Keeping email messages relevant, polling customers, leveraging social media and video functionality, and creating campaign landing pages are just a few of the ways small and medium-sized business (SMBs) can maximize their email marketing strategies.

Though email is a fundamental communication tool for firms of every size, recent data suggests that SMBs - in particular - are getting set to step up their use.

The Proof

More than one-third (36%) of the smallest businesses in North America say they plan to begin email marketing in the next 12 months, according to a survey conducted by Hurwitz & Associates for email delivery company Campaigner, reports Marketing Charts.

Another recent survey by VerticalResponse found that 74.1% of small businesses plan to increase their use of email marketing and 68.3% will increase their use of social media in 2010. Only 3.8% of respondents do not plan to use email marketing in 2010.

And as further proof of stepped-up use, Constant Contact's fifth annual Small Business Holiday Outlook Survey revealed a notable increase in SMB's use of Internet-based marketing strategies vs. similar surveys conducted last year and in February 2009. It also found that substantially more small businesses plan to use holiday-related email marketing this year (89% vs. 60%) and 43% expect to increase online holiday sales (vs. 38% in 2008).

Since February, Constant Contact also found that significantly more small businesses are using other digital platforms and tools to market their products and services. These are, in order of popularity: email marketing, online advertising, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, LinkedIn, and YouTube.

MySpace is the only platform small businesses are using less today than in February, the survey found.

The ROI Story

Email marketing delivers the biggest bang for a firm's investment dollar. The latest ROI figures come from DMA's newly released Power of Direct Report, according to Strongmail. It found that commercial email now returns $43.62 for every dollar spent on it in 2009 - a $1.31 drop from last year, but still double the ROI of search advertising, which is the next most effective channel with an ROI of $21.85 for every dollar spent.

Some Tips

As SMBs rev up their campaign plans and put the final touches on their holiday initiatives - the following tips may help to boost returns even further:

• Involve customers. Constant Contact suggests polling customers to determine which products should go on sale. Letting a popular vote determine sale items will give recipients an incentive to send friends and family the survey, spread awareness about the offering, and extend its reach.

• Brand all forms of communication. Constant Contact also suggests that SMBs ensure their company name, logo, messages, and tone are consistent from one communication to the next. This will help reinforce brand recall.

• Keep it relevant. Make sure messages are relevant to the customer or prospect base. Some 41% of consumers find that promotional offers are irrelevant, according to a study by the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council and InfoPrint Solutions Company. In fact, increasing relevance is vital not just to growing a customer base but to maintaining an existing one: The survey found that 41% of overall respondents would consider ending a brand relationship because of irrelevant promotions, and an additional 22% say they would definitely defect from a brand.

• Incorporate social media. Social media is not on par with email marketing in terms of reach and ROI - but it is a growing force to be reckoned with. There are a number of tools that can help marketers enhance their campaigns by incorporating Facebook, Twitter and other platforms.

• Don’t forget video marketing. The same holds true for video e-mail marketing, which is quickly developing its own ROI case, along with new tools and strategies.

• Create a landing page for every email campaign. Email marketing provider Campaigner suggests this as part of its "Tips for Getting Started with Email Marketing" series. It takes on added significance as more robust web analytics applications come online. Creating a landing page for each campaign "pays dividends by making it easier to see who's responding, how quickly and which messages or keywords are working," Campaigner said.