Many smaller, independent business owners feel that the concept of ‘effective email marketing’ could never apply to them. Thankfully, this isn’t true! Email marketing is one of the best ways to promote your business and get more people interested, whether your store is primarily brick-and-mortar or online.
Keep reading to learn why email marketing remains effective for independent pet retailers and get insight into some of the best ways you can use it to increase your online presence and brand awareness.
4 Reasons Email Marketing Is Still Effective for Pet Retailers
Email marketing campaigns aren’t a thing of the past. They’re still one of the best ways to promote a business online, even if many assume that social media is taking over the world of digital marketing. Let’s look at four reasons why you should still prioritize email marketing strategies as an independent pet retailer.
Keeps You in Your Customers’ Minds
As a smaller pet retailer, you’re likely getting a lot of in-person business, which is great. However, if you count only on in-person interaction to stay present in people’s minds and keep your company going, things may only get harder for you as competitors increase their online presence.
Sending e-mails to your past, present, and potential clients is a great way to remind them about your business and the value you have to offer them. According to Statista, almost everyone checks their email at least once a day (over 80% of people in the U.S.), which means putting effort into email marketing can have long-lasting positive effects on your brand awareness.
Email Marketing Has a High ROI
Out of all the marketing channels you can use to promote your business, email marketing has one of the best ROIs (return-on-investment). Litmus is one of many sources that suggest this, stating that “on average, email drives an ROI of $36 for every dollar spent…”
Ready for some even better news? Pet and animal services have the highest email open rates of any industry. These stats show how investing in solid email campaigns to reach your targeted audience can increase your revenue in the long run.
As an independent pet shop owner, it can be difficult to juggle everything at once, but investing in a well-curated email marketing campaign is worth the time and effort. Even a small investment into email marketing can help you increase your business’s popularity by getting old customers to return and new ones to come around.
Helps Grow Your Online Presence
If you already have a website, starting an email marketing campaign is a terrific way to promote and increase traffic. Along with that, it helps you establish yourself online, so whenever unexpected events occur (such as the pandemic), you will be better equipped to deal with them than before.
Leading people to your website through email marketing can also help improve your SEO, which means more locals will be able to find you when they search for pet stores online. Strengthening your presence and authority on the internet is never a bad goal to have!
Allows You to Share a Different Side of Your Business
When people come to your store, they only see one side of your company at one particular moment. Email marketing can help you expand upon your business’s personality and allows you to establish a way of communicating with your target audience that best reflects your brand.
You can also send emails for more than just advertising purposes. Consider sharing important pet- or business-related information with your email list, such as upcoming local events. Additionally, consider sharing blog posts and other content about interesting topics, because providing your customers with free value in any form will make you stand out and become more memorable.
Of course, emails also give you a terrific avenue to share exclusive sales, special offers, and more with your current and potential customers to get them excited to visit your store.
In Conclusion
Email marketing isn’t an old-fashioned advertising instrument — there’s still a lot of value you can get from prioritizing email campaigns! Having some level of online presence is a must for any business nowadays, and simply sending emails regularly is a great way to keep your store in the minds of customers.
Are you ready to invest in your own email marketing as an independent pet retailer? We hope so! Astro Loyalty offers an abundance of useful digital marketing tools, including ones that will make it easy for you to create effective email marketing campaigns that engage your email list and get people coming in to shop time and time again.