Sometimes when I talk to people unfamiliar with e-mail, and tell them that my company has a platform for doing e-mail marketing, one of the questions I frequently get from them is like "uhh!, do you send spam?". It makes me sick, but I understand that is very easy to misunderstand it or even mix concepts for someone who is not in the industry.

Despite all the fears and concerns about spam, competition of instant messaging or RSS feeds, the fact is that e-mail is still the killer application of the Internet, and much more even in the corporate world.

A well conducted e-mail marketing campaign, sent to customers or permission lists, is often much more effective than any other means of direct marketing, and much more effective than massive marketing campaigns or advertising.

E-mail has several advantages over traditional direct marketing, wich include:

· Everyone reads its e-mail frequently and if you have permission for writting to them and use targeted and relevant information or offers, they will open it.
· It's inmediate.
· It allows instant segmentation for targeting.
· You can measure results inmediately without having to wait for weeks and without having to resort to coupons, discounts or free offers to get people answering you.
· You get a lot of valuable data in a way easy to use.
· It's a good complement to other channels or as a tool to build loyalty, trust and awareness with your customers.
· Promotions sent through e-mail can generate inmediate actions like downloading of brochures, sales, registrations, etc...
· It's a lot more cheaper than traditional direct marketing. Compare the cost of producing and delivering 2.000 or 10.000 paper brochures to prospects with the designing and sending of 2.000 or 10.000 e-mails.

However, not everything is as easy as it may seem. E-mail marketing is a fairly technical and complex marketing discipline. You can't simply take your marketing knowledge from traditional media and move it directly to e-mail. This blog is, in fact, a way to help you in this transition, but don't forget to search for the help of an expert who coaches you in your first campaigns, and a good designer who knows the exact problems she must cope with (just an HTML course its not enough).

And don't forget law and ethics. It's not smart, nor advisable start sending e-mail as mad to people you don't know or don't know about you or your business.

Keeping this in mind, e-mail is your best option to do effective direct marketing.