While at Blog World Expo recently I recorded this video interview with Abby Johnson from Web Pro News. We covered a variety of topics including why email marketing is not dead – internet marketing for smart people – the new FTC regulations and touched on a new project I’m working on with Brian Clark and Chris Brogan.
Read other recent email marketing posts on ProBlogger:
Darren,
This is one video I will NOT miss because I’ve been hearing/reading that email is dead and there is no point in doing any email promotions.
Thanks so much for this information because it’s getting confusing to know what is what online these days since every guru has a different agenda.
Krizia
I think done right, email will always be a big part of any business.
Great post.
Email done right is still a valuable tool. I recently launched a newsletter product, and it will be a valuable way to continue to build traffic to my site. I think part of the problem is when these email campaigns become very spammy.
Great video, and nice information about the FTC rules for bloggers!
And just today I got a new software for email marketing. This was just for a trial and lets see how this one kicks off.
I have to say this is one of the best produced videos I’ve seen come out of that conference. Her questions are ones that bloggers are actually asking so Thanks for your answers Darren.
I too wish the FTC would give more detailed information on their requirements. I visited there website and they have some videos set up to answer questions but they are still very vague.
Great post. I dont think email marketing will be going away anytime soon, and when executed correctly, it can be very powerful. Cheers
Totally correct. Notice the proliferation of services like Constant Contact? This isn’t just about people being sheep.
It may be unpopular as all hell to send spam, but once opt-in has occurred there’s nothing with bang-for-the-buck like e-mail, even if you only get 20% open rate.
Jeff Yablon
President & CEO
Answer Guy and Virtual VIP Computer Support, Business Change Coaching and Virtual Assistant Services
Some people use to say that something is dead when they want to sell a new product, so don’t trust in everything that people say. Nice topic and i hope to see more videos posts! Thanks!
Email marketing will still be a great arsenal on bloggers and internet marketers now and in future time, you just have to make sure that you’re doing it right
I think getting readers to opt-in is critical. It is also critical to target the content properly. If you just start blasting marketing emails to people who have signed up for your newsletter, you will have a lot of unhappy people.
We can continue to innovate/create amazing web apps and services but we can’t hide from the fact that email is still the Internets killer app. It’s broken, has multitudes of drawbacks/problems, but it’s still uber effective.
Thoughts?
It’s not dead but it has changed a bit since it first started. Opt-in and not being spammed to death come to mind.
It may be more effective today since it is (or can be) much more targeted and coming from a trusted source (the actual content author).
Hopefully the disclosures will be a good thing. Way to be optimistic about it! :) But I think, Darren, you have been doing this for awhile already.
Thanks for the post.
I think email marketing still has many uses and benefits and it’s still an extra string to catch in more readers, I like the way that email marketing can be used for email courses or updates in a newsletter format, although I’m still experimenting with it myself, I think it still is one of them all powerful marketing methods that we should not leave behind.
Excellent post. If email marketing is done right, it can still be very useful ;)
I think if done correctly, email marketing can be one of the most important parts of any business. By creating a mailing list, potential visitors/customers are giving your permission to contact them. When used respectfully and in a targeted way, it really gets attention for your site and/or product. Just today amazon sent me an email about deals on software packages I’d been researching and I clicked straight over and am preparing to buy. Targeted marketing, quality value added content, and respectful emailing practices are all key to email marketing success, I think.
Love this. Those who believe email marketing is dead in their given market, are one less competitor for those who don’t feel that way.
Great interview Darren.
-Travis
Email marketing is by no means dead and I definitly agree with the video. The key to email marketing today is to differ from SPAM. In my opinion, making it past the reader’s morning ‘delete’ ritual is the best sign of a well crafted marketing email.
Dean
http://artofstinginess.com
Interesting article, I definately think email marketing is still useful, but would like to know your view on video email.
There are quite a few companies offering video email services, but maybe this is another debate.
Cheers
John
Email marketing could still be an effective way to promote websites, regardless of their search engine traffic and ranking.
The important point in here is using the workable systems, sending out letters to the folks who have joined some newsletters and then would attempt reading the messages completely.
It’s be interesting to see if the new FTC regulations actually start resulting in any prosecutions.
But email marketing cost money. When I have subscirbers and finanicial money scheme, I plan on going out there and setting up email marketing.
@John Tanner problem with these video email services is they require the recipient to click and link leave their inbox = low conversion rates.
Additionally actually embedding video into an email is a nightmare re: email client support.
My thoughts, best to use as an added bonus or call to action and/or an additional tool you use once in a while.
Email marketing is still highly effective and it will be for quite sometime. It is proven throughout the history of the Internet that people like reading emails especially if they are from an elite blogger like Darren Rowse who always provides tremendous value in every post that he does.
Great article. Its true that everyone has different needs and responds differently to each channel.
But what about the clutter? Email is becoming almost impossible to sort through sometimes, what about messages being lost or consumers getting so fed up with more email than they can handle?
To tell the truth I’am a little bit confused about how she asked her questions in the video.
Sometimes it seemed that she would drop her mic and run away..
I don’t know why I felt that :)
I think email marketing can not be dead right now but in the near future. Twitter and social networking marketing would last for a long time
What ding bat said it was dead anyway? Are they brain dead?! Email marketing is the best way to market a website or blog and will remain so. Well, that’s what I think and now I’ve stuck my neck on the line:)
Well, as for me Email Marketing will never die as itself. It just changes its forms.
I’m running email marketing campaigns for 2 years, and I never get disappointed.
The best software I can advise is Email Studio.
You can check it up here – http://www.massmailsoftware.com/studio/
Mmmm…FTC. Like many government regs, they issue a blanket statement initially just so they can say they’re thinking about the issue. It’ll be nice if they actually gave us any bit of detail.
Great post. I dont think email marketing will be going away anytime soon, and when executed correctly, it can be very powerful. Cheers
It’s not dead… everyone in the world just wishes it was.
Seriously, how many people read “opt-in” email? I know that there are a percentage of people who do and that’s why it works, but how do we reach the rest of the market?
Of course email marketing isn’t dead, but it’s been around forever. How do we reach the customers who are already wise to this?
Emails are still widely used more conveniently by the majority of the people. I know many people who don’t know exactly what RSS is and how to subscribe to read some content through it.
On the contrary, I’m not aware of any single person who surfs the web and doesn’t use email for communications. New inventions should not make us forget that what’s well-established is a good platform to launch online marketing campaigns.
I’m totally for it and continue using it and have some plans to incorporate it into my marketing plan more seriously.
It was great to hear Darren reinforce the value of email marketing. I have been using his approach for some time in sending out an ezine which provides links to my blog posts. I really need to set up Feedburner to capture more ezine readers via my blog – my main source of subscribers at present is via a lead capture page offering a free 9 day email course.
Darren,
Sounds like a good mix of content and ads. Looking forward to see what comes in the future. Email is definitely not dead!
As others have said, email marketing is great when it’s targeted to the right audience and bundled with genuinely helpful and interesting information. If I think I’ll continue to benefit from receiving it, I probably won’t opt out. I may not hang onto it or forward it, but I’ll read it.
When I write newsletters for my copywriting clients, I always try to think outside the “offer of the month” and come up with expert articles that make that email a welcome arrival — and maybe even required reading!
I did not involve in email marketing. But I want to know about email marketing. Thank you for information on email marketing.
Email marketing will never die as long as it is the primary from of personal communication.
I don’t like email marketing because it is too difficult for me to create the letter that can make people believe me that what I offer is true.
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i know the email marketing still running , but how to make it effective thats the bigger problems, ithink
Well i guess i’m not a big guy in blog arena to have email marketing
E-mail marketing is never been death. Actually I do not like it and will never like it. It is spam. It is not wanted advertise in high percentage.
Actually it is quite useful and making money
I have given it a lot of thought. Unsolicited email are the biggest pain the the arse for everyone I know. Opt in is good if you have a following. The trick is to develop that following like PotPieGirl or Jon Leger…and of course Pro Blogger. When those email hit my desk, I read and consider their value proposition. Also a link to a quick 2 minute video is great for teasing your product. That is the way email marketing will not die. Thanks, Darren.
Keep the great articles flowing!
Email marketing can be really handy if you handle it with proper care. Like fix a day when you will send an email to your subscriber. Send them important tips and than send promotion can be really handy.
You will have to keep the balance and proceed according to that.
Email exists forever, just like reading, you get used to held books on hands. It’s a habbit.
I’d like to share mass email sending expert, deliever to hotmail inbox is over 90% Spread – email marketing software and service , is a professional web-based Email marketing platform.
I used it to maintain good relationship with clients. It’s also works for explore new customers.
Email marketing was the first ever internet marketing
method which was free and effective. Still many people
are doing email marketing but now a days they have moved forward to new techniques.
Great video, and nice information for bloggers!
I agree to Email Marketing is Not Dead but effective Email Marketing is required.
This article is really interesting.
Actually I know lot of people who are still doing the email marketing especially at this time with the recession and all what’s going on right now. it’s relevant and you get reach thousands of people at low cost if it’s well done.
Brenda
Once again an excellent written post from you. Keep it up!