Are we in a recession or is it still coming? Economists and politicians continue to trade opinions, but business people know they are facing an economic downturn. Cost-cutting will be inevitable and unfortunately some of the first cuts seem to be made in marketing. Given the proven profitability of email marketing many companies feel that in this case that conventional slashing of the marketing budget that email should be spared.

Email as a marketing channel offers a distinct set of competitive advantages, not unlike the advantages many businesses will seek in an economic downturn.

Firstly is the accountability of email marketing. Email is considered the most measurable of all marketing channels.  You should be able to justify any investment with hard revenue and profits generated. Email results generally deliver an immediate return on investment.  Send today and view the results in minutes.

Secondly is email's ability to help you protect your most valuable asset in a downturn economy: loyal customers. As a channel, email offers some technical advantages that enable marketers to send highly targeted and relevant messages. You can craft your email campaigns that are focused on your highest value customers, with content and offers that will keep them coming back for more. Unlike television advertising and print advertsing, email marketing offers more cost effective opportunities to surprise and delight your customers, while at the same time generating some quick sales.

When it comes to low cost, high reward marketing channels, email has no rival. In fact, your goal should be to drive as much of your customer communications to email as possible, no matter what state the economy is in. Email gives you the ability to monitor customer interactions in real time and respond quickly to a need or customer concern. It is the ideal device for driving online revenue.

Always remember that email is a permission based medium. Marketers who "blast" their customers with generic messages will certainly get results, but it is the marketers who send the smartest and most relevant email that will reap the greatest reward: loyal, long term customer relationships. And, if we are indeed in a recession, your most important asset will be the enduring value of that customer loyalty.