Why Targeted Content Makes Email Marketing Different

When you walk into a store and a sales representative immediately approaches you, what's the first thing that comes to mind? Probably some variation of "Let's hear how he's going to try to sell me this."

And that's not a compliment. Nor is it a rare feeling to have. People don't like the feeling of being sold to. Once you get that impression, your guard goes up and you're less likely to take someone's word at face value. 

This recent Business 2 Community article explains why targeted email marketing doesn't have this problem. According to the article, since you can send targeted content in emails, people don't have the feeling that they're being sold to and are thus more likely to trust your brand: 

"People don’t like to feel like they’re being sold to – instead, they want to be catered to. The ease of creating targeted content via email makes this platform ideal for giving audiences what they want and helping them trust your brand as a reliable source of relevant products and information."

That fact alone is what makes targeted email marketing so effective. You can send targeted messages based on a person's demographics, behavior, and past order history. Now it doesn't seem like you're addressing a financial statistic. Instead, it feels like you're talking to a real person. 

Consider how this differs to, say, social media. On Facebook and Twitter, all you can do is create and share posts with all of your followers at once. Although your followers are already somewhat segmented from general consumers, this isn't enough to count as a targeted message. This is why promotion is not as effective on social media. You can't just address 1,000 followers with a generic sales message. Everyone is going to recognize it for what it is and scroll right past it.

This is why you should consider practicing marketing automation as well. Marketing automation is a great tool that can be used in all stages of the buyers' journey.  While email is still the preferred channel that marketers successfully use to communicate with prospects and customers, it isn't just for email anymore.  It is true that automated emails continue to be the backbone of marketing automation but you need not stop there.  If you're only using marketing automation for email, you're missing out on several other communication channels it can be used for.   

Still not sure what marketing automation is, or how it's different than email marketing? Sign up for a demo and come see for yourself what marketing automation can do for you!