Email advertising

There are two main types of Email advertising currently in use. First, straight, so-called ‘push' Email advertising techniques, of which the easiest to operate is ordinary Email: electronic mail shots delivered in this way are sent direct to the user's mailbox, without waiting for him or her to go on line and whether these mail shots have been requested by the users or not. The second route to target audiences is the sponsored discussion group through Email advertising. An advertiser can sponsor discussion groups by providing the software and the access free to users and in exchange, he benefits from a precisely targeted audience. The participants are those who have taken a decision to subscribe to that particular discussion group, rather than casual Internet surfers. At the same time, an Email newsletter is a similar technique, its content being material created by an organisation or individual and being distributed by Email to subscribers. Again, the subscription is free to participants and the advertisers can insert their copy to be read on screen by all subscribers.

Still, one major disadvantage to the advertiser is that discussion groups can come and go; they often arise spontaneously and decline or disappear without warning when they become stale or banal.

Email advertising features

All in all, the most important advantage offered by the Internet and Email advertising is the fact that it has a unique combination of anonymity (no one knows who a visitor really is) and intrusiveness (this refers to junk mail). At the same time, electronic information is less expensive to deliver than catalog information because there is no printing or postage cost involved. On line marketers with senses of humor are fond of saying they don't like to spend money to deliver trees to customers. The field of on line marketing is new and constantly changing and, as new tools develop and evolve, so will the strategy marketers use to win new customers and to build long lasting relationships with existing consumers. ( Frank Jefkins, 1998)

In addition to the characteristics of the media themselves, a number of other important factors are taken into account in selecting the media mix for a particular advertising campaign. These factors are: the characteristics of the target audience, the level of exposure of the target audience to the communication, the impact which advertising will have on the target audience, the extent to which the effects of a particular advertising message ‘wear out' over time and the cost of advertising through a particular medium.

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