A Deeper Look at the 5 “D’s” of the Email Marketing World

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Key takeaways

• The five D’s are practical prompts for modern inbox strategy: Disruption (unlearn conventions), Deconstruction (integrate channels), De‑Planning (replace rigid plans with a flexible five‑year vision), Dematerialization (make email mobile‑first) and De‑Creativity (include developers in creative work).
• Disruption: stop obsessing over competitors, adopt freethinking and test radically different inbox approaches to appear fresh to your audience.
• Deconstruction: break down barriers between email, social and owned channels. Start with social share buttons and sign‑up links in blog posts and profiles.
• De‑Planning: swap a rigid five‑year plan for a five‑year vision that’s malleable and lets your brand react in real time.
• Dematerialization: treat the customer experience as mobile‑centric. Make email the centrepiece of a responsive, pocket‑first experience with real‑time mobile alerts.
• De‑Creativity: involve developers and coders in strategy and creative sessions so technical feasibility and innovation are part of the creative process.

Introduction

At the 2015 edition of the Golden Hammer conference – a premiere international marketing festival – industry thought leader Thomas Le Thierry d’Ennequin offered up a unique address to the assembled members of the email marketing community that has caused quite a bit of buzz across a variety of digital channels. In an effort to bring you up to speed with this groundbreaking line of thought and ensure that your brand always remains on the cutting edge of the inbox outreach process, let’s spend a few minutes covering each of d’Ennequin’s five “D’s” of email marketing and their various applications in greater detail.

Disruption

The first facet of this list, according to Marketing Profs’ Liga Bizune, comes in the form of mental disruption. Essentially, d’Ennequin posits that the greater email marketing world is simply too stuck on constantly worrying about the competition, and therefore unable to think outside the box.

The solution to this dilemma? Disrupt your outlook on inbox operations and become willing to unlearn everything you know about email marketing. It sounds scary at first, but adopting a freethinking mentality and a propensity to attack this process from a variety of different angles is the perfect way to come across as fresh and innovative to your target audience.

Deconstruction

Up next on d’Ennequin’s list is the concept of deconstructing the perceived barriers between your digital marketing channels. Considering how interconnected today’s digital experience is – as well as the already established overlap between social media and email marketing – this approach makes plenty of sense from a “big picture” perspective.

Naturally, the actual deconstruction of these barriers depends entirely on the current standing of your email marketing operations. Are you already including social share buttons in your emails? What about incorporating sign-up opportunities via your weekly blog posts and network profiles? If you’re not already enacting these basic integration strategies, you’ll want to catch up with the rest of the more progressive sect of your industry before you start searching out new ways to build better bonds between these once isolated channels.

De-Planning

Do you have a rigid five year plan in place for your email and other marketing practices? If so, it’s time to say goodbye to this structured take on the process and embrace the chaotic and constantly shifting world of inbox outreach that exists today. The truth of the matter is that having such a solid long term plan in place merely inhibits the flexibility of your brand, as well as its ability to react in real-time to changing customer needs and preferences.

Instead, D’ennequin suggests utilizing a five year vision instead. The foresight and expectations found within an overarching vision are far less rigid and considerably more malleable, thus giving your brand a better chance at thriving in the inbox as the parameters of quality content and acceptable interaction shift and evolve.

Dematerialization

In their look at D’ennequin’s 5 D’s, the team from Global Perspectives notes that one of the biggest trends requiring your attention is the apparent “dematerialization” of the customer experience. Simply put, everything that happens within the modern digital world occurs from the customer’s pocket – specifically their mobile devices.

Gone are the days of wallets, day planners, and even personal computers. Now, building a full-service, responsive mobile experience – with email marketing as the centerpiece – is the only way to capitalize on today’s digital customer expectations. From real-time alerts related to purchases and requests, to mobile-friendly regular inbox content, it’s beyond imperative that you give your audience a comprehensive digital experience.

De-Creativity

The final entry on this list – de-creativity – is all about realizing that the developers deserve a spot in the creative process too. These masters of all things coding and programming have the vision needed to bring innovative and cutting edge takes on email marketing practices and procedures to life, so incorporating a team of experts into your greater marketing strategy sessions is the first step toward embracing a more effective take on the creative process.

At the end of the day, d’Ennequin’s five D’s of the email marketing world are clearly a lot to digest in one sitting. From letting go of rigid planning, to working hand in hand with technology-savvy experts who formerly had no spot reserved in the traditional marketing process, it’s safe to say that this type of approach is definitely coming from an outside-of-the-box perspective. However, now that you’re up to speed with these intriguing concepts, you can move forward with a broader – and fresher – outlook regarding what your brand needs to do to in order to win over the people that matter most in the inbox.

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