Quick thought experiment for you this week…

I'd like you to imagine a parallel universe.

Pretty much the same as ours. Economy still in a bit of a mess. England still rubbish at football.

But one big difference. When it comes to marketing you're not allowed to be proactive.

You can answer the phone and speak to clients if they call you, but you can't call them.

You can meet them if they come in to see you, but you can't go out to networking events or conferences to meet them.

They can write to you, but you can't write to them.

Ludicrous, right?

Your results would be awful.

It's marketing with one hand tied behind your back.

But that's exactly what online marketing is like if you're not doing Email Marketing effectively.

You've got a great website full of useful content. You're driving traffic from SEO, social media, all sorts of sources.

But take a look at your website stats. How many visitors to your site are return visitors? How many come back after their initial visit.

Sadly, even with a great site, typically only 30% of hits are from returning visitors. Often it's a lot less.

That means the vast majority of your visitors turn up, but never come back.

And very often it's not because they don't like what you have. It's just that they're not ready right now. They make a mental note to come back when they're ready – but of course, being human, they never do.

Now if this was the real world and you met someone who could be a good client for you and you got on well but you didn't hear from them for a while – you'd give 'em a call. You'd proactively nurture the relationship somehow.

The same goes if they phone you to ask a question. You'd take their details and follow up.

And that's what email marketing gives you in the online world. The chance to proactively follow up.

I'm sure you've heard over and over again that in the world of high value services it takes 6, 7, 10 contacts before a potential client will be ready to buy.

We know how to make that happen in the face to face world.

But online a huge number of businesses just aren't doing this. They hope that visitors will become clients in one visit. Or they'll remember to come back.

The stats say it doesn't happen.

If you want to nurture a relationship online you can't rely on just your website. You have to have a way of proactively reaching potential clients who you know are interested.

Email marketing is that way.

Without it you're marketing with one hand tied behind your back.