Why would a business today utilize email marketing? Listed below are five uses for small businesses considering an email marketing campaign:

1. Keep-in-touch marketing--Reach out and have contact with your customer even when not in the presence of each other. It helps to build familiarity and trust. It also enables you to build a relationship with potential clients through your sign-up lists.

2. Share news and upcoming events--Utilizing the internet, you have the ability to share events, new products, and anything you want to share with your clients is an immediate option. It is a great tool for making business announcements. For example, you may be moving or opening a new store, you may be re-launching your website, or you may start carrying a new line of products.

3. Offer information of value--Newsletters and ezines are an excellent way to give back to your customers by sharing your knowledge. When writing your newsletter or ezine, offer content that is a benefit and value to your reader. Not only will they appreciate what you're sharing but the likelihood of this being forwarded to others is greater. A good rule of thumb is 2/3 value and 1/3 promotion.

4. Invitations--I recently utilized my software provider to send out an invitation to a specific list. That is one of the features most email marketing providers give is the capability of creating a variety of contact lists. You can segment your lists and target them for specific information.

5. Online readers only contests and promotions--Offer incentives to those who sign up to be added to your list and also those who are loyal followers. Ensure you always give them the option to "refer a friend" also. Contests and promotions are a great way to build excitement.

There are a large variety of uses for email marketing campaigns. It is a source for direct mail marketing with a much cheaper cost in contacting customers and potential customers. It is an excellent way to build credibility with your current customers and also those who sign up on your list. Email marketing software solutions are built with ease of use in mind. There is no need to know HTML coding to have a good quality newsletter. Most providers offer easy to use templates that allow you to write, edit, and send effectively. With the tracking software they offer, you will know who is receiving, reading your emails, and responding to your offerings. It is a simple, effective tool, worth the price and effort.