COMMENTS
Thanks for the post Ellie. The points are all excellent and underscore the classic marketing truth: relationships trump tactics.
But I am a bit confused about the connection between the headline here and the content and what HubSpot is considering inbound these days?
In the past HubSpot has dubbed email as part of the interruption realm, so imagine my surprise when I started receiving email from you guys a couple of months ago!
I'm not complaining or upset by it, just confused me about the HubSpot message.
I believe email marketing is a critical component of relationship building and hence belongs in the inbound marketing tool kit of every relationship based marketing plan.
I'm wondering if that is the new HubSpot stance in light of this post and the implementation of email campaigns? If so...applause, applause and please don't tip toe around it, proclaim it proudly!
Email marketing needs some champions leading the way to good and proper use of it for building relationships.
Good work. You have confirmed my approach. We send out a monthly newsletter with information about relevant technical ideas for small business. And we send out emergency emails about impending virus or email threats.
We never directly market our clients and that helps keep them open to our services.
Thank you,
Stu Kushner
http://www.progressiveoffice.com
@Lisa - Great question. I think it's all in how you use email marketing. If your email list is opt-in and your email subscribers want to receive your content, sending emails is all part of building on that relationship. If you're renting lists and interrupting people who aren't interested in what you do, that's outbound. Email can be an incredibly powerful marketing channel, if used correctly.
Great post, Ellie.
My initial sarcastic response was "So marketers are finally figuring out what good salespeople have been saying for 50+ years."
But, I realized that was too sarcastic.
In all seriousness, though, as I read this, all of what you're saying really reminded me of good "sales" practices. A good salesperson builds rapport, trust and credibility by asking the right questions, telling the right stories and demonstrating an understanding of the prospect's challenges.
Good marketers do this too. It's just a little harder when it's 1 to many, which is kinda your point: use blogs, social media, etc to communicate to people.
In this post you come across as pro email marketing.
In the post #IMS08 video interview Brian Halligan names email blasts as part of interruptive (outbound) marketing.
Is that the official position of Hubspot or is it just Brian?
I think the take away here is that there are different types of email marketing. The outbound "flavor" is geared toward activities such as email blasts where hundreds or thousands of emails are pushed out with the hopes that some recipients will click through and possibly convert. It's a strategy based more on the law of averages than anything else even if the list is targeted in some way.
On the flip side email marketing that is permission-based is a different story. This type of email is relationship building. Those that opt in want to have a dialogue and with the option to opt-out they have the power to end the conversation and the relationship without having to set up a spam filter.
Two very different animals but the same technology