e-Mail Remains Driving Force In Marketing

Mobile marketing, social media integration and strategic campaign planning will encourage increased investment in e-mail and online marketing during the next twelve months, according to Emailvision, a European e-mail service provider.

Figures published by MarketingSherpa in 2009 showed that more than a third of companies increased spending on e-mail. 2009 was also another year of strong growth for retention-based e-mail marketing despite the onset of a global recession, which forced businesses to aggressively cut spending on marketing activity.

Below, Bertrand van Overschelde, US Managing Director at Emailvision, selects the three key trends over the next twelve months, which are set to make a significant impact on e-mail marketing.

* e-Mail marketing and social media will feed off one another

Integrating social media into e-mail marketing allows a brand to boost the performance of both mediums. Bringing the two channels together is critical when growing mailing lists organically, as recipients spread the content virally, encouraging others to opt-in and receive future mailings.

* Adoption of mobile marketing is set to rise significantly

Customers are increasingly relying on mobile devices for communication and messaging, therefore mobile marketing is a natural extension when building a multi-channel engagement strategy. Mobile marketing can be broken down into two segments, smartphones and SMS.

1. e-Mail for smartphones - Messages for these devices should be optimised prior to sending, as the devices typically don’t support flash animation and network speeds vary.

2. SMS - Combining campaign management for e-mail and SMS can enable brands to manage customers more effectively. For example, you can send an SMS offer to a customer based on an e-mail they’ve opened to increase the chance of it resulting in a sale

* The emphasis should be on strategic campaign planning

Strategically planned e-mail campaigns ensure brands capitalise on every opportunity. Too many campaigns irritate customers, while too few won’t keep a customer engaged. Putting in place a strategic plan will help brands to align and integrate e-mail campaigns with all marketing activity, ensuring they are effective.

“It is important for marketers to stay ahead of the curve in terms of consumer attitudes and the channels they choose to use when engaging with brands,” said Overschelde. “The first step is to put in place a marketing plan that is fresh and relevant, factoring in the evolving needs of customers. e-Mail will continue to be the king of measurable RoI in 2010 and will be the glue that binds all marketing activity.”