Email marketing remains one of the most effective methods that businesses can use to reach their customers and generate leads. Yet, in the evolving world of digital marketing, it is not easy for email marketers to keep up with the newest and greatest trends. Luckily, TED Talks provides insights and inspiration from professionals in every industry, including email marketing. In this article, we’ll go over 5 TED Talks every email marketer should listen to.
“The Unexpected Habits of Original Thinkers” by Adam Grant In this TED Talk, Wharton professor Adam Grant shares research and advice on how we can be creative and original at work. While not directly applicable to email marketing, Grant’s thoughts are valuable for marketers wanting to stand out and create more enticing campaigns.
Grant stresses that we should stop and break down, try new things, and fail as part of the creative process. Email marketers can apply these principles by trying out different subject lines, email layouts, and CTAs, and by taking inspiration from other industries and sources.
E-mail marketers, for instance, can try to break from the habit and try new things, such as attending a conference or workshop in a new area, or engaging in a new activity or hobby. This can enable them to expand their thinking and come up with fresh concepts for their email marketing campaigns.
Email marketers also learn to be comfortable with failure as part of the experimentation process. By experimenting with different approaches, email marketers can discover what’s effective and what’s ineffective and optimize their campaigns over time.
Benjamin Zander The Art of PossibilityIn this TED Talk, the conductor Benjamin Zander explores passion, life, and the contrast between scarcity and possibility through music. For email marketers – who typically have the most resources, time, and budget at their disposal – this philosophy rings true.
The thing that Zander is asking us to look more closely at is what can be achieved, rather than what stands in the way. An email marketer who starts with such an attitude of possibility can end up finding solutions to seemingly hard-to-fathom problems and novel campaign ideas. The second salient lesson of Zander’s speech is to share narratives.
Email marketers can use storytelling to create more interesting and memorable campaigns. By sharing the heartwarming experiences of customers, employees or products, they are building emotional connections with their audience that will never cease to swell. As Zander says, the relationship aspect of this email marketing space is where you’re not just selling a product, but building relationships.
“What to Choose” by Samantha Agoos.
In this actionable, and insightful TED Talk, journalist Samantha Agoos offers extremely insightful tips for how to make smarter choices in both your personal and professional life. Being able to monitor and optimize email campaigns is another essential tool for the email marketer, which makes Agoos’ tips particularly helpful.
She talks about gathering data, seeking out a lot of perspectives, and considering how something might look in the long run. If you do so with a data-driven mindset when it comes to email marketing (aka testing and optimizing) it will make a significant difference to your campaigns.
Additionally, Agoos encourages accepting ambiguity, a staple of any marketing strategy. Only through this willingness to experiment with new techniques, change with results, and rethink strategy with knowledge will the email marketer perfect a technique that best delivers to their intended users at the highest level of effectiveness.
“The Power of Vulnerability” by Brené BrownThe renowned scientist and narrative artist Brené Brown steps to the podium to talk about one thing: vulnerability. And it might, on the surface, appear totally unrelated to email marketing. But Brown’s message of making authentic connections applies — at least for marketers who want to connect with, and relate to, their customers.
This vulnerability will allow email marketers to reach an entirely new level of intimacy with their audience and bring them even closer. Brown insists that empathy – an intense sense of listening and being understood – can make the difference between a customer remaining loyal and engaged.
By sharing real life stories, exposing customers to difficulties and insights, marketing emails are persuasive. The more a customer feels appreciated and understood, the more they will trust a brand, which may mean loyalty and longer-term connections.
“The Surprising Science of Happiness” by Dan Gilbert
Happiness isn’t as simple as you think, according to psychologist Dan Gilbert in his popular TED Talk, The Surprising Science of Happiness. This knowledge about how expectations affect our emotional lives can help email marketers emulate Gilbert’s work on creating and controlling customer expectations.
Email Marketing is only effective when it delivers an offer or a piece of information, not just in the mail but a shopping experience that will shock your customers. Yes, you can do that by being very careful about what their emails promise and whether or not the content meets those expectations. Good content in keeping with audience interest generates joy and, therefore, creates an improved relationship between the brand and the customer.
Thanks and positive thinking are, however, what Gilbert encourages, and that is a very good mindset to have as an email marketer. The profession can sometimes be very results-driven and demotivating; if you want to remain inspired, focus on the good results might really help you develop creativity and resilience in campaign development.
Conclusion:
To wrap things up, TED Talks provide a great source of inspiration and information for email marketers looking to keep up-to-date with the latest best practices. Watch these five TED Talks to understand the real-world tricks and hacks that email marketers can apply to become creative, make better decisions, develop real relationships and make satisfied customers. Whether you’re a seasoned email marketer or an amateur, these TED Talks will push you and encourage you to build better, more interesting email campaigns.
