Preferred strategies and tactics of B2B versus B2C marketers vary greatly. However, they both agree that sending email promotions works.

As outlined on eMarketer.com, a recent Silverpop poll asked B2B marketers and B2C marketers to rank the email marketing tactics they feel work the best. Forty-two percent of B2C marketers and 38 percent of B2B marketers felt including marketing promotions in transactional emails was the most effective email marketing tactic.

Before including promotional offers in email, however, marketers should be sure the message matches the medium … and the audiences’ expectations. As explained by Mark Brownlow on www.email-marketing-reports.com:

“Promotional emails are generally short-term in nature (unless part of a sequenced campaign). If the recipient doesn’t respond more or less immediately to the offer, then chances are that the value of the email is lost. It has little long-term impact or influence on the recipient.”

“Newsletters on the other hand are about building long-term relationships. They may, of course, include calls-to-action, but their prime goal is to strengthen the relationship between the customer or prospect and the publishing entity.”

Email fliers (eFliers) are the best vehicle for email promotions. The design and content is strategically crafted to evoke an immediate response from the recipient such as engaging in a purchase, a free trial, a download, a sign-up or some other tangible action.

Email newsletters are best left to do their job as long-term relationship builders … conduits of trust, loyalty and credibility.

As Brownlow states, “If you’re planning regular mailings to customers or prospects, make sure you understand the distinction and design your mails (and the promotion of your list) accordingly. It’s not a question of one form of email marketing being better than the other, just a question of meeting and beating the expectations of your subscribers.”