Top 12 Benefits of Email Marketing For Business

 Email marketing is one of the best ways to communicate with customers, with this top 12 benefits of email marketing for business we will highlight, how you can benefit from this and generate money.

And while most email service providers (ESPs) now come with plenty of automation tools, email marketing can still take patience, hard work, and a small bit of financial investment upfront, with this the top 12 benefits of email marketing for business is what we will highlight in this articles. 

Which leads back to that same question:

“Is email marketing worth all the time and effort?”

So, today, we’re going to answer that question with a resounding YES. And by the end of this article, we think you’ll agree.

Email marketing uses email to build relationships with your audience. With the right communication flow, you can send relevant information and convert prospects to customers.

People interested in your product or service can join your list and, through email marketing communications, learn everything they need to know to make a purchasing decision.

By building your email list with your target audience (people who can benefit from your products or services), you can be sure that email marketing will become an important source of income for your business.

Why Email Marketing for Business Works

Unlike some other marketing channels, email marketing allows you to keep in touch with your customers on a consistent basis.

Be it a simple, “Thank you for subscribing,” a cheery, “Welcome on board,” or a sincere “Happy Birthday,” email is the easiest and most effective way to let your customers know you value them. Customers love it when a business treats them as an individual, not just like everyone else.

That value should show in the emails you send, and the more value you provide to your target audience, the more they’ll look forward to hearing from you. When that happens, it’s easier to get them to engage with your call-to-action.

These are 12 top benefits of email marketing for business; that make email marketing the perfect choice for your digital marketing activities.

1. Low Cost

Let’s start with the most important aspect: how much does it cost?

To run professional email marketing campaigns, all you need is a basic strategy and the right tool that allows you to test various tactics.

There are many professional email marketing software ( MailChimp, Benchmark, Sendinblue, Mailerlite, among others). These offer various plans based on the size of your list (number of subscribers).

The services are perfectly scalable. You can use a basic plan to start building your contact list, sell your products, and upgrade to more advanced plans as your online income grows.

2. Full Control

You have full control over your communications.

You can:

– Design your assets (for example, web forms, emails and landing pages).

– Decide the type of campaigns you run.

– Segment users to better direct efforts and achieve better personalization.

Plan your communication carefully to reflect your brand identity and stand out from other companies in your customers’ inboxes.

3. Accuracy

When you build your list organically, ask people to confirm the subscription. This way, you know that your contacts want to receive emails from your brand, which means that you are targeting people who are genuinely interested in your offering. This list is considered high quality and is likely to provide better business results.

You can run A / B tests, track statistics, and monitor the results of your campaigns in real time. Based on the information collected, you can make small changes (for example, layout, copy, structure, or workflow) and optimize your digital marketing program.

4. Easy to use

Creating an email marketing campaign is straightforward. You can design your templates, it’s just drag and drop, no coding required! And if design isn’t your thing, you can use ready-made templates to set up your campaigns.

5. The preferred Marketing medium

According to the DMA (Data & Marketing Association), most people prefer that companies contact them through email rather than other channels.

The survey results make perfect sense, as well-designed email marketing campaigns are relevant and non-intrusive – emails wait in the inbox and subscribers decide when is the right time to open and read it. And if they no longer want to receive the content, they can unsubscribe with just a couple of clicks.

Permission marketing means, according to Seth Godin, the Marketing guru, is privilege (not the right) to deliver relevant and personalized messages in advance to customers who really want to receive it.

6. Can reach mobile device users

The percentage of email that is opened on mobile devices continues to grow. According to a Benchmarks report, openings through a desktop account for 45.69%, followed by mobile device openings with 34.31%.

This means that you can reach your customers and influence their purchasing decisions wherever they are. You can also integrate your online and offline marketing, p. Eg by collecting email addresses at events or while shopping at a physical location.

7. Email is its own medium.

The digital marketing strategy is divided into paid, earned and owned media. Email belongs to the category of proprietary media (unless we are talking about sponsored email). It means that your company has full control over this online marketing channel.

In fact, over time, your email list becomes your greatest online marketing asset – a massive database of people wanting to know your brand.

8. Targeted and personalized communication

You can collect relevant information from your contacts throughout the subscription process and use it to tailor the communication to your needs and preferences. Based on the data, you can create segments of people who share common traits.

Your subscribers will stay on your list as long as they see value in your communication; so over time, you can build a huge email list that generates impressive income.

9.  Boost sales

According to a report from the Direct Marketing Association, 66 percent of consumers have made a purchase online due to an email marketing message.

By promoting your business through email marketing, it gives your audience the chance to make a purchase right from their phone or laptop.

Email marketing can be used to sell to prospects, boost referrals, upsell to current customers, and even re-engage customers that have not purchased from you in a while. The more relevant and targeted your email content is, the more likely the reader will take an action.

10.  Increased traffic to your website

Emails are a great way to get customers to visit your website. You can include relevant links to your site within your email content. You can also use your email campaigns to get customers to engage with other great pieces of content available on your website or blog.

For example, a local design school could send out emails to let them know about their new design class that has a limited number of seats. Many of their customers and potential leads may have missed out on this opportunity to attend the class had they not revisited the website in time.

The design school then can fill all the seats more quickly by promoting the class via email, instead of waiting for reservations to trickle in.

11.  Maintain 100% Control over Your Audience

Out of all the email marketing benefits, this may be one of the biggest: you want complete control over your audience.

More than any other platform, email marketing gives you the most stability.

With social media, you always run the risk of having your account suspended or shut down. Sometimes this isn’t even from something you did intentionally wrong.

People have had their accounts shut down for promoting their page on certain groups (without knowing they couldn’t) or by breaking other rules they weren’t aware of.

It’s why you hear horror stories of people building their entire business in Facebook pages and groups, only to get shut down and lose everything.

And the world of content marketing isn’t any better.

Thanks to algorithm updates and changes in SEO ranking factors by Google, you never know when your content will fluctuate on the results pages (SERPs).

12. Stronger customer relationships

Your customers appreciate a good email. The time and effort it takes to draft the perfect email doesn’t go unnoticed. They want to know what’s happening with your business, and how they can get involved.

It’s nearly impossible to reach out to all your customers in person or by phone. Email marketing campaigns bridge that gap. You could even set up a drip marketing campaign to help you smooth out the process.

Drip campaigns are ongoing and drive the user down the buyer’s journey to a final conversion point. They’re often used to provide constant value to subscribers while helping keep your brand top-of-mind. Often times, these emails slowly “drip” helpful information, products, or tips, over days, weeks, or months.

For example, the emails you receive when you browse Amazon, but don’t buy anything, are a drip email marketing automation at work.

Summary 

It’s easy to get caught up in the intricacies of building out an email marketing campaign that works for your customers and your business.

There’s a lot of learning involved, but there’s also a lot of opportunity to communicate with your customers, rather than just sending emails all the time.

With email marketing, you can build your brand, out-do your marketing goals, and set yourself up as an expert, all without breaking your budget.

 

How Naira Sinks to N530 Against US Dollar

 

How naira sinks to N530 against US Dollar to a fresh record low on Thursday amid the lingering scarcity of foreign exchange in Nigeria.

The value of the naira fell against the US currency on at both the parallel market and the Investors’ and Exporters’ foreign exchange window.

The local currency, which stood at 526/$1 on Tuesday, fell to 530/$1 at the parallel market on Thursday from 528/$1 on Wednesday. 

At the I&E window, the naira weakened further to 411.67/$1 on Thursday from 411.50/$1 on Wednesday, according to FMDQ Group.

No less than 55 per cent to 60 per cent of Nigerian forex transactions are traded at this window, which is used by the CBN and most exporters and investors, according to Financial Derivatives Company Limited.

“It serves as not only a source of price discovery but also a barometer for measuring potential and actual CBN intervention in the market.

Some of the exchange rate determinants are balance of payments, capital inflows and trade balance,” the FDC said.

On Tuesday the naira extended its decline on Monday, sliding to an all-time low of 527 against the dollar at the parallel market.

The naira had strengthened to 506/$1 on August 4 after plunging to 525/$1 at the parallel market on July 28, a day after the Central Bank of Nigeria stopped foreign exchange sales to Bureaux de Change.

The CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, had on July 27, at the end of the Monetary Policy Committee meeting, announced the stoppage of forex sale to the BDCs, saying they had turned themselves into “agents that facilitate graft and corrupt activities of people who seek illicit fund flow and money laundering in Nigeria.”

In a related development, the country’s external reserves have risen above $34bn for the first time in more than two and a half months, according to the CBN.

The reserves, which had been wobbling in recent weeks, jumped from $33.40bn at the end of July to $34.02bn on August 31, the highest since June 9.

The CBN data showed that the reserves fell to a record low of $33.09bn on July 12 from $34bn on June 10.

How Naira Sinks: Naira weaken in possible move to unify exchange rates

Nigeria let the naira weaken to a record low against the dollar on the official market on Friday, according to traders, who said this could be a move by the central bank to unify multiple exchange rates.

It weakened further on the black market, traders said.

“What the central bank is saying is that the (OTC) spot rate will be the official rate because that’s where the largest volumes trade,” one currency trader at a major Nigerian bank told Reuters.

Nigeria operates multiple currency regimes, which frustrate businesses and have prompted calls from the World Bank for the rates to be unified to attract investment.

Rising dollar demand has put pressure on the naira as providers of foreign exchange, such as offshore investors, exited after the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a fall in global oil prices.

Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele in February said the currency was trading at 410 naira on the official market while the government has been using that rate for its business as it tries to boost earnings from crude sales, its main export.

The World Bank has linked approval of a $1.5 billion budget support loan to currency reforms.

The central bank had been trying to unify the rates and boost the dollar supply through direct interventions.

It revised the futures rate on the naira upwards last month to ease pressure on the currency after quoting the 150-day futures contract at 435.81 naira, in its first dollar sales to foreign investors this year.

The bank is due to hold its interest rate setting meeting later this month with economic data on inflation and first quarter growth figures expected from next week.

It has kept rates on hold to support the economy hobbles by lower oil prices and impact of COVID-19 pandemic but dollar shortages have been contributing to rising inflation, a key source of concern for the central bank.

‘It is really bad’: Naira Sinks While Nigerians go hungry as food inflation soars 

‘I can’t simply afford to give my children what they really need in terms of food,’ said Feyintola Bolaji, a mother of three in her 50s based in Nigeria’s southwestern city of Ibadan.

Nigerian merchant Feyintola Bolaji, struggling with stagnant earnings and dwindling sales, is now being squeezed by the ever increasing prices demanded by her food suppliers, leading her to cut down on the amount she can put on her own family’s table.

Bolaji’s belt tightening is being shared by millions across Africa’s most populous nation. Not long after Nigeria’s statistics agency revealed that one in three people in the continent’s largest economy were unemployed, on Thursday it announced that food inflation has accelerated at the highest pace in 15 years, compounding the misery of many households.

“It is really bad, I can’t simply afford to give my children what they really need in terms of food,” said Bolaji, a mother of three in her 50s based in the southwestern city of Ibadan. “I try to make them get the nutrients they need as growing children, but it is not enough,” she said, adding “I have had to cut down on meat and fish.”

Insurgency, unrest, and the stand of President Muhammadu Buhari’s government on food imports in a nation where more than half the population lives on less than $2 a day are worsening food insecurity in the African country.

Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic has robbed 70% of Nigerians of some form of income, according to a Covid-19 impact survey published by the statistics agency last month.

Food inflation rose to 22.95% in March, caused by wide-ranging price increases across items such as cereals, yam, meat, fish and fruits.

Those soaring costs have been in part blamed on a worsening conflict between farmers and herders in Nigeria’s agriculture belt that Buhari has struggled to quash.

The unrest, combined with the more than decade-long Boko Haram insurgency in the north, a weakening currency and higher fuel prices have also contributed to rising food prices, according to SBM Intelligence, a Nigerian research firm.

What is your opinion on the recent falling of Naira?

 

How To Start A Business Online: Opinions From Successful Entrepreneurs

For so many Nigerians, making money online will definitely be a dream come true.

But sadly, it is not everyone that will ever make some decent income online.

Yeah. I’m not just saying this to get you discouraged… According to Google stats, about 70 percent of small businesses will wind up in the first 5 years. 

And this can be worse for an online business. 

Now it doesn’t just end here…

With the current challenges in developing countries, starting a rewarding online business in a country like Nigeria becomes even more difficult. 

That’s the true situation of things. 

But the truth also is, despite the challenges of starting an online business, there are people who are still doing phenomenal stuff with their online business right here in Nigeria… And other developing countries. 

How did they do that? 

If this is the question on your mind then you’re going to learn a lot from this post. 

Below are step by step guide to on how to make money online in Nigeria in 2019 according other successful (mostly) African online entrepreneurs. 

1. Look for a painful problem that others are facing, and then devise a way to make people pay you for the solution. 

Seun Osewa

Look for problems that don’t require much capital to solve. In a developing country like Nigeria, there are so many problems waiting to be solved.

One man’s problem is another man’s profit!

Competition is often weak which means you’ll make a lot of money.

So what are you waiting for?” Nigerians should not be talking about unemployment at all.

There are so many obvious opportunities around us waiting to be exploited. Being jobless in Nigeria is a big shame indeed.”

Seun Osewa.

Ok. So Seun has said it all.

Being able to solve a problem for someone is one of the easiest way to make money online in Nigeria.

When it comes to problems, it can be anything.

From giving people a reason to smile like your favorite Instagram comedians for instance to providing services like graphics designs…,

The most important thing is that you have to provide value to another person if you’re going to make money online in Nigeria in this 2019.

This is because people out there can only pay you for the value they derive from you.

2. Do what you love: 

Lasisi Elenu

I think it is just about doing what I love and enjoy. If you are consistent at doing something, people will notice you and eventually follow you.

They will also refer others to your page if you are doing something wonderful.

I never thought of coming online to be posting any skit. I was just doing comedy for fun, for my family and friends, who would laugh and compliment me. But afterwards, others discovered me and wanted to see more of my funny side.

So, in August last year, I posted my first video skit on Instagram. I think I got just about 80 views on my first post.

By the time I posted my second skit, it got about 110 views. I didn’t let the few views discourage me because I was not seeking fame in the first place.

So, I just kept doing what I loved and enjoyed and that’s how the following grew. Today, I get thousands of views on my skits…

I didn’t do any special thing to get followers on Instagram. I didn’t buy them and I didn’t also promote my account. It just grew because of my consistency and because there is a message in my skits.

Lasisi Elenu.

If you’re social media savvy, you’ll notice that some social media skits that have become popular today are something people started just for passion.

Now, one thing you must understand is that if you work on it very well, your passion can pay your bills.

Also keep in mind that even when you start out with something you’re passionate about, don’t stop at the passion, you can learn some business skills and take it to the next level.

3. Start from where you are: Mark Zuckerberg.

I literally coded Facebook in my dorm room and launched it from my dorm room.

I rented a server for $85 a month, and I funded it by putting an ad on the site, and we’ve funded ever since by putting ads on the site.

Mark Zuckerberg.

Most problems with young Nigerians wishing to start online business is the issue of funding.

Of course you don’t have collateral and there is hardly any bank that will lend you money to start any business without requiring you provide some collateral.

So the mere thought of this is usually very discouraging. But as Zuckerberg is saying, you can really start from where you are.

Yes!

Start with your own savings. This is how i started out. And i was even a university student with a stipend as pocket money.

You know how difficult that can be. And how many cool stuff you’ll have to let go just to save some bucks…

But truth is, looking back today, i feel it was worth it.

So you’ll really have to cut back on unnecessary expenses.

Another way of starting where you are is by providing services that will demand less capital for start up.

As you keep making profit from the particular service, with time you can expand to include the original service/product you wanted to start with.

So if you want to go into a big ecommerce business and you don’t have funds, you can start managing other people’s social media accounts as a side hustle. 

As you make some savings, you expand to build your ecommerce website over time.

4. Build a sustainable business model: Debola Williams.

For us, building the sustainable business model is crucial.

Debola Williams.

A business model is like a plan for the successful operation of your business.

As you already know, so many online businesses in Nigeria today run without business models.

This is the major issues with most online businesses. 

As Debola said, You can not excel or scale your online business without a realistic business model so it’s important you get one set out before even getting started.

Building a sustainable business including details of how you’ll source funds at different level of growth, clients, how you’ll expand and other details will guide you as your online business gets poised for growth.

It will also save as soon guide for your business. 

And from time to time, you can adjust your business models based on your current realities. 

5. Don’t ever give up: Linda Ikeji.

There were many times, I wanted to give up. I had bad times

back then but the worst was in September 19, 2010.

It was my 30th birthday. I was broke, I was angry because I have been done doing modeling in a long time.

I was still struggling, I was still borrowing money, I was depressed because I felt like a failure.

I will cry and cry but will still open my laptop and blog. I didn’t know that my breakthrough was at the corner and that God was leading me to it.

After my 30th birthday, my life practically changed.

Linda Ikeji

One of the wrong impression people have about online businesses is the belief that you’re definitely going to make it big as soon as you start an online business. 

This is far from the truth. 

Because just as you need time to build your offline business, to be successful with an online business, you’ll also need time. 

In fact, sometimes you’re going to work so hard and still see far less results. 

That’s the truth. Let’s not sugarcoat this.

There’s going to be times you feel like giving up…

But trust me, putting all your effort and making your online business to turn out successful is going to be one of the most rewarding experience you’ll ever have as an entrepreneur. 

So this is me telling you, whenever you feel like giving up on your online business, please understand it’s a familiar feeling.

All established digital entrepreneurs felt like this at one point…

But they struggled for their dreams. And that’s why they are being celebrated today. 

So you shouldn’t ever give up on your online hustle like most wannabe entrepreneurs do. 

Oh no I’m not saying you should keep hanging onto a business that is not sustainable… 

I’m saying that before you decide to quit, let it be that the business is no longer needful…

Not because you can’t wait to make it successful. 

I believe so much in you. And I know you have what it takes to set up a successful online business in Nigeria. Or anywhere you want. 

So are you ready? 

What has been your biggest challenge in starting out your online business? 

5 Under 30 Youngest Successful Nigerian Tech Entrepreneurs

Agriculture back then was the in thing for everybody before the advent of of oil which turned the fortunes of the country upside down, there is a mild shift away from oil to the booming tech sector with Nigerian Tech startups raising well over half a billion dollars in 2019.

Below is a list of 5 youngest Nigerian Tech Billionaires under the age of 30 doing very well for themselves in the tech sector, this list was carefully generated based on funding rounds and individual company valuations and asset base.

1.) Iselowo Kolawole Kehinde :

Aged 28 years of age, he is the CEO and founder of TRENAGRIC, simple form for Technology and Renewable Energy In Agriculture for improved agricultural yield geared towards national food security for national development, a course he is passionate about. 

Since the inception of the company he has since seen millions of Naira pouring in investment and revenue. 

He is currently working on a new health startup known as Test In Transit, he as vast experience in programming, branding and communications

2.) Iyinoluwa Samuel Aboyeji :

Networth: $100m

Aged 28 years of age, the dark skinned complexion tech genius has gone ahead to build two very successful businesses names Andela that got the attention of Mark Zuckerberg and Flutterwave one one of the biggest and best payment processing platforms in Africa, he left both companies to start up a new investment business in Niger. 

3.) Chidi Nwaogu: Aged 28 years of age, this serial entrepreneur is a force to reckon with on the whole technology scene in Nigeria has carved a niche for himself in the tech scene on Nigeria after going ahead to found and build many successful startups focusing on Africa, he is the current CEO of Publisheer (a digital distribution platform for all forms of arts by Nigerians entertainers). He is also a twin. 

4.) Silas Adekunle: The young intelligent guru is just 28 years of age, Silas Adekunle is a Nigerian inventor technology entrepreneur known for creating the world's first intelligent gaming robot. He earned a first class degree in Robotics from the University of the West of England. Despite Selling the startup at a rather early age and stage he has made a name for himself already as one of the most successful young entrepreneurs in Africa at large.

5.) John Oke: At 25 yeas of age, he is the co-founder/CEO of Wallet.ng, a digital wallet/payments solution that allows users make payments, transfer funds, pay bills and withdraw from ATMs. With their phone numbers, users can send and receive money, create virtual dollar cards to complete international transactions.

John and his friend Joseph Benson-Aruna founded the company to help users, especially millennials, enjoy an amazing experience while making payments, and also access other services that may not be available in Nigeria. He is probably the youngest on the list.

Nigeria's Notable Entrepreneurs Who Are "Under 30"

Having noticed a huge growth in enterpenurship in Nigeria , I decided to compile List olf Nigerian entrepreneurs under 25 but the list ended up being less than 5 after my findings.  This means Nigeria as a nation needs to support entrepreneur.

Nasir Yammama -27- Founder, Verdant - Agri-Tech: a social enterprise to support rural farmers with mobile technologies for sustainable farming and improved food production.

Abiola Olaniran -28 - Founder,  Game sole - Technology : Gamsole is a Nigerian-born mobile game production company. 

Fasasi Tosin - 18 - Founder Demfas Aerosystems -Telecommunication: This is Nigeria first telecommunication equipments manufacturer, founded in 2016. The company owns 4 patents. 

Ola Orekunrin - 30 - Founder flying ambulance - emergency: Flying doctors is West Africa’s first Air Ambulance Service Company. The company provides emergency helicopter, airplane ambulance and evacuation services in Nigeria and some countries within the West African Sub-region.

Bankole Cardoso - 27 - Co-founder, Easy Taxi : 

The company is a food delivery services company in Nigeria. They had a humble beginning. After the death of their father in 2009, the twins took over the responsibility of their father to take care of their mother and their other seven siblings.

Titus and Tobias Igwe - 29-  Founders of Speedmeals-E commerce: The company is a food delivery services company in Nigeria. They had a humble beginning. After the death of their father in 2009, the twins took over the responsibility of their father to take care of their mother and their other seven siblings.

Joseph Ukpong - 25 - Ceunitonc Farms - Agriculture Ceunitonc is a poultry business which focuses on breeding chicks for egg and meat purposes.

Simon Ocheni -28 -Chenix Enterprises - Chenix Enterprises – a concept that the produce and package Ijebu garri with milk, sugar, groundnut, kuli-kuli and kilishi. In his words, ‘This is an idea that I came up with so as not to be stranded after my National Youth Service.