• by Sean Hargrave , Staff Writer, July 6, 2016

Interesting to see that the IAB UK has broken its silence over the impact of last month's vote for the UK to leave the EU. The thoughts shared with eMarketer pretty much concur with my own thinking, but of course, carry much more weight with the digital marketing community. To put it simply, the sector is in a stronger position than many others because it is far more measurable, allowing an ROI to be uncovered far more easily than rival more traditional channels such as outdoor, cinema, tv and print.

It is not just in the UK that Brexit is affecting markets. Germany's stock market fell harder than London following the UK referendum result, showing that this is not just a UK issue -- it's European. To be in an industry that is renowned for the power of analytics to prove ROI can only be a good thing, and that must surely mean that plain old email marketing might turn out to be viewed in a better light.

Big brands where the board has given the go-ahead to try new things are likely to go back to their comfort zone, and that place of ease has to be able to show a well-trodden, clear path from a show of interest, through consideration and short-listing, right up to a point of purchase. Surely no other channel can match email for this, can it? And what other channel provides a proven return path to customers to suggest upgrades, accessories and associated products and services? And that's without mentioning how email ID can help track and match online and in-store behaviour.

So for any email marketer working in the EU right now, the best piece of advice is to get ready to fight the channel's corner, because it's increasingly likely that budgets will come under scrutiny. If you don't have a figure to hand already, establish what email gives back to the organisation for every pound or Euro invested in it. Get an idea of what the long-term effect on the customer journey is. How does the lifetime value of a person on your email list who engages with your content compared to someone who likes your Facebook page, for example. How about someone on your list who is also a social fan? How many times more likely is an email contact to buy more services over the next year or longer?

These will be important metrics that will help persuade the board to keep budget flowing in a tried and tested channel while, almost certainly, print will be at the forefront of cutbacks alongside -- in some cases -- expensive television campaigns.

So don't worry too much about Brexit's impact across the EU -- just get prepared to remind your organisation what exceptional value email marketing offers and let the social gurus work out how they do they same as they try to figure out what a 'like' or emoji response is worth to the board.