3 Reasons Your Small Business Should Use Email Marketing Even with the rise of native content and social marketing, email marketing is key for a successful small business.

Marketing has changed significantly in the last several decades. Technological advancements in the field have given birth to platforms like social media and search engine marketing, leaving marketers with no shortage of channels to leverage.

Just last year, the Direct Marketing Association reported that over half of all marketers they surveyed planned to increase marketing budgets allocated to email as a result of their previous success.

So what is it then, in this era of demand-driven social marketing, that continues to make email marketing a core component of successful small business marketing strategies?

1. Insights you can count on

One of the strongest assets email marketing brings to the table is the detailed reporting and analysis at your fingertips.

Contrary to more traditional marketing channels like print or television, email marketing reports provide valuable insights into the overall success of your marketing campaigns.

While most email marketing apps provide basic metrics, like clicks or opens, the good ones allow you to dig deeper into the details. Taking a look at metrics like how long your recipients spend reading your emails, as well as the devices or email services they use to access them, tells the marketer a lot about what is working and what isn't with their email campaigns.

2. It doesn't take up too much time

Most good things take time. For small businesses that often operate without the resources of a large marketing department, every task must be weighed against everything else that can be done with that same amount of time.

Typically, we find it takes the average user only about 30 minutes to complete their first campaign. This includes the time it takes to import contacts, design a template, test it, and feel the adrenaline pump of pressing "send."

3. Keeps your bottom line healthy

When it comes to a small business, the reality is that everything boils down to return on investment and how long it takes to get there. Small businesses must be able to justify each and every dollar of marketing, and that's what draws them to email.

According to the DMA, each dollar spent on email marketing generates roughly $44 in revenue. While this statistic may be somewhat inflated, it is hard to argue against email marketing's proven ability to consistently deliver outstanding results.

In order to re-engage previous customers, move new leads through the sales funnel, and cross-sell to current clients, email targets the low hanging fruit - your contact database. When you create email campaigns focused on existing relationships (no matter the level), you create a non-invasive method for staying relevant that will surely pay off in the future.