Email Marketing 101 for 2010

With 2010 here, most marketers are frantically putting the finishing touches on marketing plans. Before focusing too hard on video or social ad formats, however, marketers should plan a bit more in email. Email is old, you say? Email is proven, say the experts. Blaine Mathieu, chief marketing officer with email hub Lyris, insists that email will continue to be a strong force in marketing through the New Year. Here are Mathieu’s top trends for 2010. “Email will continue to be an anchor for multimedia and online marketing,” said Mathieu. “All indications are that email will continue to grow into 2010. Email is recognized as the highest ROI form of online marketing and it’s measurable. Even though email is the ‘grandfather’, it really is the cornerstone and will remain.

Mathieu also expects to see more integration between email and social ad platforms. “As part of the social mix, online marketers will continue to integrate social media with email marketing to ensure that brands, projects and products are cross-marketed and connecting with consumers. More than just social integration, though, Mathieu expects to see integration of most other online ad formats and email through 2010. “It’s always the promise on the horizon,” said Mathieu. “But in 2010 you’re going to see more progress toward truly achieving integrated marketing. Any marketer not using integrated tool sets is doing a disservice to the brand. Entire organizations will be working with social applications to connect with the consumer base.” Also don’t forget, set up with http://www.aweber.com or some other well known email / auto responder service to manage your email lists, it is an absolute must, if you want to be profitable with online marketing.

Guest Blogger Trevor Poulson