I have been researching articles on business challenges that email marketing in particular faces at the moment, and it makes for depressing reading in many ways, although there is an optimistic way of looking at it. It’s the one to go for.

You can probably guess the biggest challenge to email marketing and marketing in general. I’ll tell you though: costs. Most of the challenges have, to a limited extent, some basis in increased costs, and, as there would appear to be little we can do about them, it might give the appearance that the only thing we can do is exist until the situation improves. Best of luck with that.

However, there are other points where we can make a difference and improve ROI. I have a graph onscreen which shows a common finding: the fourth biggest concern raised by companies is poor efficiency and wasted time. Why have these companies not addressed such problems already?

We always need to be professional. If we act carelessly or ignore matters that appear too difficult, we will suffer. If there’s a challenge, your email marketing competitors will, most likely, have similar pressures. The company that cracks the problems is the one that will have fewer obstacles to success.

Discover where your restrictions and blockages are and take the necessary steps to eradicate or at least modify them. This is what management should be doing.

During a lecture some years ago, a management consultant said, and produced evidence to support, that most companies know what they are doing wrong, that it is costing them money and customers, yet are reluctant to confront the facts. They will argue with the conclusions. They will start sentences with ‘But’. Is this you?

You can perform your own assessment of efficiency and time management. It’s simple enough in the email marketing process. The only difficult part, and the one that defeats most, is in accepting your faults and especially correcting them. In other words, the most important tool when combating inefficiencies and time management is an open mind. You probably already know what you are doing wrong. Why keep doing it?