April 16th, 2010
by Kate McMillan
Like with many things besides the pie vs. cake debate (pie is clearly better!), there is no clear answer to the blog vs email marketing debate. There is also room for both – have your cake and eat your pie too! Lorrie and Kate virtually sat down to create some guidelines to help get you started.
Before we get into it, though, let’s break down what form they take most often:
A Blog: A blog is a stand-alone destination or part of a website on which content is published over time. It becomes a repository of (hopefully) valuable information and links, and people can visit to read, view or listen to your content and interact with the author(s) by leaving comments any time they want. People can subscribe to your blog using an RSS feed, which delivers the latest content from your blog to their Feed Reader or their email inbox. You need a platform on which to create your blog, like Wordpress or Blogger.
Email Marketing: Email Marketing is a subscription-based service in which you send content (like a newsletter) via email to a list of people who have subscribed to receive it. What you send can include text, images and links, but needs to adhere to some of the limitations of being viewed through email. Often, there is an incentive to entice people to sign up for your newsletter. You need a service that allows you to create a way for people to sign up, manage the subscription list, and send emails to them.
So how do you know which to use when?
Here are few things to consider when deciding how to cash in your web marketing chips when it comes to blogs and email marketing:
- Both a blog and email marketing let you craft some content and publish it out to the world. In the case of the blog, it’s available any time to anyone. In the case of email marketing, it’s available only to those who subscribe to your list. So, you want to make sure the content you create for your email marketing campaign is not only valuable, but that there’s something unique you’re offering through it that non-subscribers wouldn’t have direct access to. Otherwise, what’s the point in subscribing to your list?
- An email is transient, it’s there in your inbox, then it’s gone (either buried or deleted). A blog is a constantly available, searchable resource. So while it’s important to inform your blog audience of time-sensitive news items, you want to be sure you’re including content in it that has a shelf life and can be referenced again and again.
- Read the rest of our considerations on Kate’s other blog, Outbox Takeout – including the influence of Twitter & Facebook and how to keep your customers aware of your business…
There are benefits to both, and you don’t *have* to choose. Luckily there are free ways to do both (MailChimp & Wordpress for example). Often it comes down to your budget for time and money. If you can’t truly commit to both, and follow through so that they both have a chance for success, then put your time and money into one. Which one? That decision is based on the goals for your particular circumstance, but often a blog is the best place to start.
That’s because a blog often establishes the reason why someone would want to be interested in you in the first place. It’s a chance to show your expertise while your content repository and readership grow publicly. It’s a place that can be linked to to widen your net and a place that can show up in search results. It’s a place people can interact with each other and you can communicate directly with your site visitors.
A great case study is Margaret Roach’s A Way to Garden. Her site, which is primarily comprised of her blog, also offers an email newsletter. She uses the email newsletter to point to things on her blog that her readership may have missed, but also to add a few extra touches that aren’t available on her blog, like additional stories and photos, or information about her new book. I look forward to receiving the newsletter in my inbox even though I read her blog.
So, as you go off to consider your options, make sure you look at models other people have tried that you like. Is there an email newsletter that you really love or hate to get? Why? Is there a blog that you wish had a way to subscribe for more information? How come? If you’ve ever unsubscribed from an email marketing campaign, what led you to that decision? The answers you come up with, along with the information here, will help you make the decision that will best work for you!
Web Marketing Therapy Related Links:
- How to Avoid Critical Email Marketing Mistakes
- A Biz Card is NOT an email Opt In!
- Email – Passive Aggressive Perpetrator?
- Get over your email passive ego crud
Email Marketing Made Free And Easy… (part 1) | RH Sterling Affiliate Marketing Connection
(April 17th, 2010 at 8:01 am)
[...] Web Marketing Therapy » Blog Archive » What’s better? A blog or email marketing? [...]
The Marketing Therapist
(April 17th, 2010 at 2:25 pm)
thanks for the great post Kate! Although I do like cake better, I believe that all web marketing is sweet and can be used in unison to brand, build and boost business!
-Lorrie
Derek Falk, Falk Custom Adventures
(April 18th, 2010 at 1:05 pm)
Great post Kate! We just recently squashed our monthly newsletter and decided to use our blog as our #1 means of communication. The reasons where just as you had mentioned. If we put our info on our blog, it’s always available for everyone to view, we weren’t finding enough time to dedicate to writing a really great newsletter and an RSS feed is free. That meant that we could drop our $30 month newsletter subscription. Cha-ching!
As you had mentioned, we had to offer an incentive for people to subscribe to our blog, so what we decided to do is have bi-weekly giveaways. We give away the products we review for our blog or receive through our travel, only to our loyal followers. You have to sign up to win! It’s worked wonderfully.
When we did make the switch, we simply sent out an email to all of our subscribers announcing that we were changing things up a bit and we also let them know that they would be receiving another email to validate their new subscription to our RSS feed. Worked perfectly!
Great info WMT!
Derek
Falk Custom Adventures
Kate McMillan
(April 19th, 2010 at 12:55 pm)
Great story, Derek — I especially love the idea of the bi-weekly giveaways on your blog. Given that you guys review products there, it’s an idea solution. There’s often concern when transitioning away from email marketing that you’re going to lose all the recipients in the process, and I’m so glad to hear that you found a great way to make it work!
Email Marketing
(April 26th, 2010 at 2:19 am)
Email Marketing is defined as a form of direct marketing using electronic mail to enhance a merchant’s relationship with customers thru brand loyalty and incentive programs. Email marketing’s end goal is to promote repeat business or engagement from the merchant’s customer base.