Are you still collecting emails? Stop! You are wasting your time. Email lists and group blasts are going the way of the carrier pigeon. A hundred years ago a once-mighty species that carried messages to many different sites became extinct. Email blasts may be the next messenger to become a victim of abuse.
This article this article explores:
- How terrestrial and cyber events are suffering due to the death of promotional emails
- Three researched reasons why it’s a waste of time to collect email addresses
- How and why emails that once meant promotion no longer matter
- Tried-and-true solutions to help solve the resulting email challenges
What do tele-summits, terrestrial or Internet-based events, and emails have in common? Nothing anymore. Rumors circulated on the internet state that tele-summits and other internet-based means of promotion no longer works. Why? The experts think it is due to a lack of interest in events. There may be another reason.
Research shows the problem is not the message. It is the messenger.
In fact, Internet-based events, if promoted correctly, can be more successful than terrestrial events for five reasons:
- Attendees have the ability to enjoy the events from the privacy and comfort of their homes
- Attendees don’t have to spend money on travel, hotel rooms, and meals
- Events can be viewed and/or listened to live or replayed later as a podcast at the convenience of the attendee
- Promoters do not need to secure expensive venues like hotel banquet rooms and risk losing money on less than full events
- Experts/presenters do not need to travel to a land-based venue
Reason number three is especially important for attendees with jobs and/or family responsibilities.
So, how and why are emails the problem?
Unfortunately, the decline of business contact through an email blast to connect with potential clients is having an enormous impact on many internet and non-internet-based business-building programs, and start-up businesses.
If you aspire to be a published author your book is your business.
For instance, when attending writing conferences to improve my second book Dreams That Can Save Your Life, it was standard for keynote literary agents to inform audiences that an email list of 10,000 was necessary for representation, because, “publishers do not sign authors unable to self-promote using email reach.” That was a couple of years ago and times have really changed.
Once Upon a Time…Emails meant promotion.
Large email lists were the lifeblood for physical and virtual events, such as:
- Tele-summits – Online multi-speaker events that assemble a series of experts to discuss a specific theme and often used for email list building.
- Conferences – An important or notable planned occasion, social gathering, or activity.
- Product launches – A site-based or virtual launch party around the release of a new product.
- Networking events – For making new contacts, leading to new clients, partners, and vendors.
- Seminars/educational events – For professionals or the public with single or multiple speakers.
- Trade shows – A way to position brands as an industry leader and to generate new leads.
Remember when?
- People bought email lists
- Phone Apps were developed to collect emails at events to grow contact lists
- FREE gifts were an enticement for clients to double-opt into email lists
- Clipboards were passed around at events or presentations for email collection
That was then, and this is now.
Today email marketing is considered the epitome of bad marketing. Email addresses do not really matter anymore because emails are no longer being read, or answered, so potential clients are not being reached.
Email spamming has resulted in email deletion and blocking.
Consequently, this has resulted in the decline of virtual and in-person attendance at terrestrial events. If you are an entrepreneur attempting to connect with a high-level clientele by using emails, especially blasts, you are wasting your time. Most of these clients don’t read their emails, and hardworking middle-class clients don’t have time to answer countless daily emails.
Time is money. It is a precious commodity in our fast-paced world.
Once upon a time…I read my emails… until I was overwhelmed with more than 350 a day, many of which I had not signed up for (my address had been purchased somewhere or otherwise shared without my consent). When attempting to respond to some of those emails my email went to Info@, never reaching the person who had sent it. They had no problem spamming me but did not want to be contacted, except through a link that sold me something. Out of necessity I began to block and unsubscribe to newsletters, blogs and emails, which was annoying because it took time.
Today, my virtual assistant handles my emails.
And, many of my friends and clients, who do not have personal assistants to delete their emails, have special email filters that block unsolicited contact. This is part of the death of email and the end of email blasts. Therefore, events and companies which relied heavily on email contact are also dying.
How did this happen? Too much of a good thing became a bad thing.
Abuse killed emails. Email is going the way of phone solicitations and the Do Not Call list. So what is an entrepreneur, author or start-up business to do?
My next blog will address:
- Professional marketing studies which shed light on the decline of the email
- Your Solutions for the future.
Kathleen (Kat) O’Keefe-Kanavos, author- Dreams That Can Save Your Life, seen on Dr. Oz, The Doctors, NBC News, American Express Open, in Newspapers and magazines. www.KathleenOkeefeKanavos.com
Photo Credit: Pixabay FREE Email Newsletter Marketing Free vector graphic on Pixabay ribkhan No Attribution required httpspixabay.comenemail-newsletter-marketing-online-3249062
Article Research:
Why You Should Think Twice About Hosting a Telesummit or Accepting an Invitation to Speak, Tara Gentile http://taragentile.com/telesummits-bad-marketing/
https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/email-blast
Why Email Blast is Bad Email Marketing https://www.pinpointe.com/blog/why-email-blast-is-bad-email-marketing
It’s Not Them; It’s You- Why Email Marketing Blasts Don’t Work https://www.outboundengine.com/blog/its-not-them-its-you-why-email-marketing-blasts-dont-work/
