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Extra Features and Video Online FloristsReview.com R E A D O N L I N E 51 S ome people, when considering ways to market their fl ower enterprises, are old school—newspapers, magazines, billboards, fl iers and pamphlets—while others believe the more "new-school" way of promoting via digital ads, blogs, vlogs, websites and social media platforms, for example, are the way to go. Truthfully, each works in its own wonderfully mysterious way—although eff ectiveness can vary by target market. e goal of each marketing format is to promote a business and its products and/or services to consumers and to incentivize purchasing and loyalty among those consumers. Email marketing, which has been around for more than 40 years, is sort of halfway between the old and new schools. Here are a couple of fun facts: 1) e fi rst electronic mail was sent in 1971 by computer engineer Ray Tomlinson from one computer to another on ARPANET, the forerunner of the internet, and 2) the fi rst email marketing blast was sent in 1978 by Digital Equipment Corporation to 400 of the company's computer customers. It resulted in $13 million in sales, which is equivalent to around $60 million in today's dollars. Back to today. Although it's been around for decades, email marketing isn't dead, states Hailey Hudson, writing for DirectLync Insights, notes that 69 percent of businesses still use email marketing today (Content Marketing Institute, 2022). " is marketing method is still a highly eff ective tool for both increasing engagement and revenue among current customers and acquiring and retaining customers. However, many businesses are making mistakes with their marketing emails, which means [they] might not see good results from [their] eff orts." Hudson notes the following statistics about email marketing in support of her contention that it's not going anywhere soon and, in fact, will continue to grow. • e number of email users worldwide is estimated to be 4.3 billion, and that number is expected to grow to 4.6 billion by 2025 (Statista, 2021). at's more than half of the world's population! • 333.2 billion emails are sent and received every day, and that number is expected to increase to 376.4 billion by 2025 (Statista, 2021). • Marketing emails have an impressive ROI: In general, businesses can expect an average return of $36 to $40 for every $1 they spend on email marketing, (Litmus Software and Omnisend, 2022, respectively). Eighteen percent of companies who use email marketing achieve an ROI that's greater than $70 for every $1 spent (Omnisend, 2022). • Email marketing is more likely to drive sales than social media marketing, and it's a fast, personal and direct way to reach customers. MailChimp, which, among many other things, provides email marketing platforms for businesses, states that email marketing can be a softer sell to inform customers on your email list of new products, discounts and other services and to educate them on the value of your brand or keep them engaged between purchases. By Andrew Joseph EARN $70 FOR EVERY $1 SPENT

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