The dawn of Rich Media on the Internet is here… Finally!
In the heyday of the internet bubble the promise of “convergence” was on everyone’s tongues however the technology and widespread use of broadband was not there.

The number of broadband users have increased to the point that it makes sense for companies to offer Rich Media content with an sizable audience to view it. These companies include Apple, Google, Cinema Now, Yahoo, Rhapsody and Slingbox. While most of these are concentrating on delivery of broadcast television programming and movies on demand, Slingbox offers a hardware product ($249.95) that attaches to your broadband (Satellite or cable box DSL/Cable) modem and Television (not required). This product allows you view your cable/satellite subscription remotely from any computer connected to a broadband connection (256k minimum recommended). Rhapsody offers internet users the ability to subscribe to their service and listen to over a million songs online.

Rich Media is also has been making it’s presence known in banner ads on websites and email. Rich Media has always posed a problem for email, this is due to security settings, virus protection and anti spam software that are integral parts of today’s email. Blue Sky Factory is the only Email Provider that currently can deliver rich media emails without the recipient getting security warnings or even worst a blank email.

Rich media offers a new and unique new tool to effectively communicate with your audience in a engaging, effective manner.

It’s clear that 2006 will be another growth year for email marketing. All trend reports indicate marketers plan to increase their use of email rather dramatically this year!

More importantly, it appears the market has reached a critical ‘tipping point’ across all company sizes where email has begun the fundamental shift from “Should I use email marketing” to “How can I use email marketing most effectively”.

This is an important shift because now companies are beginning to focus on strategy, rather than just on simple utilization. Over the last few years it has been okay to simply use email as a tool to deliver newsletters, send occasional promotions or keep in touch with prospects and clients. But as we begin 2006, it’s clear that companies are now more interested than ever in enhancing their email marketing efforts….the shift has been slow, but it’s beginning to take hold, which will make 2006 a very exciting year!

One of the key areas that companies will focus on is their email lists. Email marketing offers an opportunity to leverage company databases in some very powerful ways. The technology is available to allow companies to quickly and easily segment data based on an almost unlimited number of criteria. Bigger companies have focused here for a while, but now more and more smaller companies are beginning to see the ease (and low cost) with which they can target prospects and customers on a more individual basis.

Targeted marketing, as it’s often called, is quickly becoming a requirement rather than a luxury with email marketing. And as the dbase management tools become easier to use, and priced at levels suitable for those not in the Fortune 1000, the popularity will continue to grow.

BtoB reports on eMarketers predictions for online marketing:

New York—Internet research company eMarketer has released the following predictions for the online marketing industry in 2006:

• Online advertising will pass the 5% mark, with 5.4% of total U.S. advertising spent on online.
• Retail e-commerce will grow from $87 billion in 2005 to $105 billion, a 21% increase.
• The U.S. broadband market will grow to 124 million users, from 105 million users in 2005.
• Spending on Internet video advertising will increase by 71% to $385 million.
• The number of video phone users in the U.S. will more than double from 1.2 million to more than 3 million.
• Search engine users will grow to 146 million, from 138 million in 2005.
• The number of VoIP access lines will grow to just fewer than 14.5 million, from an estimated 10 million in 2005.

Here are some interesting stats from eMarketer in relation to the useage of email. Look at the way things have changed over the years. 44% of people state they monitor their email constantly. Where do you fit into the mix? The data is here scales between peoples personal and professional lives. I wonder how many people monitor their email “constantly” after they return from home from work. It’s amazing to see that some folks still only check their email once a week. I have been in the “constantly” column for the last 5 years. If you want to get me quick - email is always the fastest way. Email continues to be an increasingly expanding channel to reach consumers and business professionals. Thanks eMarketer for the great article.

• November 2005 keyword prices dropped 11% on average from November 2004.
• Google reported a 96% increase in third quarter revenue from the same quarter in 2004.

These two seemingly contradictory facts make sense once you dig a little deeper. The source of the keyword statistics, Fathom Online, tracks the price of generic keywords over time. As internet users have grown in number they have also become more search-engine savvy. They have begun to move beyond generic terms to more complicated phrases that include a city name or other descriptors.

This has allowed search marketers to diversify the keywords that they target. The result is phenomenal growth in search marketing spending even while most keywords continue to provide an exceptional return on a modest marketing dollar.

The answer to that question may determine whether your marketing emails end up in the junk folder or the inbox. You see, a large share of deliverability challenges can not be mitigated by clever technology or reputation management solutions. They are caused by companies, who do get permission to deliver email, but then send only sales messages.

Many recipients don’t remember or care whether they subscribed to your emails. At best they will unsubscribe — often, you run the risk of getting a click of the notorious “this is SPAM” button. Sending welcome email is in large part a result of your intent.

A recent article by Jackie Huba outlines the basic differences between sales messages that are imposed and evangelizing messages that are more often welcomed. These differences are remarkably similar to the differences between spam and welcome email.

To adapt Huba’s idea to email marketing, we would have a chart of characteristics that looks something like this:

Within these characteristics, how do your recipients rate your messages? Are they bored by the same old sales pitch in every message or are they sometimes engaged by your unconventional ideas? Do you share the passion and mission of your organization or only the latest discounts?

Over time, the answers to these questions will affect your email deliverability even when recipients have asked to receive your messages.

Bill McCloskey writes about some of his email predictions for 2006 in this weeks Email Insider. His top predictions include:

Prediction 1: My No. 1 prediction is that we are going to see a renaissance in e-mail marketing.

Prediction 2: It’s still too early for RSS. We may see the Year for RSS at some point, but 2006 is not it.

Prediction 3: Spam is not going away, but nobody will care.

Prediction 4: E-mail will surpass search in the battle for marketers’ hearts and minds.I would have to agree whole heartedly with Bills predictions, the signs are evident on all 4 predictions. Email has evolved and is now about to mature as a medium. The renaissance that Bill predicts is very much about marketers getting smart about their data, their analytics, which allows them to get to know their customers even better and hence communicate with them on a powerful one to one basis.RSS is indeed on the rise and will no doubt play a key role in marketing communications. It is though as Bill states, still a “geeks toy”

Spam will still indeed be with us. However I believe deliverability will improve, and email marketing will continue to grow and become a powerful arsenal for every smart marketer.

Good news for the online world, a new eMarketer study found that B2B marketers are shifting up to 25% of their budgets online. Thats an impressive shift that will continue to drive the online media landscape forward. The survey consisted of 867 B2B marketers - click here to access the article.

We all know that email marketing done right is much easier said than done. Its important for any marketer to have a solid understanding of the key issues surrounding the medium. I find that when I look at the writing about the “issues” in email, you see a ton about deliverability. However, its key to stay focused on the big picture in the email landscape. Marketing Sherpa has just released a report entitled “Four Key Email Marketing Alerts for 2006″ (executive summary) to give marketers insight on what they should be paying attention to in the new year.

Here are the top 4 alerts that are covered in detail:

Alert #1. Getting bad results? Don’t blame email marketing, blame your execution
Alert #2. Human eyes read more text when email includes pictures
Alert #3. The Arc of Attention — Email Opt-in Recency
Alert #4. Filter hell continues…

I think Anita Campbell said it right in her reaction to the first alert:

“The businesses that are getting good results are those that work hard at it. They test their techniques to see which ones work best, and they adapt their practices. Also, they segment their lists and tailor their messages. Sure this takes time and effort. No pain, no gain. “

As the holiday season and the new year rolls in, its a good time to evaluate your email marketing strategy and see where you can improve. As the landscape continues to change its important to make sure you are up on all of the key elements surrounding successful email marketing.

Every few months another vendor in the email marketing space releases a study on the best day to send email. Some of these articles contain more self-promotion than wisdom but some have also delivered a lot of value. One of the better articles I’ve seen is posted here on eMarketer.

Some of the key findings include:

• Midweek is the low point for open and click-through rates.
• Friday and Sunday have the highest overall rates.
• Average open and click-through rates were 27% and 4.4%.
• For a number of reasons, response rates vary substantially with list size.
• Large senders had the best response on Saturday. Presumably, larger lists are more often B2C lists. Sending on Saturday catches consumers on the day when they are shopping.
• Small senders had the best response on Friday.

In general, like many other variables in email marketing, the best day to send varies greatly depending on your audience, your purpose, and content.