The main goal of every Marketing campaign is to reach a wider audience and convert potential customers into buyers. Digital marketing has changed the face of advertising in the last decade and has been one of the most dynamic ways to market products and services. One of the best features of digital marketing is the number of different channels available to a business to reach the consumer, such as email marketing, social media marketing, content marketing, and more. Even more interesting is that some of these channels can be interpolated to get better results.

Contextual marketing remains one of the most significant and impactful strategies that focus on consumer likes and dislikes. It makes use of aspects such as real-time data to understand and personalize product advertisements to consumers. Contextual Marketing is a concept that can be interpolated with other digital marketing ideas to get awesome results for any business.

In this blog we will explore how contextual marketing strategies can be used in email marketing techniques to make it more effective.

What are email marketing and contextual marketing?

Let’s start by looking at what email marketing and contextual marketing mean as separate channels or methods. Contextual marketing refers to targeted advertising based on the searches made by the user. In contextual marketing, relevant ads are pushed to the target audience based on their interests. Thus, the user receives relevant ads based on, for example, his latest searches on the internet as they may capture the user’s attention.

Email marketing, on the other hand, is a more passive approach where a user is made aware of new products, services, offers, and discounts through emails. Email marketing is one of the oldest and most effective digital marketing techniques.

Contextual Marketing Strategies for Email Marketing

Email Marketing can effectively use contextual marketing strategies to offer personalized information to subscribers and customers. When emails are crafted with information catering to the specific interests and needs of the customers, it brings in more results. Here are some contextual marketing strategies that can be used to benefit email marketing.

#1: Using Real-time Data

Using tactics to pull real-time data such as date of birth, name, etc., you can create very personalized emails that seem like the user is the only one to receive this email. If customers feel special, they will feel inclined to read the emails and click on the call-to-action button in the email.

#2: Offer Latest Updates

One of the best concepts of contextual marketing is to offer the customer information on what he is searching for. For example, if the user is using the search engine to track a package delivery, create an email that pulls in the real-time data on the status and shows it to the user when he opens that email. If the users get the information every time they open the email, they will not visit other sites to track their package. Offering users information they require through emails greatly impacts their buying preferences.

#3: Using Emails to Highlight Social Media Feeds

Social media marketing is a powerful digital marketing channel from which contextual marketing can derive information. If you are a brand that relies significantly on social media marketing, you have the option of advertising your posts through email marketing. Some users may not be as active as you would like them on social media. Plus, it is a given that some of your posts will slip through the cracks and not be seen at all by a user. As an added advantage, taking out data from your social media feed and advertising on emails will direct traffic to your social media pages.

#4: Using Geolocation for Email Marketing

Contextual marketing uses location as prime data to create urgency for users. Geolocation can be used to lure users by showing their current status and comparing it with a better one. For example, you can show real estate housing costs in the user’s neighborhood and compare it with more favorable locations and conditions.

#5: Weather

Weather is a great way to post opportunities and lure customers into making a buying decision. For example, travel companies can use weather to trigger an email to their customers showing fair weather in certain locations. They can talk about places to visit where the weather is good to customers suffering from harsher conditions.

Benefits of interpolating contextual marketing with email marketing

Using contextual marketing in amalgamation with email marketing allows increased customization and conversion.

#1: Segmentation:

When you use contextual marketing to create personalized emails, you can segregate your customers according to their interests. As you send customers emails on topics of interest, they are more likely to read them. Personalized email content creates confidence in users, and they are more likely to make a buying decision.

#2: Stronger Bonds:

As a brand, you can create stronger bonds with your customers. Contextual marketing allows you access to dynamic data which can be used to create specific content. The more dynamic elements your emails contain the more targeted and enticing they are to the customer.

#3: Lower Spends:

Contextual marketing with email marketing is a grand combination that gives you results with a good return on investment. Instead of spending on advertising through several different channels, you can get effective marketing at a lower cost.

#4: Better Product Placement:

The success of a product depends on how it is positioned in the market and its timing. Supermarkets across the world devise strategies that place products on the shelves for maximum visibility. Similarly, contextual email marketing allows more control over the product’s visibility and the timing when you would like to place it in front of your potential customers.

#5: Reduced Ad aversions:

Internet and mobile users are inundated with ads as soon as they go on the internet. Most of the ads are irrelevant and do not make sense to the user to see them. As such they often skip the ads as they feel an aversion towards watching ads. In the long run, it causes a lot of problems in the future as users become unwilling to see any ad. But when contextual marketing is used in email marketing, it shows relevant information that are of interest to the customer.

Conclusion

Contextual marketing is changing the content for emails to make them target towards segregated audiences. One of most important advantages that contextual marketing provides is increased brand recognition. As your emails are being sent to consumers who are interested in your products or services, they are opening the emails and reading them as well. This helps the consumer remember your brand and recommend it to others.

Personalized emails create a bond with the consumer as they feel your business is interested in them. Remember that one single email is not enough to entice the customer into making a buying decision. Your business has to create a brand presence through targeted contextual emails to develop a level of trust with the user. Encompassing contextual marketing strategies into email marketing can significantly impact your brand’s market value.

Author Bio:

Sachin Agrawal is an Enterprise Architect and heads up Business & Technology at Tarika Technologies. He carries the expertise and a flair for writing on Management Consulting, Software & Analytics, and Digital Media. Apart from distilling his technical ideas into creating innovative solutions, he is a practitioner of Haidong Gumdo and at his leisure, taps the Cajon and strums his Guitar!

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