Email Marketing by the Numbers: How to Use the World’s Greatest Marketing Tool to Take Any Organization to the Next Level

Chapter 2. Is Email the Perfect Marketing Tool?

It would be difficult to write this book if I didn’t believe that.

The fact of the matter is that the greatness of email is not about email itself. It’s about the ability to build relationships. If smoke signals were the best way to build relationships with lots of people, then this book would be about smoke signals. Email just happens to be one of the best mediums to build long-lasting relationships—especially given the constraints that all organizations must deal with.

Ask yourself this question: If you had endless funds, all the time in the world, and a staff with 100 percent consistency, how would you market to your constituents?

If you’re like me, you believe that face-to-face meetings are the ideal way to build relationships. Meeting in person means seeing an individual’s needs, preferences, and behavior firsthand. And the person you’re meeting with is able to understand the same about you—what you stand for, where your values lie, and how sincere you are about building a lasting relationship.

As much as I like face-to-face meetings, they present a real problem when you’re talking about an organization with more than a handful of constituents. It isn’t scalable. There are only so many people you can meet in a day, and only so many representatives you can hire to handle these additional face-to-face chores. Representatives present additional problems due to expense and consistency. We all know that human capital is expensive, ...