Digital Marketing continues to be an ever-evolving industry, and Marketing Entrepreneur Scott O Hirsch has developed a keen insight into the latest trends and shaping brands.
If brands are looking to grow their customer base, increase their ROI, and foster long-term relationships, the key, Hirsch says, is email marketing.
With unprecedented growth during a time where most traditional marketers continue to see what works, email marketing continues to see consistent gains, with 80% of email marketers indicating significant consumer engagement growth over the last 12 months.
Scott Hirsch: Keeping Audiences Engaged is Key to Successful Email Marketing Strategy
Scott Hirsch emphasizes a “sweet spot” strategy when it comes to email marketing. “In the Wild West of email marketing, less-is-more is unacceptable. However, your audience can sense the desperation in too many emails. Too much will force them to tune out, and your ROI will certainly go down if your audience feels hounded. Utilizing 3-5 emails per week is the sweet spot for maintaining consumer engagement, without sending them to the dreaded ‘unsubscribe’ button.”
Scott Hirsch: Here’s Where to Invest Your Digital Marketing Dollars for 2021
Supplementing a quality email marketing strategy and investing in content marketing may be the best investment a company can make in 2021 if they haven’t already. As Hirsch notes, “by investing in content marketing, companies can improve their ability to increase brand awareness, convert more leads, and, most importantly, connect with their audience.”
The type of content marketing investment is up to the brand, but it all comes down to personalization for Scott O Hirsch. Successful content marketing is about creating a personalized consumer experience, Hirsch states.
“Videos, infographics, interviews with influencers – brands need to tell a story with their content.” As trends evolve, the means for content delivery is just as necessary as the content itself. “Content made for Facebook isn’t necessarily going to have the same impact on LinkedIn, and vice versa. The same goes for YouTube and Instagram.”
While email and content marketing are the foundation of the digital marketing industry, in 2021, social media remains the dominant force in digital culture. However, as Hirsch is quick to point out, personalization is still the key to social media marketing, just as it is for content and email marketing.
“When it comes to social media, the most important thing brands can do is listen to their audience. Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter remain the ‘Big Three’ of social media, and all three provide different ways for brands to hear what their audience has to say and to adapt accordingly.”
Similar to email marketing, 3-4 posts per week on each respective network taps into Hirsch’s “Sweet Spot” strategy, with photo and video content providing the highest ROI. “Developing a specific personality and set of values will provide the most meaningful one-to-one interactions on social media. Brands can develop relationships and strategies they never knew were possible simply by listening to their supporters.”
Across the marketing spectrum, thinking about the individual over the collective will continue to make brands stand out in 2021. Scott O Hirsch emphasizes authenticity over generic attention-grabbers and encourages brands to keep their content personal to cut through digital marketing.