Using email for direct marketing is a great way to apply time-tested sales methods to the internet. By building lists of targeted prospects you can effectively market your product/services to a group of people who are highly likely to buy.

Many companies are finding that email marketing is a cost effective way to deliver information about products/services and to educate prospective and current customers. Using email is much much cheaper than sending direct mail. Most service providers enable you to send for as low as 8 cents per thousand emails sent.

Generally, the most common type of direct marketing is directed at prior and current customers and tries to offer products and services that are relevant to their needs based on their prior purchases.

There are many ways to incorporate this strategy into your business plan. Start by sending specialized offers, updates, upgrades, and newsletters to your existing customers. Offering your customers something in the way of special prices or special information is an ideal way to keep your name on your customer’s mind. In all businesses keeping your brand in a customer’s thoughts can influence their buying behavior and using email direct marketing delivers your name right to their email box.

Build your direct marketing campaign – start with a free trial:

Email Blast Company	Free Trial Offer	Overall Rating
	Vertical Response 30 Day free trial, no credit card to try Plans from $10/month Easiest system to use, also does surveys Pay for emails sent (good for large lists)	Rating:
	iContact 30 Day free trial, no credit card to try Plans from $10/month Excellent stats and integration Pay by list size (good for frequent senders)	Rating:
	StreamSend 30 Day free trial, no credit card to try Plans from $20/month Good for both beginner and experts Pay for messages sent (good for large lists)	Rating:
	Constant Contact 60 Day free trial Lots of great looking templates Great for beginners Pay by list size (good for frequent senders)	Rating:

*Since most companies offer a free trial, you should sign up and test drive each interface.
You will quickly figure out which email service provider is best for your company.

Obtaining the information for your target group can be done in a variety of ways. Customers will generally fill out personal information when they purchase something online and this information can be added to a database, along with details of the purchase. Once you have a database of names, you then can start directing emails at specific groups from that database. The use of free offers can help you to gather addresses of potential customers, or just offering to sign them up for a mailing list can work as well. This information can also be added to a database and then it is easy to pick a group or several groups for your email direct marketing lists. As with most aspects of business, it will take some research on your particular market for you to find the ideal solution. Once you decide on a strategy you need to set up goals and a way to measure your progress so that you know where you are headed and how well you are doing at reaching your goals.

In today’s economy it is always good to find ways to help your business grow while saving money on expenses. By using email direct marketing, you can save on your advertising budget by eliminating some of the dollars you would normally spend on newspapers, television and radio ads. You also will not need to print up expensive brochures or even flyers, and there is practically no charge to send emails. The most you will have to spend money on is designing the ad or newsletter you plan to email out. Reaching your customers and saving money at the same time, is always a good business plan.