing on the Web and searching for business related topics, or whilst searching for Internet Marketing, E-commerce or for the broad and vast term of making money online; you might have heard or seen a reference for E-mail Marketing, that kind of small reference in a wide general context that leaves you thinking: what is this E-mail Marketing they are all talking about ?

To clear all your questions on this topic, you should simply know that this is nothing but a way of marketing by interacting with an E-mail list. (I guess this explains the name doesn't it ? It is not that crazy after all).

✎ But what does that exactly mean ?

As mentioned E-mail Marketing is to interact with an E-mail list that you already have at your disposal.
As you might have noticed the best case in which this works is with businesses. Most nowadays businesses who are active on the web make sure to create their e-mail list, by offering website sign-ups for example and to establish the most direct way to interact with their clients.
This allows them to send all kinds of E-mail types: Transactional E-mail, Content E-mail and Conversion E-mail.

What do all these mean ?
To answer it simply, here is what each category means:

• [Transactional E-mails]: these include E-mails where you discuss the transactions and interactions the client is making with you like: Receipts, Sign-up details, Order confirmation, Unsubscribing, Forgotten password, Shipping details, Support tickets ... etc

• [Content E-mails]: these are E-mails where you offer content to your client, like: Welcome E-mails, Newsletters, New blog post notifications, Social Post notifications, Free tools, Lead magnets, Exclusive content, Value sequences ... etc

• [Conversion E-mails]: These are the E-mails where you get an end-result reaction from the client like: Promotions, Upgrades, Sales, Discounts, Lead Magnets, Affiliate Offers, Product Launch, Tripwires ... etc

✎ Lead magnets as a way to collect E-mails:

As we said before if you are running a business you can collect E-mails by offering website sign-ups to hook up the customers with you, and to allow them to engage with your website in a highly organised method. But if you don't necessarily identify yourself as a business owner, is there a way by which you can collect E-mails ?
Short answer: Yes; you can actually do that by using Lead Magnets, which consist on offering a service in exchange of receiving the user's E-mails. In fact, you obviously still have to offer something or else the basics of E-mail Marketing become meaningless.

✎ E-mail Distribution:

When you are ready to send your E-mails there are two ways you can do it: Broadcast E-mails and Automated E-mails.
If you are running a smaller business it is understandable to send Manual Broadcast E-mails, but if you are running a big and growing business you should be using Automated E-mails, and therefore have the required facilities to do that.

✎The advantages of E-mail Marketing:

A growing number of businesses nowadays agree that E-mail Marketing is the most effective way to reach out to your customers, in fact E-mail Marketing represents a permanent and solid base that you will keep with you.

As a matter of fact, E-mails are based on a unique Internet Protocol called SMTP, and protocols don't change too much unless there are big changes touching the most basic bases of the Internet and communication technologies.
That's why it is one very practical thing to use, you only need the recipient's E-mail adress, and an E-mail sender.

Companies can change their rules, platforms too, they are also subject to become unpopular, so E-mail Marketing is really unique in its characteristics.