"Social media is all the rage these days, and I'm in complete agreement that it should be part of your campaigns—but let's not overlook the power of email," writes Chad Horenfeldt in a recent post at the Anything Goes Marketing blog. Email is being underused by many B2B companies, Horenfeldt states, because of misplaced fears about its overuse. Such false assumptions are holding companies back from employing the still-vital, golden channel to its fullest, he warns.

Among the fears that Horenfeldt identifies—and shoots down:

We don't have anything good to send to our list. Yes you do. The customer is in charge these days, Horenfeldt reminds us, and his or her needs will dictate your email content and schedule. "The marketer needs to make educational materials that will guide the prospect along the buyer's journey as they progress through the evaluation stages to the eventual product purchase," he explains. Map out the content that prospective buyers would be interested in at various stages of the sales process—and "automate the delivery of this communication," he advises.

We don't have any time-sensitive events that we need to promote. So what? "Just because you're not presenting at tradeshows or executing monthly webinars doesn't mean that your [list] should not be receiving regular communication from you," Horenfeldt states. He suggests you consider these email-based initiatives:

• Lead-nurturing programs for leads that are currently evaluating your product or services
• Longer-term lead-nurturing programs for leads that have been passed back to marketing
• Re-engagement programs that target leads associated with stalled opportunities or contacts in your marketing database that are no longer responding to your emails.

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