EDM marketing is a relatively new term being thrown around in the online world. Like any new acronym I’m sure that, like me, you smile and nod when you first hear it then hit up google ASAP to fill in the gaps.
So, what is EDM marketing?
It’s a term I stumbled across recently when doing some research around what information people are looking for about email marketing. Electronic dance music aside I found two different, very relevant definitions for this new term.
Firstly we have Electronic Direct Mail, which Math Marketing defines as:
(Email that is) used to target a large group of prospects or clients, and is focused on building (customer) relationships and generating leads.
Second there is Event Driven Marketing, again defined by Wikipedia (because there isn’t much else out there):
EDM is a discipline within marketing, where commercial and communication activities are based upon the measurement of relevant and identifiable changes in a customer’s individual needs.
Both are effectively extensions on email marketing and both are elements that should be included in your email marketing efforts to achieve good results.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and combine both elements into one here but Event Driven Marketing is definitely the EDM Marketing vibe I like best, mind you the Marketing tacked on the end becomes a little redundant, much like the machine in ATM machine.
Applying EDM to your online marketing is a strategy that takes you beyond email list building, blogging and email ‘newsletter’ type activities and pulls it all together in a neat and strategic package where you place pieces of information in front of a prospect at an appropriate time .
Now that we’ve established what EDM Marketing is, how can it be used to help you grow your business?
Imagine this scenario for a second.
Jane* has just found your website because she searched something specific that you had written a blog post about. The information you have provided is relevant to the problem she is looking to solve and you offer her the opportunity to download some more information in exchange for her name and email address.
The information Jane found in your blog post was helpful so she trusts that the information you’ll provide her with is worthy of her email address.
She downloads your extra information on the topic you’ve written about and goes about her business.
A few days later Jane receives an email that builds on the information you’ve already given her. You ask her if she has any questions she’d like to ask and encourage her to contact you by phone or email if you can be of further assistance.
Over the next few weeks Jane receives regular updates with useful and relevant updates and snippets of information from your business. These pieces of content are designed to continue to provide value to Jane based on the first piece of information she interacted with on your website. Different emails refer her to other resources on your website, invite her to make contact and download additional information.
Throughout this process your email marketing software is tracking how Jane is interacting with your regular emails. Additionally, you are also tracking when and if Jane returns to your website to interact with more of your blog posts or (importantly) your services or sales page.
After Jane has visited a blog post that represents the ‘next step’ in terms of information signalling that she is closer to being ready to working with you a new series of emails are triggered. These emails provide Jane with fresh, helpful information to further build her knowledge and your credibility.
Applied well this is what EDM marketing entails. A series of blog posts, emails and larger pieces of content that are delivered to prospects (people who fit your ideal client profile) in such a way that you build a relationship with them. You establish authority and develop trust in a way that makes your business and/or services the natural choice when the time arrives.
Better yet, with a solid CRM (that’s customer relations manager for the uninitiated) tool, integrated with your email management and website tracking you’ll know exactly when each new prospect is ready for a personalised email or phone call.
EDM marketing can through to your take your business to a place where (for example):
- Four months after first visiting your website you know that Jane has opened 50% of the emails you’ve sent her and followed the ‘click to website’ call to action on three out of four emails that she’s opened.
- She’s become a weekly visitor to your blog and downloaded three additional ‘content offers’ each time providing a little more information about herself than she did with the last. You now know a little about her business and she’s given you her phone number in addition to her email address.
- You’ve provided Jane with a constant flow of relevant information, tailored to build on the content she’s already interacted with.
- Jane has visited your services page ten times, with increasing frequency in the last two weeks.
- You know that she’s ready for you to make contact with her and you know exactly what to say. She needs your services and wants to work with you. Her history tells you all of this.
EDM marketing is much more than a regular email update to your database of contacts, filling them in on what’s relevant right now in your industry. Email that’d more focused on your business than the problems you can help your clients solve.
What we’re talking about here is much more powerful. It’s a strategy that can take your business to a new level of growth.
Isn’t that something worth investigating?
Click HERE – Learn how EDM could help grow your business
*Jane is not a real person, she’s a picture of an ideal client and it’s easier to give your ‘ideal clients’ a name so you can picture them when you are conversing with them through your writing.
