From the Yahoo Finance story by Hat Trick Associates today:

With the advent of social media, mobile marketing and a host of other new, “sexier” communication channels, one might assume stodgy email marketing has gone the way of the Dodo bird or horse and buggy. But if anything the reverse is true.

“The reports of my death are greatly exaggerated.” Mark Twain

With all the hype surrounding social media and mobile marketing, it would be easy to assume that email is yesterday’s news, with little chance of keeping up with the other marketing methods now available.

But according to the numbers this assumption is incorrect. Email usage has remained remarkably steady, even in the face of new competition. Research shows that email is still the preferred method for receiving commercial messages of 74% of adults. This perhaps surprising statistic can help explain the continued proliferation of e-zines and other email marketing today.

It’s no longer true that the largest firms are the most likely to utilize email. As smaller companies outgrow their sole-proprietor beginnings, they increasing look for new ways to expand their business to support higher headcounts and overhead. Business surveys revealed that almost half of small businesses were using email marketing in 2010; an additional 36% reported plans to begin this year.

The dollars spend annually show this high participation rate. On average email promotion accounts for about 15-22% of total marketing budgets. These billions spent every year has certainly attracted attention, with many new email distribution and copywriting firms found online today.

This gives today’s marketer many options to choose from, ranging from self-serve programs to ones that completely managed by an outside vendor. Choices are often dictated by the level of expertise and resources available internally.

It is projected that the number of worldwide email accounts will grow from over 2.9 billion in 2010 to over 3.8 billion by 2014. And with similar response rates but higher ROI potential than direct print marketing, due to much lower costs, the future looks bright for the continued relevance of email marketing. Coupled with growth expectations, it’s clear that e-marketing is here to stay.