Online Marketing has taken over as the premiere type of marketing for small and medium businesses. IT provides a way for the companies to reach new customers and to service existing customers better.

Because more than 2 billion people are active online around the world on a nearly daily basis, the internet provides a fantastic opportunity to reach and sell to them. Online marketing strategies which include social media marketing, websites and blogs, Search Engine Optimization and email marketing each provide a unique and powerful way for SMEs to do low cost and effective marketing and sometimes even direct sales.

New forms of online marketing are constantly being developed but the industry got started with email marketing which continues to be one of the most effective form of online marketing. With new and powerful email merge options allowing you to simultaneously send thousands of emails with one click, email marketing has gotten even better.

The other reasons why it is so powerful, give SMEs reasons to continue to use it today. Here are a few key reasons why your SME should use E-mail marketing a core marketing strategy.

Proven Effective

One of the reasons that email marketing is still so popular is because it is so effective. In fact email marketing is in many ways the most effective type of online marketing. For example, Nielsen ratings service said that nearly 30% of online shoppers will subscribe to store emails to be kept up to date and new sales by that establishment. This number is a better response rate than any other type of online marketing and gives companies the opportunity to be in constant contact with their customers throughout their purchasing life cycle.

You Can Keep Customers Current

The smart companies use email as a means to keep their customers informed of new product or service releases, important information on purchases they have made, any updates, and to provide for them information relevant to the company. Email marketing is a great way to teach your customers more about your company and brand. Since you can be sure that they will open the email, you can use them as a part of a story line. Many companies create newsletters for their customers.

Measurable

You can measure the response to each email and email campaign on the fly. You can tell who opens your emails and when letting you modify what you send out and to whom. You can choose to send different types of emails to different customers and keep each different group engaged. This individualization allows you to make every customer or potential customer feel that they are special.

Mobile Friendly

More than 60% of those who own smartphones get their emails sent to their phones. Email has become a common way to look for deals and as a result email marketing is a great way to reach potential customers on their phones.

Email Coupons are Very Popular

People used to love to go to the mail and open up the package that contains coupons. Well that has carried over to email as well. Deloitte did a survey that found that 65% of consumers view grocery store email coupons as important when grocery shopping online. And roe than 70% of consumers have printed email coupons from their phones or computers. You can easily send email coupons to your entire email mailing list.

In addition to these wonderful benefits, perhaps the biggest is that email marketing is the least expensive form of online marketing. You can send emails for a fraction of a penny each and the return can be as large as any other marketing strategy.

When you consider all of the amazing benefits you get when using email marketing it is no wonder that it remains a top marketing tool.