1. Minimal cost, maximum benefit!
According to research conducted by the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing gave a return on investment of $43.62 for every dollar spent in 2009. The conclusion from their study was that email marketing outperforms all other forms of direct marketing. If you compare the cost of email marketing(and labour involved) to designing and then printing a flyer or catalogue, folding, putting in envelopes, and then sending, it is not hard to see why.
Of course, this is just an average figure. We are not all selling directly on the internet, so it can be much harder to measure the return that you receive, but let yourself think for a moment what you could do in your business.

2. Stay in touch
Because of the first benefit, you can afford to keep in regular contact with your customers.

Just Imagine...

• Imagine being able to send a quick email to say that you have a couple of nights free in your bed and breakfast - available at a discounted price.
• Or send out your ram sale date early in the season and then a reminder again just before your sale (with links to your figures on your website of course). And maybe another after the sale, letting clients know about remaining rams.
• Or you may want to share something that you have learned, with your clients... providing them with extra value.
• Or announce a new product for sale.
• Or send a discount voucher to spark a bit of interest when things go a bit quiet.
• Or just remind them that you are still here... this will often prompt a client to contact you (...and they can do this easily by return email!)

3. Quick and easy
Once the initial template is set up, you can simply add information to this whenever you want. No need to prepare, design, print, fold, address and send, and then wait for ages to see if you get a response. You can prepare and send your email campaign in the same day. If you feel business has slowed a little, send out a quick discount voucher to spark some interest again.

4. Measured Response
Did it work? Check out your stats and see what response you have had and by whom!

5. Learn from each campaign
By checking your stats, you can see what is working and what you could do differently. Keep improving your campaigns based on the information that you gain.

6. Personalized and targeted
You can easily divide your mailing list into interest groups, or locations or occupations and then send a targeted email that you know will appeal to that group. Include some of their details in the email for that personal touch which is so important in our small businesses.

7. Grow your mailing list
Encourage your customers to forward your email on… a quick way to reach a wider audience and hopefully grow your mailing list.