Email is a powerful medium in the marketing arena. With the click of a button, you can instantly reach hundreds of thousands of people anywhere in the world with your newsletter or special offer. An email marketing campaign offers an affordable way to gain new customers, build repeat business, and enhance your company's brand.

Unlike other campaigns, email marketing reaches customers almost immediately and gets responses usually within a few days. It also lets you tailor your message to specific demographics. And best of all, email marketing provides full tracking data for you to gauge the campaign's success.

Reputable email marketing services can help you achieve your marketing goals while avoiding potential pitfalls. They ensure that your message goes out promptly, reaches the intended recipients, and offers customized solutions such as email templates and list segmentation tools to help you build an effective campaign. Email service companies help you to manage your email campaigns responsibly so that your company does not get "blacklisted". They also go to great lengths to make sure your mailings adhere to the CAN-SPAM Act — which is critical to avoiding potentially stiff fines, or worse.

All email marketing providers allow you to market to your own customer base or list of opt-in email recipients. While most email marketing vendors can't provide you with an opt-in email list to rent, they can help you compile your own permission-based list in-house. If you want to rent an email list, you can obtain one from a mailing list broker who will typically manage the sending of the campaign directly with the list owner. (Read more about Mailing List Brokers)

This BuyerZone Email Marketing Services Buyer's Guide will detail the pros and cons of email marketing, options for sending email, types of services offered, pricing for email marketing services, and ways to choose a vendor.