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Can we market our association meeting using only email? |
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Email is undoubtedly a powerful tool. Even better, it can be extremely cost efficient But it's unlikely that you will be able to maximize your attendance with email-only marketing for your association event. There are three reasons:
1) As much as you hope you do, you probably don't have a 100% accurate set of email addresses for your members. Email addresses and/or contact persons (in the case of a trade association) change more frequently than any marketer would wish, and the hard reality is that they do change faster than you can probably stay on top of them.
2) Even if your email list is 100% accurate, you probably won't reach 100% of your members due to spam filters at the ISP, company or individual level. Are there ways to improve email deliverability? Certainly. But it is rare that anyone is willing to guarantee 100% deliverability to every member in box.
3) Even if you were able to reach 100% of your member in boxes, some members just don't respond as well to email solicitations as they do mailed brochures, phone calls, letters, etc. That's not to say that email isn't an excellent part of your media mix. But it is better suited to be part of a media mix, not the sole component.
Bottom line, emails are an important, cost-effective part of your overall marketing toolkit. But if you want to maximize your attendance for your association meeting, it is best to supplement it with other media vehicles.
Has your associated ever marketed a meeting using only email? What were your results versus using other marketing mixes? |
