An Email blast is just plain stupid and needs to stop, forever.

I will say it again.

WE NEED TO STOP EMAIL “BLAST”!

An email blast is quite possibly the dumbest, least effective and, quite frankly, one of the most detrimental tactics (if it can even be called that), in digital marketing today.

Just the phrase being uttered sends shivers down my spine. Marketers have worked so hard for many years to build reputable email communication strategies that are going straight down the gutter to a 90s phenomenon that simply won’t die. You all remember those Nigerian prince emails, don’t you? Well, this is the same tactic.

This is about as effective as printing 100,000 flyers and dropping them out of a plane over the ocean, hoping some guy on a fishing boat somewhere snags one and happens to have a second cousin somewhere that may think your product is worth talking about.

In working with lots of startups, we get asked about the quickest and cheapest ways to generate leads. Seeing as sending email is free (sort of), they almost ALWAYS want to start with this. So, how much can one ’email blast’ cost?

Keep blasting off. See what happens.

Sending those email blasts might not actually cost you *that* much in dollars, but it can cost you big time on the repercussions. Let’s break down the actual reasons partaking in this dying practice is detrimental.

1. It’s spam! ‘nuff said! It’s illegal and the FTC can prosecute you.
2. They can damage your brand’s reputation. They’re spray and pray. And in this case, go ahead and do an extra prayer for every hundred poor souls you spam.
3. They can get you blacklisted. This is seriously bad. If you don’t know the impact that can have on your business, think about Google deciding you’re no longer worthy of being on the internet. At all. It’s that bad.
4. IT’S SPAM. This needed to be said again. It is actually fully prosecutable and 100% illegal per the CAN-SPAM act. It’s especially illegal in Canada too.
5. It gives marketers a bad name…. ok, ok. I might be a little biased on this one, but it is true. There is so much more to marketing than email blasts, and the good work that we do is diminished when this kind of marketing is still occurring. One message to one generic group of people? When has that ever worked? Ever.

It’s Okay – We’ve Been There

I hope any marketer reading this is shaking their head and conjuring the proper way to structure an email campaign with email best practices in mind, regardless of what their client, boss or other ill-informed person is directing them to do.

Simply put, it will not help your business. I promise you that. It’s lazy marketing, It’s not strategic, it’s not targeted or segmented, and you mighty as well start shilling weight loss pills or local singles in your area. Even if your product is legit the blast email is the epitome of spam that we all loathe getting in our inboxes – regardless of the product.

Straight Talk

Now, to set the record straight, I am by no means saying that all email marketing is bad. In fact, quite the opposite. There are plenty of email marketing tactics we use daily that work. So aside from an email “blast” what is effective email marketing?

As we say many times on this blog, email marketing needs to be unique for each company and act as a supplement to other marketing efforts.

From highly targeted outbound emails, to nurture campaigns designed to convert, all the way to ABM-focused and highly-focused email outreach, there are plenty of ways to effectively use email to grow your business that don’t involve spamming your way into people’s mailboxes.

Check out the blog on the Good, Bad and Ugly of Email Marketing, which talks about effective email marketing strategies. See if it’s right for you.