When it comes to email marketing, are you a surgeon or a dump-truck?

Blast email marketing

Let’s face it, we’ve all received those dreaded “batch and blast” emails from people or companies that we may or may not have ever even heard of. What’s the first thing that we do? Well, if you’re like me and you get an innumerable amount of emails per day, you’ll quickly open it, perhaps skim the email for a second or two, and hit the delete key.

“Batch and blast” emails, or generic communications sent to a vast amount of people at once, are not only highly ineffectual but often seem to do more harm than good. Instead of being enticed to use Mike’s plumbing services from his generic marketing piece, you might actually think negatively of Mike because of his impersonalized, cold approach to getting new clients. Maybe you’ll even view him as abusing his email list.

Email marketing the right way

Let me discuss email marketing the right way. Effective marketing emails are those that are personalized, targeted, and relevant. Your emails need to address the unique needs and interests of its recipients. It’s important to create different emails for different groups, for example, “A-List” clients versus “B-List” clients versus general prospects. Why? Your relationships with these segments are different and therefore your message needs to be different. If you’re a Realtor, maybe some people in your database belong to your Country Club. Your marketing email to those people should be unique in that it expresses your shared experiences at the club and highlights that you’re part of their community.

What are the dangers of not taking the right approach to email marketing, the batch and blast approach? Well, how would you feel if you met a neighborhood Realtor, Jon, just last week and then receive an email from him soliciting your referrals? Or, if American Express sent you an email about the benefits of signing up for a particular credit card that you signed up for a couple weeks ago.

When email marketing is done the right way, people take notice and you get the results you want. Think of it as “intelligent communication.” So next time you send a marketing email, ask yourself, “am I being precise (a surgeon) or blasting out a generic message that provides no real value to the recipient (a dump truck)?”