An effective, targeted email marketing (or lead marketing) campaign is the ongoing discipline of fostering consistent and meaningful interaction with potential customers, regardless of where they are in the buying cycle. There are innovative, cost-effective and customer relationship-friendly methods that you can utilize to ensure that you are continuously on your prospect's radar.

When you implement a targeted lead marketing mechanism, you are able to help your clients capture and cultivate early-stage leads so their marketing and sales funnel never misses out on valuable opportunities. Lead marketing involves two main practices: email marketing and lead nurturing.

Although email marketing often gets lumped in with SPAM, it is not the same thing. Email marketing is solicited email that the consumer looks forward to receiving. It is a powerful tool and establishes the business as professional, branded and consistent. An ongoing email received once a month from a business may lead to a sale down the road. This is called drip marketing and is particularly popular with high priced items such as real estate and automobiles.

It is important to gather a high quality list rather than purchase one. Contact current customers, have a sign-up sheet at the business, get staff involved and make the email something they pass on to their friends. Emails should have simple fonts, short messages, above the fold and should have a call to action. Landing pages should be used to assist in the analytics. Appeal to a person's human need with a powerful headline and ensure there is a subscribe / unsubscribe option.

Lead nurturing is a relationship-building approach utilizing multiple media to provide relevant information tailored to prospects while engaging in an ongoing dialog until qualified prospects are "sales ready". Lead nurturing has become an integral component of an overall marketing strategy. These "drip marketing" lead nurturing programs can consist of educational material, newsletters, surveys, whitepapers, case studies or invitations to events - any series of regular communication that keeps your company name "top of mind" among leads.

An effective use of this strategy can result into a healthy funnel, shorter sales cycles and better Return on Investment (ROI). Apart from qualified leads, if the use of various educational material is done appropriately, this can lead to building your personal brand as an Internet marketing expert.