Email is still marketing’s ‘killer app’

The “hot new channel” for marketers is email, the Wall Street Journal reports:

For marketers great and small, the algorithms that power social media represent the ever-rising cost of doing business on the platforms owned by the duopoly of Google and Facebook. Email allows authors to intimately connect with readers, lets brands address their most loyal customers and budding startups develop armies of influencers…

Email still has the highest return on investment per marketing dollar spent, according to the Data & Marketing Association. And while Facebook, especially, has whipsawed marketers with ever-changing rules about how to reach customers—and how much Facebook will charge for the privilege—with email, a company owns its own lists.

I’ve been saying for years that email is the “killer app” for marketers and fundraisers. It enables real, personal engagement with your customers in a way that social media simply cannot.