Every few years, something new comes out and marketers start acting like the worst versions of themselves.
For example, look at all the email doomsayers from the past few years:
First, the idea of using social media to grow a business was all the rage. Marketers cried “social media will kill email.” But they forgot that email is positioned lower in the funnel than social media—and thus, forgot it was several times more persuasive and profitable than social media could ever dream to be.
Then, after social media didn’t kill email like everyone said it would, chatbots became all the rage. It was marketed as a solution to problems social media had baked into it. It would, in marketing speak, help you move your ideal audience down your funnel. But, again, this was mostly hype and chatbots weren’t any more impressive than a customer service chatbot on your website.
Next, after the chatbot hype dried up, SMS marketing was the next big thing because you get near “90% open rates.” But nobody told these hype beast marketers that just because a text gets opened does not mean it gets acted upon. I mean did they really forget there’s an entire industry of charlatans that show young men how to deal with getting ghosted by a girl?
And when the SMS hype died, AI joined the conversation. AI was (and still is) sold as the solution to every problem a feeble human being can have. It can solve any marketing, sales, or life problem you pose to it. It won’t only bring the death of email, but the death of human-based marketing.
Until you realize this is mostly marketing hype and the real-world use cases of AI are shockingly limited—especially since the world becomes more aware of sniffing out AI slop as the days pass.
And when the AI hype dies down, there will be another bright shiny object that marketers pretend will bring the death of email.
But email ain’t goin anywhere anytime soon. And I can prove it:
This past weekend, my family boogied down to southern Ohio to spend the weekend with my sister. And my zoomer step-sister was doing something that shocked my millennial mind:
She was emailing her friends on the entire trip down!
A 13-year-old zoomer using email as her main style of communication with her friends?
It’s something I did not have on my 2025 bingo card.
And this short, yet insightful story reveals the staying power email has:
It will survive the next big thing.
More people use email than ever before. And this number is growing.
And it’s still the final funnel step before someone knows, likes, and trusts you enough to whip on their credit card and turn themselves into a customer.
Need help creating a strategy that does this for your business?
Hit reply and let’s chat.
John
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