In a recent announcement from Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream, they have vowed to stop sending regular email marketing messages in favor of Social Media. This announcement is a major shift in the company’s position and makes them the first major corporation to completely discontinue email marketing, a pillar of internet marketing since the 1990′s.
This announcement has turned the Internet Marketing industry on its head and has many of the major Internet Marketing experts and blogs buzzing.
So I ask you, has email out lived its usefulness?
I Think Not!
In my humble opinion, email is still an extremely important part of a successful Internet Marketing campaign. The decision to use social media by Ben & Jerry’s for their internet marketing efforts in place of email is a significant one, but does not indicate a major shift within the internet marketing industry to follow suit.
It is still very important to employ a blended marketing strategy when building any business. Using the best of both online and offline marketing methods provides for greater reach at maximum effort.
Email Marketing and social media should be used together as a compliment to each other. To solely depend on one over the other is a great error in judgement based on my experience with the two mediums.
Sure Ben & Jerry’s has a well established social media presence. And their decision to eliminate email marketing may be the right move for them. But for the small business community, it isn’t so cut and dry. As a small business owner, you want to use every means at your disposal to communicate with your customers.
Social media should be used as a way to communicate quick updates and announcements to your customers. It is the start of your sales funnel. Where as, email can be automated through a service like Aweber to allow you to consistently communicate with your customer encouraging them to take action on a particular product or service.
What Are Your Thoughts?
Many of my small business clients still believe email is a vital part of their marketing efforts. What do you think?
Has email out lived its usefulness?
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