Online marketing today offers an incredible number of methods, a select few being more effective than the others. Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization rank number one and number two in terms of marketing effectiveness and possible ROI. So, what ranks number three? When done properly, the third most effective online marketing method is email marketing. If your business is working on a limited budget, employing SEO, SEM, and email marketing would alone guarantee significant business growth. While blogging, social media, videos, and several other techniques are still recommended as part of an overall online marketing strategy, they don’t come close in effectiveness to email marketing.

SEO and SEM are pretty straightforward and easy to understand, but email marketing confuses a lot of people. When using the term email marketing, the first thing that comes to mind for most people is SPAM. Everyone hates SPAM, right? Mass bombing your message to thousands of strangers is NOT an effective email marketing method. However, there ARE many ways to use email as a marketing tool without getting your domain blacklisted and blocked by the internet. Some examples of non spammy ways to make email marketing work for you:

• Monthly newsletters
• Event reminders
• Sale confirmations
• Quotes
• Invoices

Just about anything your business currently does via mail can be turned into an email marketing opportunity. Emails that are already being generated for routine functions can be turned into email marketing by adding a simple line to each email pitching a new product or service, or announcing a special sale. In this fast paced world no one has time to think about the millions of messages that we are all bombarded with every single day. That’s why effective email marketing works so well. You are using a message that your intended recipient is expecting, and sometimes excited about. Since they are checking email, chances are good that they’re working, so your message will reach them in a decision making mode.

With 93% of all consumers today receiving business data and product information through email every day, any business that ignores email marketing is making a serious mistake. Once you have decided to take on email marketing for your business, the only thing left to do is find an experienced online marketing firm that is willing to sit down with you and help you put everything in place. Competent internet marketing firms will have plans setup that can help you get an effective email marketing campaign off the ground. They will work with you to integrate email marketing into your existing processes and can design a campaign for you that matches existing branding.