Third-party support 'can improve email marketing'

Businesses can improve their marketing campaigns by seeking help from a third-party, it has been suggested.

Carrie Bendall, an expert from advice website Marketing Donut, said it can be "a false economy" to produce and distribute marketing materials in-house without support from an expert such as a web hosting specialist.

Indeed she claimed firms may enjoy far higher click-through and conversion rates if they benefit from the specific industry expertise offered by web or email marketing solutions providers.

Ms Bendall added that firms should only design their own materials if they can make them look professional.

"A badly designed website, for example, will put customers off," she noted.

Earlier this week, the latest report from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising revealed that firms increased their investment in online advertising channels such as email marketing during the third quarter of 2009.

This was the first recorded rise in online advertising expenditure since the second quarter of 2008.

Written by Debra Hastings-Henry