Of all the online marketing techniques out there, email marketing is one of the most effective ways to turn prospects into customers.  It’s not as flashy as Twitter or Facebook, but stats show that email marketing “converts.”

Too much email and people aren’t interested, you say?  In fact, data from MarketingSherpa shows that 58% of those surveyed unsubscribe not because they receive too many emails, but too many irrelevant emails.  The answer is targeting.

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Social media has its place, but e-mail remains the king of online relationship marketing.

by Steve Adams

1. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes: Small business owners and entrepreneurs like to jump right in and get started, which is crucial to success, but it’s also important to prepare and plan and set objectives, especially when it comes to email marketing. When you’re getting started with email marketing make sure you step back and think through what you’re trying to accomplish. The best way to do this is to try and see things through your customer’s eyes.

* Ask yourself what type of information would attract attention and get people to open, read and act on your email campaigns.

* Do they want coupons, special offers or promotions?

* Would they respond better to valuable information and practical tips they can use?

* Often the best e-newsletters include a mix of sales with expert opinions and advice.

2. Make a 2009 email marketing plan: Once you’ve established your email marketing objectives, you can build an email marketing plan for the year. Look at the calendar, again from your customer’s perspective.

* Map out promotions, topics and campaigns that will help you reach out to your customers at the right time with the right information.

* It sounds like a challenging task, but you know your customers better than anyone else, so roughing out a flexible plan for the year shouldn’t take more than a couple of hours.

* Investing planning time up front will dramatically improve the performance of your email marketing campaigns. And your customers will appreciate getting relevant emails right when they want them.

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This content from: Duct Tape Marketing

Email Marketing Still a Great Small Business Tool

Having lots of channels and lots of ways for folks to receive relevant, education based content is a must.

While social media and other web based marketing tools are getting most of today’s hype, email marketing to a list of willing recipients is still a very powerful way to market.

Staying top of mind is often half the battle and a steady drip of information via email is a simple, effective and low-cost way to get this done.

There are many great options for tools to use in your email marketing, but today I would like to tell you a little about Vertical Response and a free trial of 500 emails available to Duct Tape readers. 

I’ve use Vertical Response over the past few months to send my email newsletter and I can tell you that I really like the simple and very intuitive interface. When I did have a question or two, I found a real person on the phone that got me running right away. They also have a survey tool and recently added the ability to send snail-mail post cards to your list.

They have a nice selection of email templates and monthly pricing as low as $10 per month.

When it comes to e-mail marketing, it’s all about the subject line. Make the most of yours.

By Carrie Hill, Search Engine Watch, Jan 6, 2009

My recent foray into post-click marketing has me studying e-mail marketing more closely than ever. The possibilities of a great e-mail marketing strategy have been spinning in my head.

E-mail marketing isn’t necessarily a function of search. Online marketing is about making money any way you can. Any well-rounded Internet marketing campaign must include a strong e-mail marketing campaign.

Search plays a role when you use PPC or organic search to grow your subscriber list. If they don’t visit your site, you can’t grow the list, which is primary when launching a successful e-mail marketing strategy. E-mail marketing software has become so robust in the last few years that the process of collecting your list, maintaining it, and sending out regular marketing messages is simple.

One of my favorites is ConstantContact. Their great site provides a lot of information before you sign up, and they offer a free 60-day trial with no obligation and no credit card. That’s huge for me when I’m trying things out.

Some other companies with great presence and service are iContact and VerticalResponse. I’d love to hear of others you like if you’re willing to share your e-mail marketing secret weapon. Read article…

Turn the Recession into a Marketing Opportunity

By JOHN GRAHAM

Have you noticed how quickly so-called ‘business leaders’ can turn into wimps? They strut their stuff when the economy is booming, making it clear their success is of their own making. But when things turn sour, they run for cover, blaming company failures on circumstances beyond their control. Out of desperation, they layoff workers, cut benefits, slash budgets — including marketing.

Not every company capitulates in the face of an economic storm. Take these, for example. Wal-Mart, Hewlett-Packard, Procter & Gamble, and Apple all have one thing in common: they are all excellent, unrelenting marketers — and they lead the competition in their categories. In other words, they refuse to hunker down. Read article…

E-mail is perhaps the No. 1 mode of business communication today, utilized in almost every business sector across the nation. But while most of the business world understands the function of e-mail, not everyone understands the importance behind using proper etiquette in their messages.