The Email Marketing Comeback of 2010

As we approach the end of 2009, we've noticed an incline in the use of email marketing -- giving us hope that 2010 will be the year email marketing makes a big comeback. Our observation could be attributed to the emergence of new, highly refined email marketing tools like Flynn Wright’s MailStorm, allowing clients to create, manage and track emails with great ease. Or it could be that we predict the "original" social media, email, is going to encounter changes that will allow it to flow naturally into client marketing campaigns.

Moving Out of the Dark Days of Email Marketing
If you're like me, you might have a negative feeling toward email marketing. Part of that is a result of what I call the "dark days" of email marketing. Before standards were set and tools existed to make emails attractive and cohesive, we had an onslaught of messy emails being sent out that instantly gave it the feeling of "spam." Good intentions for a lot of people, but the tools caused everything from html errors to complicated templates. Now we're seeing email marketing tools that have the user in mind, no matter their technological capabilities. Pair that with a really nice, clean design and now we can push email marketing past that "spam" feel – boosting readership and retention.

Will New Social Media Kill the Email Star?
As I said earlier, I often refer to email as the "original" social media. Many times email is used one-on-one, but the ability to 'cc', 'reply all', etc., fundamentally paved the way reaching the masses in a social media way. And with the beta introduction of Google Wave, a tool designed to merge email, instant messaging, wikis and social networking, we can count on email surviving even longer. We've actually found that getting your social media and email marketing efforts working in tandem can have dramatic effects on driving brand-engaged traffic to your site. We suspect this will be the norm. But what I have experienced, and where I think most people are heading, is that email will become where more personal and trusted conversations take place. This will in turn give people more inclination to actively read email marketing campaigns because those will be "trusted" subscriptions.

Beginning an Email Marketing Campaign
As with any marketing effort, the key is developing a plan up front. Put together a list of goals -- are you trying to sell a product, build customer relations, funnel press releases, etc. With so many approaches available to email marketing, defining your goal up front will help you stay on track and meet expectations. It's also good to think of ways to segment your reader lists if you want to do targeted emails.

Outside of planning, it all comes down to implementation and design. Flynn Wright's MailStorm is a slick system that makes creating beautiful emails simple, and takes the hassle out of managing your lists while providing up-to-the-minute reporting on your campaign deliveries. Humbly speaking...it rocks! Contact us or send a message to @flynnwright on Twitter if you want more info.

And That's a Wrap!
• What are you seeing for email marketing as we enter 2010?
• Have you incorporated email marketing into your marketing campaign? Why or why not?