3 innovative ways to make email marketing more effective

While there's a great deal of discussion in marketing offices about how best to get in touch with customers and build relationships with customers, there's no doubt that email is still a powerful method. There's a lot of hype surrounding other strategies, but the fact remains that the email inbox is among the fastest, easiest and cheapest ways to contact someone (or a million someones). It's here to stay.

So it should come as no surprise that companies everywhere are discussing the best specific tactics for effective email marketing. You're sending messages in bulk, no doubt, but how can you guarantee that people read them and respond? It's a topic of much debate.

According to Business 2 Community, finding answers is crucial. Jose Santa Ana, director of product marketing at digital messaging firm Message Systems, explains that email is still really powerful and cost-effective, and finding the right strategies for being heard in this crowded high-tech climate is vital.

"Email remains one of the most effective channels for marketers," Santa Ana declared. "According to a recent study by McKinsey and Company, email is almost 40 times better at acquiring new customers than social channels like Facebook and Twitter. Nevertheless, marketers could still be using the channel more effectively. As the email environment continues to grow more complex, there are several factors that marketers must consider when developing email marketing campaigns."

Here are three strategies for putting a better email marketing campaign into effect today:

Get into the inbox
People these days have numerous ways of trimming down their inboxes, from filters to spam folders and everywhere in between. So your first step is simply getting read! This requires building trusting relationships with consumers so they know not to filter you out.

Find the best and brightest leads
Having a whole bunch of email addresses is one thing, but having qualified leads who actually want your business is another challenge altogether. If people want to unsubscribe, let them - they're not about to bring you sales anyway. Focus instead on getting contact info for interested people who are more likely to yield revenue.

Focus always on data quality
Obviously, having the right contact information for people is crucial. Writing emails won't do much good if they're going to the wrong addresses. Therefore, it's imperative that you sift through your address book and make sure every name and address is correct and up to date.