eMarketing: why permission-based email marketing is growing. It's not spam.

• Author: Held, Shari
• Position: MEDIA & MARKETING

LEGITIMATE EMAIL marketing--not spam or unsolicited email--is changing the face of how businesses conduct marketing campaigns. It benefits both marketers and customers.

"Marketers are beginning to appreciate the unique value of email in building person-to-person relationships," says Chris Baggott, co-founder of Indianapolis-based ExactTarget. "In today's world, the companies that get our loyalty are the companies that deserve our loyalty."

Many businesses have embraced email marketing because it is less expensive--no postage, no need for high volumes of letterhead or printed collateral pieces and no time spent stuffing envelopes. It is also a faster delivery vehicle and, more important, targeted email campaigns may be more effective than traditional marketing methods.

As email marketing has become more sophisticated in the last five years, creating, delivering and tracking successful email campaigns in compliance with industry regulations has become a business in and of itself. Many businesses rely on third-party email companies to get the job done.

"The email industry is a young business," says Neff Berman, president of Neighborhood Email, a full-service email marketing company, "but the volume of email is steadily increasing. It is a central communication tool today that, if used responsibility, is very effective for all parties concerned." Neighborhood Email is headquartered in Indianapolis and has offices in Atlanta, Buffalo and Denver.

Email marketing, utilized by all sizes and types of businesses, spans all industries and is used for both B-to-B and B-to-C communications.

"It doesn't matter if it is a large business, small business or a not-for-profit," says Baggott. "Everybody is trying to accomplish the same thing--to get a closer relationship with their customers." ExactTarget, which delivers on-demand email software solutions for email marketing, has more than 30 sales offices nationwide.

There are many email-marketing formats for nurturing customer relationships--coupons and sales incentives, industry-related information, new product information, newsletters and even friendly reminders.

To fit the varying needs of customers, email companies offer an array of services, including: templates for creating HTML messages that incorporate color and graphics, assistance with content creation, database management, testing and tracking of messages, technical support and even the creation of graphics, video or 3-D presentations. Customers...