Whether you are looking to actively promote your business and sell more products or services, or simply looking for a way to deliver relevant news and information to a community of engaged supporters, today’s modern marketer is faced with an abundance of choices.

SEO, social media, paid search, blogging, video, podcasting, mobile apps – where do you start? It’s difficult to figure out the best options for your organization. As technology advances and throws more opportunities your way, the choices don’t get any easier.

Wouldn’t it be great to find a solution that is tried and tested, can be managed without hiring expert help, offers exceptional value for the money, will scale to suit the needs of your organization, and can be thoroughly tested before you commit to buy? Guess what? That solution lies literally at your fingertips: email marketing.

Email Marketing Works

Businesses large and small, nonprofits, and educational institutions all agree: Email marketing is trusted, affordable — and it works.

Do you need any more reasons to get started? Well, let's start with these 10 important reasons. After reading this, the real challenge will be to find a reason not to invest in email marketing.

1. Email Marketing Works for Everyone: You might work in a small business or be part of a huge multinational corporation. Perhaps you represent a club, a charity, a nonprofit organization, a school, or a church. If you have an audience of people you want to engage with regular news, information, or marketing promotions, email marketing is a tested and reliable platform for doing that.
2. Email Marketing Is Incredibly Cost-Effective: There is no such thing as “cheap” or “expensive” marketing – there is just marketing that works and marketing that doesn’t work. Email marketing is a cost-efficient solution that meets the needs of businesses and organizations of all shapes and sizes, and delivers measurable results. You don’t need a large staff and you don’t need a huge investment to make email marketing work for your organization.
3. Email Marketing Drives Real Returns: According to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), email marketing delivers a higher return on investment (ROI) than any other form of marketing (online or offline). In 2015, email marketers saw an average return of $38 for every dollar they invested in email marketing. Eighteen percent of marketers surveyed by the DMA actually saw a return of $70 per dollar invested. For nonprofits not focused on dollar returns, success can be judged in terms of opens, click-throughs, and other engagements that can easily be tracked using email’s built-in analytic software.

1. Email Marketing Is Highly Targeted: Effective email marketing is built on permission. This means your subscribers, via a previous purchase, subscription, or registration, have actively given you permission to contact them with relevant marketing offers and targeted communications. As a result, it is incredibly easy to send relevant, value-driven messages to specific groups of people. The more targeted your campaigns, the more successful they will be in terms of opens, reads, click-throughs, and conversions.
2. Email Marketing Is Quick: Because email marketing is template driven, campaigns can be created and deployed quickly. The speed at which email campaigns can be sent allows for a true competitive advantage. You can easily promote early-bird offers and last-minute sales or nimbly react to opportunities and changing circumstances on the fly.
3. Email Marketing Is Easy: Good email marketing software (like iContact’s!) is easy to use. If you can list an item on an online auction site like eBay or update a simple blog post, you have all the skills you need to start email marketing. You don’t need any design or advanced computer skills to set up a polished and professional-looking first campaign.
4. Email Marketing Was Built for Mobile: Consumers are increasingly turning to mobile devices (smartphones and tablet computers) to consume media, influence buying decisions and make purchases. With 66% of all emails now first opened on a mobile device, email is front and center in the mobile environment. Email marketing software enables you to send mobile-responsive emails, essentially guaranteeing that your content can be easily consumed no matter what device your subscriber is using.
5. Email Marketing Enhances Your Social Media Activity: Email and social media are the perfect partners. Email marketing and social media both drive engagement 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. Social media is a great environment to engage your followers in conversation. Email is the perfect environment for a targeted sales pitch. Together, they are a perfect match. When you include social share buttons in your email campaigns, you combine the best of both platforms.
6. Email Marketing Integrates with Technologies Across Your Entire Organization: Email marketing software like iContact integrates with a wide range of technologies, including popular e-commerce platforms, CRM systems, and publishing platforms like Drupal and WordPress. For organizations with advanced technology resources, an open API enables you to create your own integrations.
7. Email Marketing Is Your Hardest-Working Employee: The great news for email marketers is that in our mobile age, subscribers carry their email inboxes around with them everywhere day and night. Mobile technology means that there is never really a bad time to send an email marketing campaign. Campaigns can be created at any time to engage, nurture, and inspire subscribers based on their interest or position in the sales funnel. In addition, your reach is no longer limited by geography. With email marketing, any organization can have a global reach.

And email keeps working for you beyond the send. Using the data generated by your email campaigns can lead to better business decisions, more targeted customer communication, and a positive impact on the bottom line. Decision making driven by analytics means better decision making for your organization.

So What Are You Waiting For?

Convinced? Start your email marketing journey