Email marketing (EM)is defined as the practice of sending sales letters or customer newsletters by email. While some individuals think it can be annoying, many businesses find it a cost effective marketing tool. EM are often more effective than printed direct mail, because a reader can click on a link and go straight to the sender's web site.

Here are a few reasons why EM may be able to help your business.

- First of all email marketing offers you the advantage of reaching thousands of people with the click of one button. EM can be done all over the world anywhere that a person has internet connection. If your business is done in a local market only you can still reach thousands of people in your own back yard for the fraction of what a direct mail campaign would be.

- Email marketing is relatively inexpensive to do. If you build your own mailing list by capturing names and email addresses into an autoresponder your only cost is the cost of the autoresponder itself. This can cost you less that $20 a month to do. This can result in a savings of thousands of dollars a year to get your marketing message in front of people who want to hear it.

- One of the hardest things to do on the internet is build a relationship with people. EM helps you solve this problem by allowing you to keep in touch on a regular basis. Over a period of time the people you are emailing come to recognize and trust you. This can lead to sales of your products when the reader is ready. If they are not ready maybe they will be the next time.

- When you email to your mailing list you are able to personalize each message with your recipients first name and last name. This gives you the advantage of making your messages more personal than sending an email to dear friend.

- By not over mailing your list you can create anticipation for your next message or newsletter if you provide quality content. If you abuse your list your EM campaigns will lose their effectiveness.

- Email marketing works. This is the biggest reason to do it. Not bulk EM where no one knows you, but EM to a targetted list of people who have requested to recieve information from you. This is the effective way to do email marketing.

Any business can benefit from doing email marketing of some kind. Hopefully you will include it in your marketing strategies as well.