Total Marketing Solutions

A recent study produced by the DMA in conjunction with Alchemy Works claims that consumers are responding more favourably than ever before to email marketing. The report - which credits improved segmentation and better targeting for this growth - blows apart some common myths about the effectiveness of email marketing.

Whilst many might believe that consumers are being bombarded by endless numbers of unwanted emails, the report clearly contradicts this. Over 60% of respondents were signed up to 10 or fewer senders - a surprisingly low number considering the options available to your average consumer. So whilst your email is not necessarily clamouring for attention amidst a sea of competitors, getting onto that list of 10 represents another challenge.

In 2010, one in 10 consumers stated that 50% or more emails they received were of interest. In the 2011 report, this number increases to one in three.

Amongst the more surprising findings was that fact that only 3% of consumers pick up their emails on a smartphone, whilst 61% don’t check or use email at work.

What the report reflects is that there is now a greater understanding of how to segment markets and how to make email content appealing to specific segments.  It also shows that 45% of respondents don’t act on an email immediately, but file the information for later use. This makes response tracking far more complex, but would hint at an even greater effectiveness for your email campaign than straight click thru numbers.

Our experience as marketing consultants with expertise in digital marketing enables us to help customers get on their customers top ten list with relevant content to targetted customers.

Whilst we are always at great pains to stress the strategic nature of our marketing consultancy, we obviously do get involved in helping customers to develop or improve their online presence. We have over the years  helped customers develop some highly successful websites across a variety of sectors, working together with our web design partners.

But as any quick sortie into google will testify, setting up a website is no longer the sole preserve of the web designer. Thanks to an ever-increasing array of web design tools, together with cheap hosting packages and idiot-proof content management systems, companies are able to launch a website at a considerably lower cost than hiring a web developer/designer. But what does this new trend signify for the vast number of highly skilled web developers out there?

Thankfully it does not appear that the writing is on the wall for the truly creative, talented developer. What has happened is that, whilst the barriers to entering the online market are being lowered every day, finding the right person to create a truly compelling, commercially robust online presence for your company is still a difficult goal to achieve. The technical, routine aspect of setting up a website is now no longer shrouded in mystery. But creating a valuable online resource, which accurately reflects and promotes your company and your brand values in an original way is still something of an art.

The combination of engaging content, fantastic design, powerful SEO and bespoke coding is still beyond the capability of any off-the-shelf package. And the importance of getting each of these core elements absolutely right is still at the heart of what makes a great website really work for you. Web design isn’t dying, it’s just growing up.