Farmers’ Almanac defines the “Dog Days of Summer” as the hottest days of the season, which occur between July 3 and August 11 every year. While many people believe the saying has to do with dogs being sluggish and lazy on hot summer days, it is actually a reference to the sun occupying the same region as Sirius, otherwise known as the “dog” star. Sirius is the brightest star visible from earth and part of the Canis Major (or “Greater Dog”) Constellation.

All of this is news to me: a speaker at a recent conference I attended mentioned it in her introductory comments. But what isn’t news is that email marketing continues to demonstrate strong ROI, even in the dog days of summer.

In fact, in its fourth annual State of Marketing Report, Salesforce recently polled 3,500 global marketing leaders and found that:

• Use of email has grown in both the B2B and B2C markets over the past two years. Email was among the top five marketing channels with the highest level of growth – increasing 83 percent since 2015.
• In the B2C realm, email use by marketers increased 106 percent and was the second-highest marketing channel in growth, trailing only video advertising.
• In the B2B domain, email use has grown by 56 percent over the last two years, surpassed only by video advertising and text messaging.
• Email was a cornerstone of marketing tactics used by self-identified “high-performing” marketers, who were 12.8 times more likely than underperformers to leverage email, along with mobile and social marketing tactics, across all channels.
• Marketers reported the highest levels of awareness, engagement and acquisition when combining email with additional marketing channels.
• More than half (51 percent) of marketers say their email messages contain content identical to content contained in other marketing channels. Meanwhile, 29 percent of marketers say their email messages change across channels and in response to additional customer interaction.

Another report concludes that email is a crucial component of B2B customer referral programs. Amplifinity’s “State of Business Customer Referral Programs” shows that:

• In 2016, email was used in over 72 percent of all referral programs, second only to lead forms (77 percent) filled out by customers.
• As far as actual referrals made, email drove 24 percent of leads, ranking ahead of lead forms (23 percent)
• Email ranked third in referral effectiveness (it is effective 17 percent of the time), behind only verbal referrals (32 percent) and lead forms (19 percent), but far ahead of print cards (12 percent).

Finally, spending on email continues to grow in 2017. According to MediaRadar’s Q1 media spending report:

• While spending on print, digital and programmatic advertising was down, email spend rose by 28 percent year-over-year in Q1 of this year.
• Email was the only marketing medium to show such growth. The only other marketing tactic showing growth at all was mobile (8 percent), while the other major categories (e.g. direct marketing and video) were flat.
• The report summarized that, despite the rise of push messaging and social media, email is still one of the best ways to reach a targeted audience.

Data doesn’t lie, and these recent metrics prove that email continues to be the top dog in the marketing realm – and certainly a B2B marketer’s best friend. Be sure to keep it in your toolbox!

Outward Media’s accurate, targeted email data can help you achieve better email marketing ROI, and convert more prospects into customers. Ask us how. Also, take a look at our complimentary new e-book on building a successful B2B email marketing database.