Email a Cost-effective Alternative in Tough Times
Posted by Sensible Marketing | Posted on 17-04-2008
1
Deciding how to spend your marketing dollars when everyone is yelling recession is a bit like deciding how to leave the theater when someone yells fire. You’re not sure if you’re in imminent danger, but you don’t want to stick around and get burned.
On that note, this entry is a repost from my friend and long-time mentor, Bill Nussey. Bill is the CEO of Atlanta-based Silverpop (in case you’ve been on another planet, Silverpop is a leading enterprise Email Service Provider to large companies) and a thought-leader in email marketing and permission-based email marketing
Most of the readers of this blog would probably not find Silverpop’s service cost-effective. However, I would highly suggest subscribing to Bill’s Blog and their e-newsletter for valuable insights on email marketing, RSS, B2B email marketing and much more. This month’s Silverpop e-newsletter underscores the importance of a holistic email marketing program, especially when advertising budgets are being cut making every contact in your database becomes more valuable than ever before! Here are some words of encouragement and good sound advice from someone I consider to be the “supermodel” of email marketing! 
MESSAGE FROM BILL NUSSEY
CEO, Silverpop
Email a Cost-effective Alternative in Tough Times
With all the talk of recession and our slowed economy, companies are beginning to look for ways to cut back on expenses. MarketingSherpa reports that 60 percent of large companies have cut back on marketing expenditures or expect to do so this year. Unfortunately, that’s short-term thinking. Now is an opportune time to maintain brand awareness and customer loyalty.
Email continues to be a cost-effective and successful vehicle to drive sales. Comparatively speaking, email is a lower-cost marketing channel and its value and impact on the bottom line is well documented. According to the Direct Marketing Association, in 2008, email marketers can expect to receive a return-on-investment of $45.65 for every dollar spent on email marketing.
Being a smart marketer means knowing what your clients and prospects want and delivering it to them–even in a down economy. Take full advantage of the economic slowdown by using interactive marketing channels like email, Web analytics and social networking to reinforce your one-to-one messaging and establish powerful relationships with your customers. When the competition pulls back, it’s easier to pull ahead.
Cheers,
Bill Nussey
I enjoy your blog. This post is so true as our markeitng budget is in a continual state of flux. However, one thing that does seem to return the biggest bang for the buck is e-marketing. What amazes me (and I guess i am lucky), is with all the obstacles and spam filters and email verification systems–we still get through to a large percentage of our opt-in lists. Educating your email subscribers on whitelists and such is very important also.
-Angie
RBI-US