Why Do I Need An eMail Marketing System?

I was asked this question so many times this week I thought this is a topic that needs another blog post.
So let us look at some misconceptions about eMailing in general.
I) I can use free eMail accounts to send out mails to all my contacts.
Yes, but your emails may not reach all your contacts (we refer to it as deliverability rate), especially if you send out the same mail to many people at the same time.
eMail providers will flag you as attempting to spam and may not deliver mails coming from your account. That is why mails sometimes end up in spam or junk folders, or they are just lost in cyber space – in no man’s land.
In some cases, your account may be frozen to prevent your from further spamming others.
Pressing the send button using free email providers does not guarantee that your emails will be received.
II)  I only have 100 contacts and I do not need an Mail Marketing System.
You use your eMail Marketing System to grow new contacts in your email database and build relationship with existing prospects and clients.
III) I have hundreds of name cards collected from various networking events I can just email them. 
Having a stack of name cards of prospects or clients does not give you permission to send them regular updates or promotional emails.  As an ethical business, I highly recommend permission-based marketing.
By that I mean you will only send regular updates or newsletters to your contacts with their explicit permission while guarding their email privacy. That includes not sharing their addresses with others or displaying a bunch of email addresses in bulk emails.
You will also need to provide an option for your contacts to opt out of this email arrangement anytime. That is putting power back into their hands.
IV) Most of my business comes from referrals, I do not need an eMail Marketing System.
You need to keep front of mind with your contacts and continue to deepen your relationship with your prospects and clients.  Using regular newsletter is a very effective and efficient way to achieve this.
V) I can use social media platforms to send emails to my contacts, I don’t need to invest in an eMail Marketing System.
These social media platforms can stop your communication anytime. And strictly speaking, these contacts are not your asset, they are not in your database.
Also do note that people who accept your connection on social media platform have not given their consent to you to continually email them about your products or services.
Without an email marketing system, you are greatly handicapped. You will be missing out on visitors who do not contact or buy from you on their first visit. These online visitors may never come back to your site and you would have just lost precious targeted traffic (which you may have paid for to obtain).
Visitors do not buy from you the first time they visit your site. eMail Marketing helps businesses build relationships. You need to give them something enticing and inviting in exchange for their permission to continue to communicate with them.
Then you build and deepen that relationship and continue to provide value before you make them an offer that solves their problem. And then you wait to see if they take you up on your offer …
Whether you are an online or offline business. I highly recommend businesses build their own email database. That is the only way you can continue to send your contacts emails and build a “long distance” or long-term relationship.
If you also want an online presence, then you will need to establish a prominent and optimized presence as well as build your email list.
As I have said else where: your only online equity is your domain name and your email database. You really cannot afford NOT to have an eMail Marketing System. In another post we will discuss critical factors in using eMail Marketing System,
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