Written by Originally appeared in our LinkedIn Newsletter: Spoken Like An Entrepreneur
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/chilly-effects-cold-email-marketing-lakenya-kopf-g9ece/
Lately, there has been a huge push for cold email marketing and cold tagging (tagging ideal clients in your posts to get their attention).
From a bird’s-eye view, it makes sense. Every market is currently oversaturated as more and more people decide to leave their 9-5s in lieu of either returning to the office or seeking more freedom.
They optimistically believe that once their company name is selected, the website is set up, and the announcement is made, clients will come rushingin like shoppers at Walmart on Black Friday. Unfortunately, the “Field of Dreams” perspective is quickly squashed, and alternative methods are sought to bring in income.
Initially, the traditional methods are used: word of mouth, added-value social media posts, paid ads (if their budget allows), bartering for reviews, podcast appearances, lead magnets to gain warm leads, and participating as a subject matter expert in a webinar, panel, or seminar. For some, this is enough, and they start to see an increase in lead generation.
For others, their efforts remain stagnant, and less conventional methods are sought. That’s when we start to see an uptick in “buy from me” posts in social media groups (which are often overlooked), spam comments on LinkedIn posts (I’ve had to delete a lot of those lately) and Instagram posts (very grateful for Instagram’s customizable filter – hint, hint, LinkedIn!), cold tagging, and cold email marketing.
While Google’s push for email authentication has helped cut back on spoofing, it hasn’t stopped the ridiculous amount of solicitation emails sent daily. Granted, it’s the price a business pays for having a public-facing email (and if you don’t already have an email specifically for public-facing communication, separate from prospect and client communications, I strongly recommend one.); but, there’s only so much patience for how many people I can block or report as spam in a day.
As a fellow small business owner, I get it. They’re trying to find a way to be heard over the roar of OGs who have cornered the market. Cold email marketing is one such method. Has it been proven effective? Yes! For marketers, it’s a right-place, right-time situation.
From clients, I’ve heard mixed results. Some experienced fallout from these “quick connections” – the price sounded right, the promises sounded too good to be true, and they turned out to be just that.
For others, especially those who took the time to do the research, they were able to make connections that turned into long-term partnerships. But again, they had to do the legwork to ensure that solicitation checked out.
There are pros and cons to cold email marketing, and while I don’t want to make this longer than necessary, I’ll quickly highlight two of each:
- Pro #1: Email marketing is one of the most effective ways to get directly in front of your prospective client. By sending an email about who you are, what you offer, and how you can help, you take center stage, becoming the sole focus of that potential client at that moment.
- Pro #2: It’s free or fairly inexpensive (depending on the method you use to obtain emails). Unless you choose a paid service to get emails, the cost is simply your time and effort to reach out to prospects.
- Con #1: It’s spam. There’s no way around it. In most cases, the quick email being sent does not follow the rules and regulations of the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003—such as including a physical address, an opt-out option, and clear identification in the subject or body that it’s an advertisement. Add in CASL, GDPR, and California’s Business and Professions Code, and that quick cold email becomes a legal action waiting to happen.
- Con #2: This is a three-for-one: potential for emails being marked as spam, too many spam reports leading to the domain and/or IP address being blacklisted by receiving servers, and damage to brand reputation. I put these together because each affects the others. If you’re sending spam emails and recipients don’t appreciate it, a negative impression becomes associated with your brand name. Not only that, but a spam rate of 0.3% or higher puts you at risk of being blocked by Gmail (including all Google Workspace accounts, which is quite a hefty population).
At the end of the day, the choice is ultimately yours. Am I against cold email marketing? As a fellow entrepreneur, no; as a recipient, yes. This also means I’m not the target audience for this method of soliciting. For someone like me, I prefer the ACD or Customer Journey method of marketing – Acquisition, Consideration, and Decision – meaning I find value in your business, what you say, and what you provide to prospects as a whole before deciding to move forward with you. That, in turn, is how I run my business. Again, everyone is different, so please do what works for you – just make sure the benefits ultimately outweigh the costs.
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