In April 2002, online marketing firm DoubleClick conducted a survey of about 200 U.S. marketing professionals about their budget plans for the next year. According to the survey, 61% of respondents expect email marketing budgets to grow. Respondents predict their email marketing budgets to increase by 17%, along with direct response TV (+18%), channel marketing (+15%), and online marketing (+9%). Other categories are expected to decline: telemarketing (-7%), direct mail (-7%), and catalog marketing (-13%).

Views: More Power to You

I certainly feel that email marketing is a great medium and deserves budget support. Nonetheless, nobody should allow their marketing budget to be governed by popular trends. I hate to see a company shunt aside a successful direct marketing program in favor of untested media, whether online or conventional. Rather than rushing in and spending money indiscriminately on email list rentals, devise a program of testing to find out which lists, offers, and creative approaches will work best for your products.

Al Bredenberg is publisher of EmailResults.com (http://www.emailresults.com) and the Marketers' Market (http://market.emailresults.com), the online marketplace for opt-in email lists and marketing services.