Now before you start naysaying... I love Disco; it will never die
for me. I have many people tell me they hate disco but... when "YMCA"
starts playing they all jump up and make the air letters. (Admit it, you
do too)
Before I can tell you why email is relevant let me tell you a little bit about the history of it.
Email has been around before the internet. 1965 was the first appearance of an "email system."
"How is that possible?" You may ask. Well, email in its infancy was simply a file placed in a folder. This was done on a mainframe computer that many people shared. Remember, this was before there was any connectivity "internet" between computers. To "send" a message to someone you created a text file in a folder that they could check the next time they logged on to the mainframe. (I am assuming that you have an idea what a mainframe is, if not search for it and all will be revealed)
This method worked for many years. Now we introduce ARPANet (the "internet") This allowed people to place those files on computer in distant locations. Way cool!
ARPANet was developed for and only used by the military at this time. Because of the speed of communication was so important, email became its special purpose. People could see that it was going to grow bigger, fast, and it needed to be improved for the masses. In 1975 Ray Tomlinson, who some say is credited with inventing email, came up with the naming system we use today. The beloved @ symbol. This allowed email to know where it was supposed to go.
Now you know a little bit about email history.
People used to have Pen Pals
You may or may not remember the days before email. You may not remember that cursive handwriting was taught in school. You may not even know what a Pen Pal is (was).
I had a Pen Pal when I was a kid. The local church boys club would connect to boys to be Pen Pals. The boys we wrote to were in the orphanage and probably enjoyed getting the mail. We would exchange stories of our days and experiences. I would, and most likely my Pen Pal, agonize over writing a new letter. It took too long, then I had to find a stamp, and then I would wait for them to read my letter, and then hopefully they would send me one back.
Too much work for a little kid to do. We had forts to build and dragons to slay.
Imagine what would have happened if I had email back then? For sure, I would have written more often. I may have even developed a longtime friend.
Today we have the power of email. Email is fast, email is now, and email is Intimate.
Intimate?
Email is, in its best form, one person communicating with another person. Email allows us to say what we want to say without inhibition. In fact, it can be almost too intimate...
I feel that it is almost... immortal.
The words will never fade off the page. The words will always be the same every time you read them. The words will carry the message for as long as it can.
How does it being intimate and immortal make it relevant?
I am going to bring marketing into this discussion now. I mean this is what we are really talking about right?
How can a 48+ year old technology be relevant in today's Twitter fast, Facebook liked, Pinterested society?
Here are some facts as I know them today.
The number of email users, in the United States alone, continues to grow with each year. eMarketer projects that there will be nearly 240 million Americans with email accounts by 2017.
In that same period, the Global number of email users is to be at 2.8 billion by 2017.
That is a lot of email addresses!
Like me, Tweet me, accept me.
Today society is all about social media. Did you see my post on Facebook - like it please, did you get the Tweet from Justin Bieber, and have you seen the awesome shoes on Pinterest? We are all about instant gratification on information and connections. If you do not reply to your friend's text in a certain amount of time, they will text you again asking, "Are you made at me?"
On the other hand, email is timeless. You can check it when you want to. You can check it wherever you have access to your inbox. You can group it into special folders, reply to it, forward it, or ignore it. Best of all, there is no uncertainty about what a person wrote. The words are there on the screen. (let's not talk about the meaning between the lines. That has been an argument between many of people... I don't even want to touch that topic)
How is email relevant? How it fits into the social media craze?
I said earlier that email is intimate, it is personal, and it can connect all your marketing efforts together.
Companies run many different campaigns to promote their brand or products. Social media, print ads, billboards, TV commercials, people handing out flyers on the streets. These all can work well in one way or another.
One way to bring these all together is through email. Your emails can draw in your clients with conversation. Make them a part of the tribe. You can create a "Pack" with your list.
You can tell them about your humanitarian efforts or promote a contest (sending them to your social media sites to register of course). Teach them about something they never knew, raise their awareness of anything.
People want to be acknowledged and shown approval. Send them emails that do just that. Acknowledge their wants and needs. Approve of their desires. Then show them how to achieve them.
Once you do that, you are golden! Your group will associate you, your brand or product, with good and fun things, they will most likely trust you. They will associate your brand or product with this trust. They will be loyal to you.
"The Google"
The older generation, baby boomers, may not tweet but most of them I know can email and use "the Google". You cannot forget that not everyone cares about social media. Some people just want to get what they want without any extras. Go ahead and be the best social media giant you can be. But, don't forget about Granny Coe, or Uncle Bob. Send them an email, they will appreciate it more than a tweet.
Wrap it up, I'll take it...
I hope you enjoyed the history lesson and social media bashing. I only want to make you think about the good old email.
Like the castles in Europe, email has stood the test of time. It predates the internet and continues to grow and evolve. I am excited to see what it becomes in the years ahead. It will probably be much the same but with more zing.
Before I can tell you why email is relevant let me tell you a little bit about the history of it.
Email has been around before the internet. 1965 was the first appearance of an "email system."
"How is that possible?" You may ask. Well, email in its infancy was simply a file placed in a folder. This was done on a mainframe computer that many people shared. Remember, this was before there was any connectivity "internet" between computers. To "send" a message to someone you created a text file in a folder that they could check the next time they logged on to the mainframe. (I am assuming that you have an idea what a mainframe is, if not search for it and all will be revealed)
This method worked for many years. Now we introduce ARPANet (the "internet") This allowed people to place those files on computer in distant locations. Way cool!
ARPANet was developed for and only used by the military at this time. Because of the speed of communication was so important, email became its special purpose. People could see that it was going to grow bigger, fast, and it needed to be improved for the masses. In 1975 Ray Tomlinson, who some say is credited with inventing email, came up with the naming system we use today. The beloved @ symbol. This allowed email to know where it was supposed to go.
Now you know a little bit about email history.
People used to have Pen Pals
You may or may not remember the days before email. You may not remember that cursive handwriting was taught in school. You may not even know what a Pen Pal is (was).
I had a Pen Pal when I was a kid. The local church boys club would connect to boys to be Pen Pals. The boys we wrote to were in the orphanage and probably enjoyed getting the mail. We would exchange stories of our days and experiences. I would, and most likely my Pen Pal, agonize over writing a new letter. It took too long, then I had to find a stamp, and then I would wait for them to read my letter, and then hopefully they would send me one back.
Too much work for a little kid to do. We had forts to build and dragons to slay.
Imagine what would have happened if I had email back then? For sure, I would have written more often. I may have even developed a longtime friend.
Today we have the power of email. Email is fast, email is now, and email is Intimate.
Intimate?
Email is, in its best form, one person communicating with another person. Email allows us to say what we want to say without inhibition. In fact, it can be almost too intimate...
I feel that it is almost... immortal.
The words will never fade off the page. The words will always be the same every time you read them. The words will carry the message for as long as it can.
How does it being intimate and immortal make it relevant?
I am going to bring marketing into this discussion now. I mean this is what we are really talking about right?
How can a 48+ year old technology be relevant in today's Twitter fast, Facebook liked, Pinterested society?
Here are some facts as I know them today.
The number of email users, in the United States alone, continues to grow with each year. eMarketer projects that there will be nearly 240 million Americans with email accounts by 2017.
In that same period, the Global number of email users is to be at 2.8 billion by 2017.
That is a lot of email addresses!
Like me, Tweet me, accept me.
Today society is all about social media. Did you see my post on Facebook - like it please, did you get the Tweet from Justin Bieber, and have you seen the awesome shoes on Pinterest? We are all about instant gratification on information and connections. If you do not reply to your friend's text in a certain amount of time, they will text you again asking, "Are you made at me?"
On the other hand, email is timeless. You can check it when you want to. You can check it wherever you have access to your inbox. You can group it into special folders, reply to it, forward it, or ignore it. Best of all, there is no uncertainty about what a person wrote. The words are there on the screen. (let's not talk about the meaning between the lines. That has been an argument between many of people... I don't even want to touch that topic)
How is email relevant? How it fits into the social media craze?
I said earlier that email is intimate, it is personal, and it can connect all your marketing efforts together.
Companies run many different campaigns to promote their brand or products. Social media, print ads, billboards, TV commercials, people handing out flyers on the streets. These all can work well in one way or another.
One way to bring these all together is through email. Your emails can draw in your clients with conversation. Make them a part of the tribe. You can create a "Pack" with your list.
You can tell them about your humanitarian efforts or promote a contest (sending them to your social media sites to register of course). Teach them about something they never knew, raise their awareness of anything.
People want to be acknowledged and shown approval. Send them emails that do just that. Acknowledge their wants and needs. Approve of their desires. Then show them how to achieve them.
Once you do that, you are golden! Your group will associate you, your brand or product, with good and fun things, they will most likely trust you. They will associate your brand or product with this trust. They will be loyal to you.
"The Google"
The older generation, baby boomers, may not tweet but most of them I know can email and use "the Google". You cannot forget that not everyone cares about social media. Some people just want to get what they want without any extras. Go ahead and be the best social media giant you can be. But, don't forget about Granny Coe, or Uncle Bob. Send them an email, they will appreciate it more than a tweet.
Wrap it up, I'll take it...
I hope you enjoyed the history lesson and social media bashing. I only want to make you think about the good old email.
Like the castles in Europe, email has stood the test of time. It predates the internet and continues to grow and evolve. I am excited to see what it becomes in the years ahead. It will probably be much the same but with more zing.
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