Yes, email marketing is still a thing

Email marketing is not dead; it's just been deceptively quiet. Everyone makes such a fuss over social media that marketers may forget about what should be obvious -- that many people check their email as often or more often than they check their social accounts. That's not to say that email marketing can replace social media marketing. But it can move the conversation about your brand to the more personal setting of your customer's inbox.

In fact, email marketing is growing. According to this infographic, the number of permission-based emails per email address has risen from two to three a day since 2009. Even though people (myself included) complain about the volume of email, not to mention spam, that crowds their inboxes every day, people are actually opting in to receive more emails from businesses.

However, you still have to make the content of your emails stand out. As the folks at Mad Mimi say, you have to know your audience. Even better, think like your audience. What content would you want to see if these emails were coming to you? If you think of something that fills your business requirement, but you have a hunch that you'd skip over that content as a user, leave it out! You're not writing for you; you're writing for your customers.

Email is the "first and most frequent thing people check," with 72 percent of people checking their inboxes 6 or more times a day. If you put valuable content with engaging subject lines -- whether it's a sale, new product or blog post -- in front of those email checkers on a regular basis, you should start seeing more views, which leads to more clicks (and more sales!).

One way to get more email subscribers is to use that thing many marketers are buzzing about instead of email -- social media. But the two don't have to compete. They can work together as two complementary pieces of an integrated marketing strategy. In the mix of your interesting, informative and engaging social content, also ask your followers on Facebook or Twitter to join your email list. Constant Contact reports that businesses that combine email with social see faster list growth, larger lists and more click-throughs.

Copyblogger reports that the return on investment of email marketing is 4,300 percent. As I say when convincing myself to buy something that's on sale, you're losing money if you don't do it!