Everyone loves super powers, right? What if I told you I could get a certain number of people to do my bidding at this very minute? Well, it's true. It only works about 20% of the time, but it works. You see...I have an email marketing strategy. I can send people to wherever I want on the Internet with one simple email.

Imagine if you had this power! Where would you send people? What would you ask them to do? Today, because you're here at Big Picture Web, we're going to cover the basics of business-to-business email marketing so that you and I will both have the super power of email marketing strategies.

Business-to-Business Email Marketing Strategy. No Paper Required.

If having super powers doesn't entice you to start business-to-business email marketing, maybe talking about the economy might help. Look, print is hurting. Print sales dropped nearly 30% in the first quarter of 2009. Newspapers are going out of business left and right. In this economy, the only paper we can truly count on for revenue is when our customers decide to pay in cash. Sorry, I couldn't resist the pun. No one is saying to stop print advertising altogether. It's more of an all-your-eggs-in-a-basket thing. And really, it's mostly about just having super powers.

Imagine an Email Marketing Strategy

Now we're going to imagine something wonderful. Let's say you have these super powers of business-to-business email marketing. And let's also say there are 50,000 people in your domain (again with the puns!) each month over whom you have this super power. What do you want those 20% who respond to you to do? Being the benevolent force of stewardship and goodwill for your company that you are, you would surely do things that were mutually beneficial for you and the customer. It could mean 10,000 folks looking at your offers. Or 10,000 relationships fostered. Or 10,000 business partners' questions answered. These are the powers of email marketing strategies at hand.

Business-to-Business Email Marketing Strategy. Using Your Powers.

In honing your email marketing strategy powers, you'll need to master three things:

1. Your email list is at the core of your powers. It is your audience, your denominator for all efforts. You may need to exert a little effort at first to ensure your email marketing strategy consists of a list of opted-in subscribers and adheres to the CAN-SPAM Act guidelines. But once you do, you'll have a large audience that's in tune with your message.
2. Next, you integrate this list with your Websites and email servers. You can either do these things in-house, through a vendor, or a mixture of both. Folks like Constant Contact and iContact can get you up and running in no time. You even get a Sign-up box to put on your Website to encourage even more people to join your happy audience (Ahem. You'll notice it over to the right-hand side of the screen. I'll wait here while you fill in your info.)
3. Finally, your business-to-business email marketing powers come through in the form of a stellar process. Have measurable goals. Go through all the right steps. Use best practices. It should end up looking something like this:

Email Marketing Strategies on the Cheap

In addition to being very effective, an email marketing strategy is familiar, cheap and low-risk. Now that's a good investment in these times, right? Even for someone with super powers.

• Familiar. An email marketing strategy is just a combination of email and your marketing strategy. Most of the regular elements (target, focused objectives, brand positioning) are the same as usual. There are just a few tags and .pngs thrown in for good measure. You'll be familiar in no time.
• Cheap. The aforementioned Constant Contact allows unlimited emails sent with packages starting at $15/month. Yep.
• Low-risk. Business-to-business email marketing doesn't require a huge service agreement or lengthy implementation. You can be up-and-running within days and always have the option to take your data and go elsewhere at a moment's notice.

Business-to-Business Email Marketing Strategy. The Greatest Power of All.

Best of all, email marketing strategies give you the power of knowledge. How do I know that you can get 20% of people to respond? Because other companies have Email Marketing Success Rates. That's right. You can track how many people receive and open your emails, as well as if they clicked on any links. You can also tie in your Web Analytics platform (e.g., Google Analytics) to see if they bought anything when they got to your site. You have the power to know these things down to the penny. It's no wonder 75% of business-to-business marketers have email marketing strategies.

And so are you ready to use your super powers? Ready to have your message resonate with a verifiable 20% of your audience? Ready to do it on the cheap and with a close watch on the details? Oh yeah, and don't forget to sign up for the website over on the right-hand side of your screen.

What tips or comments do you have about business-to-business email marketing or email marketing strategy in general?