What’s the difference between Email Marketing and Email Outreach?
Prospects are continuously being targeted and communicated to every single day whether that’s through digital or traditional marketing like social media or OOH campaigns. They are quite literally drowning in digital communication! With all of this noise, the inbox remains prime marketing real estate. Yet, not all emails are created equal. You’ve likely heard the terms email marketing and email outreach tossed around interchangeably. But they are not the same. In fact, conflating the two could cost you in engagement, ROI, and brand perception.
At Nexum Marketing, we believe that understanding these nuances is the difference between a scattergun approach and a laser-focused strategy. Let’s break down what each term means, what they’re for, where they work, and why email marketing should be one of the main pillars of your marketing plan.
What is Email Marketing?
Email marketing refers to sending commercial messages, typically to a list of people who have opted in to hear from your brand. These are your subscribers, your community, your warm audience. They want to hear from you (or at least, they once said they did).
Email marketing would include:
Newsletters to share updates, insights, or content.
Promotional campaigns for new products, sales, or launches.
Lead nurturing through automated sequences.
Customer retention and loyalty initiatives.
This type of marketing is typically sent through platforms like Mailchimp, Klaviyo, HubSpot, or Zoho Campaign. It can be automated, scalable, and designed for relationship-building over time.
Purpose: To educate, engage, and convert your existing audience without relying on third-party platforms like social media or paid ads.
What is Email Outreach?
Email outreach, on the other hand, is cold. It's about starting new conversations, usually with individuals who don’t yet know your brand or haven’t opted in to any of your marketing. Think of outreach as the digital version of knocking on doors.
Email outreach would be used for:
Sales prospecting where you can identify and reach out to potential clients.
Partnership development where you can pitch collaborations, link-building or PR opportunities.
Purpose: To generate new leads, open up business opportunities, or build strategic relationships.
Where and when to use each
Understanding when to use email marketing or email outreach comes down to your relationship with the recipient and your strategic goal for each activity. Email marketing is ideal when you’re communicating with an existing audience like people who have actively opted in to hear from your brand. This makes it best suited for ongoing engagement, such as nurturing leads through welcome sequences, promoting new products or services to subscribers, and delivering regular value through newsletters or educational content. It’s the go-to when you want to deepen relationships, drive repeat business, or convert warm leads over time.
Email outreach, on the other hand, is more appropriate when you're initiating contact with new prospects; particularly in a B2B environment where you're targeting decision-makers and opening sales conversations. It’s especially useful in early-stage growth or outbound strategies where building new connections is critical. Outreach allows you to personalise at scale, enter new markets, or generate leads from a well-researched target list.
Why you should have email marketing in your strategy
On average email marketing brings an ROI of £42 for every £1 spent which makes it one of the most effective, owned channels your brand can invest in. It’s not beholden to shifting social algorithms (which happens quite often). It’s not interrupted by cookie deprecation or ad-blockers. It’s direct, personal, and predictably profitable when done right.
If you're only doing outreach and not investing in email marketing, you're constantly starting from zero. That’s like pouring water into a leaky bucket. Outreach gets attention, but marketing builds trust which leads to conversion, retention, and long-term brand equity.
Partner with us
At Nexum Marketing, we work with construction product brands to build full-funnel marketing strategies.
We help clients:
Grow their email lists with lead-gen campaigns that don’t feel spammy.
Segment audiences so messages feel personal, not robotic.
Automate sequences that convert browsers into buyers.
Design beautiful, high-performing emails that make inboxes less boring.