Lately, I've been seeing the same question pop up everywhere-in LinkedIn feeds, inboxes, and even random Google searches:"Is email marketing still relevant in 2025?"

It's a fair question. As younger generations who grew up with faster, more dynamic digital platforms enter decision-making roles, email can sometimes feel like it's losing ground to other communication tools. Add to that the overwhelming volume of emails we all receive daily (when was the last time you had zero unread emails?)and it's easy to assume email might be on its way out. But despite these challenges, the data tells a different story: email is far from dead.

In fact,35% of companies report an impressive ROI of 36:1 or higher from email marketing1proving that, while email still works, success depends on rethinking your approach and adopting the right tools to optimize your strategy.

Marketing Velocity: Your Answer to the Email Challenge 

Unfortunately, getting your customers to read your emails is not as easy as clicking "send." Companies with thehighest open rates (30-40%) and highest click-through rates (over 5%)are more likely to dedicate over 15% of their marketing budgets to email campaigns and invest heavily in staffing withhalf of marketing teams employing at least 25% of their staff for email marketing efforts.1

But what if you don't have a large team or a big budget? That's where-you guessed it-Cisco Marketing Velocity(MV) comes in again.

In my last article, we discussed how Marketing Velocity can help streamline your social media strategy. But did you know that it also offers a suite of powerful email marketing capabilities? With98% of leads in Marketing Velocity campaigns starting with email touchpoints, MV's email tools can help you scale your demand generation efforts with minimal resources, all included as part of your Cisco partner benefits.

Getting Started: The Basics
Here are three essentials to build your confidence with Marketing Velocity and boost your results quickly:

• Use Ready-Made Content: In 2025, content creation is the most sought-after skill in email marketing,1  as emails shift from transactional to relationship-building. With MV, Cisco's subject matter experts have done the heavy lifting for you-browse the content library, filter for email and copy blocks, and adapt them to fit your brand voice.

Pro Tip: Use generative AI to refine or iterate on Cisco's copy. With 49% of marketers using AI for static copy in 2025,1  it's a great way to save time while staying competitive.

• Activate Campaign Emails: Many MV campaigns, like the AI-Ready Data Center campaign, include pre-built emails. Simply customize the email, add your logo, upload your contact list, and click "schedule."
• Track Performance Metrics: Once your email is sent, monitor key metrics like click-through rates (CTR) and conversion rates (CVR) in MV's dashboards. ForB2B brands, CTRs average 1-3%.¹Find these insights in Marketing Velocity to refine future emails.

Taking Marketing Velocity Capabilities to the Next Level 

We encourage our more advanced users to be creative with how they leverage Marketing Velocity beyond our customizable campaigns. For example, you can build and manage a newsletter directly within MV using the following capabilities:

• Subscription Forms:Using web plugins, launch a sign-up form in less than 5 minutes with one of our "create your own (CYO) templates."
• Dynamic Membership Rules:Automate your contact lists by setting rules that update based on engagement, such as adding contacts who subscribe via a web form.
• Custom Email Templates:Use the email builder, accessible through the "create your own campaign option" to create your own templates or start with the basic newsletter template available in MV.

With these advanced features, you can go beyond one-off emails to build ongoing campaigns that nurture long-term engagement.

Bringing Email into the Future 

As we've seen, email marketing is alive and thriving-but innovation is the key to staying competitive. Whether it's leveraging AI to refine email copy or using tools like Marketing Velocity to save time and resources, evolving your strategy is essential.

Partners just like you are already seeing the impact; one partner even reported a7x increase in their sales pipelineafter using Marketing Velocity. It's time to see what Marketing Velocity can do for you.

Happy activating!

For step-by-step training on activating emails in Marketing Velocity and other best practices, visit Marketing Velocity Learning.

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