E-mail marketing new darling of newsletter publishers.

Newsletter and specialized information publishers have embraced e-mail marketing efforts, according to an informal poll of attendees at the Miami Beach conference of the Newsletter & Electronic Publishers Association that was held earlier this month.

In response to the question, "Is your company doing e-mail marketing?" nearly 100 percent of the 80+ people in the audience raised their hands to signal that they were involved in e-mail marketing.

The question was posed by publisher Robert K. Jenkins of Health Resources Publishing, moderator of a discussion group on e-mail marketing.

On the other hand, many felt the dramatic growth will pose significant marketing problems for publishers in the future. Approximately half of the group indicated that there were "big problems ahead" with e-mail sites filled with promotional material.

Jenkins cited a friend who works for a technology company who is getting some 300 e-mails a day.

"He is drowning in e-mail," Jenkins said. "A small publisher getting 300 e-mails a day would have quite a time coping. Of course, if these were all subscription orders he might think that he was in nirvana."

Apparently "the dot-com meltdown that started last April" has had little impact on publishers in the development of their internet marketing plans. Only three attendees reported that it had "slowed their internet strategic momentum."

Jenkins asserted that he left the Miami meeting with these insights:

"First, I came away reinforced in my belief that the dot-coms are not the threat we thought they were a year ago. Second, we can't lose sight of the fact that we need to do traditional marketing. And, third is the realization that e-mail marketing does work."