What’s the return on investment of email marketing? It’s easy to get a bit jaded when it comes to email marketing, as we’re cleaning out our inboxes. It seems like on a good day the proportion of solicited messages to unsolicited messages is 1:10. On a good day. . .

But, marketers, don’t allow your assumptions to cloud your judgments. Email marketing has a very real ROI.

According to the Direct Marketing Association, email marketing returned $43.62 for every dollar spent on it in 2009. Yes, the nice people at the DMA might have a dog in the fight. (I really hope people aren’t googling dog fighting and ending up on the TechnologyMarketingBlog.) But who else are you going to trust to measure it?

And while down a bit, they estimate email marketing is expected to return $42.08 for every dollar spent on it this year.

So, if you’re not consistently using email marketing, maybe you should be. And if you’re not getting a healthy ROI, it’s time to evaluate your methods.

We’re all getting ready to close the book on 2008 and many of us are looking optimistically to 2009. At least I hope you’re putting your game face on getting ready to take on the world.

Q2 is looking back affectionately on a terrific 2008. If you had any part to play in helping us achieve this milestone year, our most sincere thank you! We provided web strategy and development, public relations, advertising, tradeshow strategy and support, collateral development, strategic messaging, branding and more to many new and returning clients. We’ve proudly gained a record number of new clients and, even more proudly, continue to serve the needs of many returning software and services businesses. 

Below are some observations and trends from 2008 that we hope will help you get a jumpstart on a successful new year. These range from analyst findings to our feet-on-the street observations.

Federal sector stays strong

Many of Q2’s clients, friends and business associates provide services to the federal government. If these individuals are fearful of a slumping economy or a change in administration, they aren’t letting on. These tend to be a tough and resilient group of people anyway, determined to be successful no matter what.

Still gold in the IT hills

The tech industry will still grow, with the exception of hardware, according to the latest from Forrester.

Good business principles still in style

Companies with business models that were not entirely viable before the economic slowdown are struggling with traction, funding, etc. Many companies with great ideas, service, delivery, savvy and sound principles are well positioned to win. An oversimplification perhaps, but sometimes life is simple.

Many business owners and marketing executives are wisely looking for a flat 2009 versus focusing on growing the business. However, we talk with companies, many selling to the public sector that are hiring and growing. There are healthy organizations out there.

D.C. Tech sector strong

The Washington, D.C. area is still a burgeoning region in the tech sector, just ask the Inc. 500.

SEM and direct marketing are the spending trend winners

Direct marketing spending predictions are hot.

Search marketing is already a proven winner. Chances are it’s usurped some of your marketing budget.  

So what can I do?

Here is some of Q2 Marketing’s uncommon sense wisdom for a down economy. It’s timeless.

Come back frequently for our tech marketing New Year’s resolutions and more practical insight.

One question we get all the time: what program will drive the best results? Especially now, companies are trying to figure out how to do more with less. They are looking for the one program that will continuously drive leads. You may have read our recent blog entry regarding MarketingSherpa’s report that companies are going to be putting more money into direct mail initiatives.  However, it is typically never one program that makes the phone ring. So we don’t advocate throwing all of your marketing spend into direct mail. The best strategy, even in down times, is to run several integrated programs that hit prospects from a variety of sources and, thus, help drive leads. Even with a limited budget, you can effectively tier programs that continuously hit prospects from a variety of methods. You can limit budget by implementing some of the following suggestions: reducing the number of prospects—instead of boiling the ocean, narrow your list and hit targeted demographics; eliminating programs that aren’t producing leads; exploiting your online presence; directly targeting your public relations program; ratcheting down sponsorships.

The beauty of running integrated programs vs. one program is pretty obvious. It allows you to hit prospects with a variety of programs versus exposure to only one. Each program in the integrated campaign is tied together allowing companies to deliver a consistent message through a variety of channels. The main push back we hear on integrated campaigns is that they are too expensive. This does not have the case. Just like you can buy a purse for $10 up to several thousands dollars, you can run integrated programs at a fraction of the cost. You just have to be smart and cut corners where/when you can. This is where working with an agency that has small to mid-size company experience is a plus. They are used to working with limited dollars and can point out where cost savings exist. Moving quickly, you can adapt to the changing market and fiscal limitations while still producing an integrated campaign that will produce successful results in 2009.