Online marketing has come a long way since the inception of the internet, or more accurately, the popular use of it today. Today the internet is virtually an entire microcosm in itself: an alternate reality that people exist in as different avatars, a place where information can pass from event to reader in a second uncensored, and a medium that has super-networked everyone to the point of nearly proving the six degrees of separation theory. Obviously, corporate houses are not ones to be left behind in the revolution are quick to exploit this as a marketing and selling medium. Thus the email campaign was born. Starting out as a service we would today call SPAM, campaigns have now become much more evolved and precise thanks to the advent of email campaign software. So, does that mean that all a company has to do is to go online? Unfortunately, this is not the case and online marketing is not a selling panacea.

What does it take to make that killer online campaign? To answer this, you would have to understand some things about marketing itself and where promotion fits into it. Promotion is a crucial part of the marketing mix. The marketing mix itself can be thought of as a deck of cards with aspects like price, product, and placement among other aspects of the mix. Any mistake in one part of the mix affects the next and the whole.

 Therefore, the first step in creating a winning email campaign is integration with the marketing mix.

The second is to ensure that you promote your product or service to the right audience. This is where email campaign software comes in to ensure that the right people get the right information that helps create a sale.

Third, is the content of promotion itself; always keep abreast of technology and be sure to use it where appropriate. Flash videos are the rage in this generation of the online community so create options to embed video where you can.

The fourth pillar of successful online marketing is to ensure that the online promotion and offline, traditional advertising and promotion do not conflict. Most advertising has to be modified to be attractive enough on the online medium; therefore, designing the online campaign must be in sync with the offline specifications.

The fifth component of an online campaign rests in ensuring that the email campaign does not end up being SPAM. This is where a subject line that does not sound like hard sell or a virtual used car salesmen comes in. Finally, ensure that the email campaign software is being continuously fed with new profiles and that existing ones are always updated.