How to Choose an Email Marketing Software Solution?

There are over hundreds of small business email marketing software available in the market. It’s no wonder that some people find it both frustrating and tiring to choose the best tools that fit their needs. With the right tools, you can achieve increased revenue and a larger customer base. The problem is that it takes the right tools for the right task.

The truth is that there is no single tool that perfectly fits all your needs. Most marketers use at least 2-3 tools for different tasks. But how do you choose the marketing software that you’ll need for building connections with your customers?

Considerations for Choosing the Right Software

Before we discuss the email marketing software that works best for you, let’s first understand what makes good email marketing software. Each one of us has his/her conditions that need to be considered when choosing the right software. Therefore, we need to first understand what these conditions are so that we can wisely choose the marketing tools we purchase.

Features

Ideally, you’ll purchase or use the email marketing software that offers all the features that you need. If your budget is limited, you can go for the free or starter packages as these often provide the main features that you’ll need. There’s no need to purchase premium software that has tons of features that you’ll never be using.

Learning Curve

Another aspect of email marketing software is that they have varied learning curves. Basic tools are easy to learn but some marketing software may take a few dedicated hours just to get started. Choosing the email marketing software that fits your learning curve helps you get started as soon as possible. There’s no point in purchasing complicated software that you can’t use properly.

Integration

Email marketing software provides the benefit of integration for different platforms, particularly eCommerce sites. It’s something you’ll need to consider when choosing an email marketing software as it saves you lots of time.

Recommended Email Marketing Software

Our top 4 recommended email marketing software is what you can consider as all-around software that can be used by anyone. These tools are easy to use and provide key features at a minimal price. Most of this software is also capable of integration with different eCommerce sites.

1.     Omnisend

The magic that Omnisend has involves its simple learning curve that still comes with high-level customization through automated workflows. It’s one of the easiest email marketing software to learn, but it also offers flexibility as it allows omnichannel marketing.

Those who want to go deeper into email marketing can learn how to do automation, segmented emails, and designs for mobile through this software. Despite the diversity of features, the software makes it easy for anyone to learn how these are used for email marketing with its innovative design.

Overall, Omnisend is the perfect app to get started if you want to commit to learning email marketing.

2.     ActiveCampaign

ActiveCampaign is probably the most user-friendly in terms of design, especially for beginners that don’t want complications but aim for good results. The drag-and-drop interface makes it easy for anyone to learn and use ActiveCampaign. Another level of convenience added is the integration of royalty-free images for anyone to use.

In terms of core features, ActiveCampaign doesn’t fall behind because of its ability to provide real-time information on your email campaign’s performance. A/B testing results along with current open rates and conversion rates are viewable through a dashboard.

Overall, ActiveCampaign is the ideal software for anyone starting because it streamlines how email marketing is performed for anyone.

3.     MailChimp

MailChimp is popular because of its easy-to-use features for email marketing. Ready-made templates are available to help marketers get started with their email campaigns.

The strength of MailChimp lies in its ability to make social media marketing easier for anyone interested. Aside from automating when weekly newsletters are sent, it can also allow you to automate the template used for emails.

Overall, MailChimp is another strong choice for new marketers as it provides simple automation for your email campaigns.

4.     SendinBlue

The strength of SendinBlue is in its capacity to integrate with several eCommerce platforms in just a few clicks. Those who are handling several eCommerce stores will benefit from integration as it handles all these sites at once.

Contact list synchronization is another key feature provided by SendinBlue. With this software, there’s no need to worry about arranging contact lists from several sites. You can easily target receivers and send emails to different subscribers.

Overall, SendinBlue offers the strongest set of features for businesses that handle several eCommerce stores.

Summary

Choosing email marketing software is about accessibility and meeting your business needs. Even the simplest software can work well and provide you with results as long as you’re able to master how to use it.

For those that want flexibility, it’s recommended to master software that provides customization features such as omnichannel marketing and email automation.

What Are Marketing Communication Tools?

Marketing communication tools are a complex and perplexing process that uses several tools to help you generate brand awareness and serves as the fulcrum for your sales efforts. These tools are avenues and diversified programs that help reach out to the desired audience most effectively. However, you need not be proficient in all of them as you can consult marketing and communication firms for this endeavor.

Here are the different marketing communications tools that you should know.

Advertising

Among the most effective communication tools of marketing is advertising. It can be paid and unpaid. Now, in the context of digital and intern0et marketing, it includes SEO and PPC. What is unique about advertising is that it is wide-reaching and is excellent for propelling the revenue streams for startups and small-scale businesses. It is especially effective for those dry on funding. Advertising caters to above-the-line marketing, making it ideal for brands with less exposure or small target audiences.

Sales Promotion

It caters to promoting your products, services, and solutions. The idea encourages direct interactions with your customers. Hence, sales promotion is all about making your audiences feel cared for and heard. Using this tool, you can endorse your products and services directly to consumers. It is essential for garnering brand loyalty and generating lifetime value from customers. Free samples, testers and tasters, gift vouchers, discounts, and deals such as cashback offers are some of the profound examples of sales promotions.

Email Marketing

Another great tactic to interact with prospects and generate leads is email marketing. It helps build a direct customer base to who you can reach out with relevant messaging. By tapping on their inbox, a company can create a direct relationship, which can be leveraged for future sales. Therefore, it is an excellent way to fuel traffic to your company website and raise brand awareness.

Newsletter subscription

An ancillary of email marketing, newsletters help you send personalized (or gated) content right into their inboxes. It works as an excellent cue for redirecting the prospects towards the sales funnel pages and acts as an effective option for driving brand engagement.

Public Relations (PR)

PR is a brilliant way for improving or revamping your brand image and reputation in the market. The term Public Relations involves maintaining relationships with influential people for attaining business growth. Now, with that said, affiliate and influencer marketing are excellent public relations tools to communicate with the target audience.

However, the trick is to use the avenue at the right time and with the appropriate people. Your sales numbers will grow exponentially from here on. What is unique about this one is that you need not spend highly on public PR campaigns. It is a reliable tool to use when you are short on funds since publicity is not the only portion of PR.

Social Media

The standout aspect of social media is that everyone is on it. So, it already opens your business to an extensive base of prospects and target audience members. Also, it allows you to get creative, use humor and wit, and change the narrative. It is especially effective when your brand faces negative publicity or a catastrophe. A standout aspect of social media is that you can promote your products and services using videos (including UGC or User-Generated Content), ads (SEO and PPC), photos, and other types of content. So get innovative and make it count.

Mobile applications

Mobile phones are practically indispensable today. They give the competitive edge to communicate with the target audience from anywhere and at any time. Therefore, an excellent way to get mobile marketing right is to create a mobile application for your brand. However, if your audiences are to make purchases through their mobile phones, you need to integrate the application with payment gateways. Nonetheless, the tool aids in reaching out to an extensive customer base.

Podcasts

Podcasts are another way of driving engagement with the target audience. The nature of the medium is that it is interactively and informatively visual. Podcasts are compelling when shot in video format. Secondly, it involves discussions and debates about new topics and trends, informing and educating the public about any new development or innovation in the field. Podcasts essentially keep your viewers (and listeners) engaged for a prolonged period, thus increasing brand exposure.

Meme marketing

Humour and wit diffuse things and garner tremendous attention. That is the power of memes today. Having emerged as the only content form as permanent over the years, over 60 percent of the 3 billion social media users communicate using memes. If you want to get the word out instantly, memes to the rescue.

Memes are unique as they create instant relatability and recall. They typically apply across contexts and situations. One meme has many meanings as it involves a lot of subtexts. From a marketing perspective, memes are cheap, shareable, and are a take on the current trends. While regular marketing graphics offer 5 percent traction on social media platforms, memes provide around 60 percent.

Conclusion

Each of these marketing communications tools is powerful and effective. However, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. To make the most of your marketing communications, you should integrate multiple avenues and subscribe to an omnichannel communications strategy.