Last week, I had the pleasure of participating on a panel at the inaugural Internet Summit ’08 conference in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The event attracted more than 600 marketing and technology professionals to the Friday Center on the UNC campus. It was a first class event all the way around. My compliments to Eric Gregg, Scott Hedrick and the TechJournal South team who produced this conference.
Our panel tackled the topic, “Next Generation Email Marketing” and not surprisingly, many of the questions focused on how businesses are using email to stay engaged with customers and prospects in today’s challenging economy.
One thing is clear. Those companies that have invested in the development of their email subscriber base are now reaping the rewards for their efforts. Companies that have the ability to use email to nurture leads, convert prospects to buyers, drive repeat purchase, and generate referrals from satisfied customers have a huge competitive advantage over those that don’t.
At a time when advertising and marketing expenses are being slashed and marketers need to do more with less, it’s no mystery why we are seeing budgets shifting to email. With an average ROI of $45 for every dollar spent (Source: The DMA), email has become the “linchpin solution” for customer retention and growth.
Where to Get Your Email Marketing “Executive MBA”
If you want to know about the top trends and best practices of email marketing, I highly recommend you sign up for the special pre-conference workshop that my friend and colleague Jeanne Jennings of JeanneJennings.com will lead at the upcoming National Center for Database Marketing Conference (NCDM) in Orlando. Our seminar, “Insider Tips for Making Your Email Marketing Efforts More Effective – and More Profitable” will be held on Monday, December 8th from 9:10 AM to 11:50 AM.

Whether you’re managing email, direct marketing, or the web, figuring out the best combination of customer touch points to increase response rates and drive sales shouldn’t be a guessing game. At NCDM, you’ll learn about the latest online and offline analytical approaches, multichannel marketing strategies and technology solutions that you need to make your database marketing program effective.
Get Registered for NCDM!
If you have not yet registered for NCDM, there’s still time and there are plenty of registration options to fit your needs. To register, just go to the NCDM registration page on the NCDM 2008 website where you can also download the complete NCDM 2008 Conference Brochure.

