Color me an email marketing partisan; while social media gets the hype, email continues to generate real ROI – which is why I recommend it to so many of my consulting clients.

And why I recommend it to copywriters looking for financial stability.

Why?

Random Choice: The Latest eMail in My Inbox

As reader engagement metrics grow more sophisticated, the opportunity – and the need – for copywriters can only grow.

A more engaged audience (one byproduct of superior content) not only adds happy zeros to the bottom line, but it now seems better engagement metrics may improve email deliverability – the holy grail of email marketers.

From Chief Marketer’s digital magazine comes news of AOL’s willingness to use engagement metrics to add email marketers with highly engaged customers to their “enhanced whitelist.”

In the past, email marketers feared “This is spam” complaints from readers, knowing that too many complaints would dry up email deliverability.

In fact, email service providers (like Underground Fave MailChimp and small-biz leader Constant Contact) go to great lengths to police their own customers.

If they don’t, those vendors lose their critical “whitelist” status.

Now, it appears AOL has gone beyond simple negative measures to using engagement metrics (clicks, opens, etc) to determine if readers find emails useful.

High “engagement” scores could land your email marketing clients on AOL’s enhanced whitelist – a powerful incentive to deliver useful, engaging (and anticipated) email programs (the kind of emails a professional copywriter might write).

As the torrent of content on the Internet grows, this kind of measure will become increasingly common (and that’s not exactly a bold prediction).

Which provides fertile ground for the copywriter looking for upscale projects.

And while the existing email profit motive provides a good foundation for any client pitch, tacking on this little bit of engagement marketing news can only help.

And I’m only getting started.

A Plea For Integration

In my marketing boot camp classes, I take a hard look at the success – and the ROI – of email programs.

In fact, you can see the surprise on the faces of my business students – who often feel email is an “outdated” marketing channel – when I relate my compelling email success stories.

In simple terms, it’s a rare business that doesn’t see a revenue spike when an email drops.

And while social media channels like Twitter and Facebook have pundits swooning, integrating email, blogs and social media offers huge bottom-line benefits – and it’s a path more organizations are taking.

At times, it seems as if many young copywriters are focusing on blogging for dollars or getting paid to write “articles” – when they might consider offering integrated content packages to selected businesses.

In other words, why write weekly blog posts for a few bucks when you can pitch the same client a package containing integrated blog, social media and email content?

The Copywriter’s Growing Role

Given the ability to integrate blog entries with email programs – and the ease with which you can funnel the same content into social media – an integrated approach should be a no-brainer for even small businesses.

In fact, the integration bit is the part of my boot camp that most surprises (and excites) my students.

After all, they’ve spent the last few years growing increasingly confused (and yes, frightened) by the increasing number of communications channels.

And there I am, suggesting they – with proper integration – can stuff all those channels (blogs, email, social media) for the price of one piece of content.

In fact, technology is improving so quickly that content is now the primary barrier to online marketing success.

Which, my savvy copywriters, is where you step into the picture.

It’s no secret; I like the concept of the value-added copywriter. In this case, the value you add is integration – a turnkey ability to neatly gift-wrap a big chunk of a company’s online marketing in one nice, neat package.

You’re not writing blog posts. You’re delivering a blog, revenue-enhancing email, and a steady presence on Twitter and Facebook.

And you’re doing it turnkey.

Which means you’re delivering more than results; you’re offering peace of mind (don’t undervalue that in today’s madhouse marketing universe).

And yes, it’s retainer money, and as Underground Fave Seasoned Veteran Copywriter Roberta often says, freelancers ignore regular paychecks at their own peril.

One more thing; offering integrated packages is yet another tactic that sets you aside from those bidding themselves into starvation on the freelance sites.

Keep writing (and integrating, and pitching, and…), Tom Chandler

Posted in Copywriting.