Marketing trends change drastically and continue to change till date. With all the advancement in technology, marketers are getting smarter. They have started using these technologies for their own benefit i.e. to enhance their production, sales, increase their customers etc. and they work! You may think that email marketing is long gone but it’s not. It is evolving just like everything else and is getting better. They are a great way to build relationships with your customers, engage them with your brand and to increase your sale.

EDM Marketing

Maybe you have heard this term many times and it is totally fine if you are not aware of what it means. EDM is an acronym which stands for Electronic Direct Mail. It is used by companies to target a large group of people and send them marketing, business and advertising material with the purpose of building trust and loyalty, relationships, generating leads and increasing sales. For providing EDM materials, companies asks for consent from their clients. EDMs can be of different types i.e.

1. EDM focused on brand and relationship – includes welcoming new customers, customer surveys, tips an advices, e- newsletter, event information and registration and updating contact information
2. EDM focused on sales – promotional offers, seasonal specials, sale reminders, new product launched, reorders, “we miss you” or check out thank you.

EDM marketing is a lengthy process and requires more than just email communication. They use various communication forms to deliver their message such as offline marketing, remarketing advertising and social media. There are some tips for using this powerful tool for marketing effectively.

• Personalize – they improve conversion rates by 10% and click through rate by 14%
• Keep it simple and interesting – You have got only 8 seconds to catch the attention of your client. Add visuals as well.
• Optimizable – should be viewable on all the devices.

EDM is better than general Email Marketing Starting from the basic first. Email marketing is solely based on sending emails. In this, you build a database of emails of your customers and you mail them your marketing materials i.e. offers, promotions, letters etc. Whereas, EDM is a lengthy process which involves email as well but in this, you use other methods to reinforce the message of your campaign such as SMS, social media, offline advertising etc. Reasons to choose EDM

Builds trust

If you have sent an email to your customers that means the base has been made; meaning that they trusted you and provided you their email address. Sending quality content will build your relationship stronger with your clients and they will soon look forward to it. You keep them engaged. Use other methods of communication such as SMS, social networks etc. effectively and you will see how it makes a huge difference in your overall sales.

Personalize

Do not think that people find personalized contents creepy. Infact they like it much better than usual advertising. Started from addressing the customers with their first name to providing specific content according to the needs and likes or the client, EDM has it all covered. Customers love content which is more geared to them. EDM allows you to collect data from different marketing channels and then use it for your own benefit. Personalized the content and then send them through multiple channels to that specific person. It is the most effective technique in digital marketing.

Cost effective

Using Instagram and Facebook ads for promotions is a common thing which most businessman does. Although it is considered cheap but if we add up the numbers then we realize that the expense on this advertising is more and the output or results are not as effective as they should be. This is where EDM marketing comes in. You collect the database of different people which are highly targeted leads and will turn to your brand, if you use EDM efficiently. And even if you spend $1 on advertising, you are likely to get $38 in return. This is how much effective this is. Moreover, instead of using general email marketing strategy, you use other channels to enhance the effect.

Significant reach

EDM has an excellent reach. Why? Think about it. Almost every person has an email address. People may not have an Instagram or Facebook account but they will definitely have an email account. This means more opportunities for marketers. You will have a massive number of targeted audience who can become a part of your brand. It is a great way to enhance your sales because almost 94% people get your email in their inbox while only 4% see your ad on their newsfeed.

Track and measure

With EDM marketing you can track your audience, their actions etc. For instance, you will know when your client opened up your mail, how much time did they spend on it, which actions did they take like did they research further or deleted the mail etc. You can change your strategies accordingly. Other benefits of EDM includes

• Reduces time and effort – a single person can do this job and it saves a lot of time and effort which can be used for other purposes
• Allows real time messaging and communication – sending emails on your customer’s birthday or on special holidays and events. Generate an automated email such as thank you for shopping with us etc.
• Customer dialogue – allows you to start a direct dialogue with them. You can use questionnaires, surveys etc. which can improve your customer data.
• Data retrieval – retrieving the data from multiple channels will allow you to send more related and qualitative content.

Conclusion

General email marketing is not bad or anything but Electronic Direct Mail is way better. You can say that it is a more advanced form of general email marketing because in EDM you use email marketing but with other techniques too. So if you want to boost up your brand’s name and income then turn to EDM. It is the present and the future of digital marketing.