Email Marketing Is Great Marketing

By completing a simple search on the term “email marketing” on Google.com, one will find the following definition, “Email marketing is the act of sending a commercial message, typically to a group of people using email. In its broadest sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer should be considered email marketing (“Email Marketing”, 2017).  

In today’s world, almost everyone has and/or has access to receive emails. Whether you receive an email directly to a desktop, laptop, or mobile device, most people will receive an email and check their personal email account throughout the day. Thus, it is very important for a company or organization to ensure that they have efficient and frequent marketing plan or campaign developed to reach and attract their audience.

The organization that I have been researching, Children’s Hunger Alliance of Ohio, boasts about their email list on their website. Thus, I assumed that I would receive an email from the organization thanking me for signing up and explaining the volunteer and/or sponsor process to me. This email did not come whatsoever. I went back to the website and noticed that there is verbiage that states that their emails are only sent when there is an upcoming event or an update to an event. This sounded to me as if the emails sent monthly. Therefore, I added myself to the email list for a similar organization called “Feed the Children” that focuses on providing healthy meals to children in the United States and internationally. (If interested, you can find more information about this organization by viewing the website at www.feedthechildren.org)

 I received an email from the “Feed the Children” organization approximately 5-10 minutes after I signed up to be on the email list. In a week, I received three emails from the organization. The first email was a Thank You/Welcome email from the CEO, Travis Arnold, briefly explaining the organization’s goal and how important it is to help feed children around the world. The email also included a picture of a young boy, a story about his life, and how supporting the organization can help feed hungry, less fortunate children like him. I enjoyed this email because it connected me emotionally to the child and created a desire in me to learn more about the organization.

b.      Although, this is not the organization that I am researching, the organization’s frequency in sending quality, relationship-building emails to its audience, leaves me to confirm that their email marketing plan can potentially help their content marketing and SEO (search engine optimization) campaigns. A recent article from Forbes.com, explains that SEO and content marketing are natural complements that can assist in producing high-quality content by utilizing keywords, creating new pages, and help raise the company in a search engine’s search results (DeMers, 2018). 

      The article further explains that email marketing is a powerful strategy tool to assist with SEO and content marketing. The main ways the article explained how email marketing can help is through cost efficiency, link attraction, customer loyalty and brand reputation, and social media followers and engagement, among other things (DeMers, 2018). 

      I thoroughly agree that customer loyalty, brand reputation, and social media followers and engagement are a big advantage of email marketing and a big advantage that Feed the Children has above the Children’s Hunger Alliance! The emails I received from Feed the Children are engaging, interesting, and creates a desire to learn more. If and when I receive an email from the Children’s Hunger Alliance, I hope I can say the same.

Because I did not receive an email from the Children’s Hunger Alliance and if I was a member of their email marketing team, I would first gain a contact list to ensure that the organization is emailing individuals who want to be notified of upcoming events and volunteer opportunities. I would create a Facebook and Instagram post that includes an image from the Children’s Hunger Alliance or a simple info-graphic that represents the need to provide children with meals in central Ohio. 

 I would ask people to like the post or comment to receive more information. After I send the email to the individuals on my contact list, I will create a brief 5 question survey on the online survey development website, “SurveyMonkey”, and send the survey to my friends who took the survey via Facebook private message or an Instagram direct message. In this message, I would ask my friends who have taken the survey to message me back when they have completed the survey. 

In addition, I would send the following email to individuals on my contact list:

Hook/Subject: We are the World, We are the Children

Hello Friends!

This year, we have a goal and we need your support. Our goal is to deliver over 1 million meals to school-aged children throughout the state of Ohio. These meals need to be delivered to schools, daycares, after school programs, and more! But the Children’s Hunger Alliance of Ohio needs YOUR HELP!

We need loving, caring volunteers to help fill every child’s stomach. You can volunteer at one of our events in a city near you, you can donate all sorts of foods kids love (fruit, candy, chips) and foods kids “hate” (vegetables) to help us create meals, or you can donate any amount to a cause. Hey, even a dollar helps!

We care about the children in our community and we believe that every child deserves a good meal and a smile.

We’d love to chat more if you’re interested! Please feel free to contact our Community Relations Coordinator, Jane Doe, by phone at 614.555.4556 or by email at jane.doe@childrenshungeralliance.com.

Thank you and have a wonderful year!

_______________________________________________________________________________

With this email, I believe that the Children’s Hunger Alliance will receive the volunteers and donors they need to reach any goals they may have! Thanks for reading!

References

DeMers, Jayson. “How Email Marketing Supports Your Content Marketing And SEO Campaigns.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 26 Feb. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2018/02/26/how-email-marketing-supports-your-content-marketing-and-seo-campaigns/.

“Email Marketing.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Dec. 2017, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_marketing.