Like many small business owners, you may be asking “What is email marketing?” The term “email marketing” can quite often create confusion among marketers and business owners.

No doubt you have heard of email marketing repeatedly on the internet.  Conferences and marketing strategy meetings often include information about email marketing.

Email marketing enriches business communications, targets specific key markets, is both cost-effective and environmentally friendly. But what is email marketing exactly and how does it work?

How is an email more effective than a radio spot or television advertisement and why should a business spend the time to build and maintain an email list?

Email marketing occurs when a company sends a commercial message to any group of people by use of electronic email. Any email communication should be considered email marketing if it helps to create attention, build customer loyalty, improve trust in a product or build company and brand recognition. Email marketing is an efficient way to stay connected with your clients while also adding new clients to your business.

Email marketing helps you easily and quickly reach target markets without the need for large quantities of print space, television or radio time or high production costs. Thanks to effective email marketing software, you can build and maintain an email marketing list that has been segmented based on several factors including the length of time addresses have been on the list, customers’ likes and dislikes, spending habits and other important criteria. Emails are then created and sent out to specifically target members of your email list, providing them with a personalized email detailing information that they are interested in or have requested.

Some examples of email marketing would include:

• a welcome email that thanks that new contact for opting in to your subscription. Welcome letters can not only give valuable information about your company, they can also request key information about your new client, helping you put the person in the correct categories for future marketing efforts.
• sending out announcements about products or services
• a newsletter regarding your company and/or products
• coupons for future purchasing and much more.

You can quickly and easily monitor how effective any marketing campaign is, and see that your return on investment is substantially higher than with other, more traditional, marketing campaigns. Let the power and flexibility of the internet help guide your customers to you again and again with an effective email marketing campaign.

So, What Is Email Marketing? Let me summarize like this:

Email marketing is the use of email technology by a business, group, or organization to communicate, inform, and update customers, prospects, or members. This use can include sales, support, updates, etc… and is always (when used in its best possible context) expected and/or appreciated by the recipients.

Examples of how businesses can responsibly and profitably use email marketing strategies include:

• The restaurant that sends out coupons and special event announcements.
• The network marketer that sends followup information and special offers.
• The retail outlet that sends out coupons.
• The hotel that sends out seasonal offers and invitations.
• The band that announces upcoming concerts, events, and cd releases.
• The health club that sends out weekly or monthly email newsletters.
• The church that sends out email announcements for special events, devotionals, etc.

Many different types of businesses can benefit by responsibly adopting email marketing strategies.

To start building your own email marketing lists, we recommend adding a subscription form to your web site or blog. This allows visitors to proactively request your information so that you know your information is welcomed and received with a smile rather than quickly deleted or flagged as spam.

If you are new to email marketing or just looking for a cost effective solution to generate and manage unlimited email marketing lists, stop by TrafficWave.net for a free 30 day trial.

Still find yourself wondering, “What is email marketing?” Feel free to ask any questions in the comments section, below.