Like with many things besides the pie vs cake debate (pie is clearly better!), there is no clear answer to the blog vs email marketing debate. There is also room for both – have your cake and eat your pie too! Lorrie (of Web Marketing Therapy) and Kate virtually sat down to create some guidelines for to help get you started.

Before we get into it, though, let’s break down what form they take most often:

A Blog: A blog is part of a website or a stand-alone destination in which content is published over time. It becomes a valuable repository (hopefully) of information and links.  Also, people can visit to read/view/listen to your posted content and interact with the author(s) by leaving comments at any time. People can use an RSS feed to subscribe to your blog, which delivers the latest content from your blog to their Feed Reader or their email inbox. You need a platform on which to create your blog, like Blogger or WordPress (my favorite).

Email Marketing: Email Marketing is a subscription-based service in which you send content (eg: a newsletter) via email to a subscription list. What you send can include text, links and images, but needs to adhere to some of the limitations of the email programs that will display them. Often, an incentive is offered to entice people to sign up for your mailing list. You need a service that allows you to create a way for people to sign up, manage the subscription list, and send emails to them.

So how do you know which to use when?

Here are few things to consider when deciding how to cash in your web marketing chips when it comes to blogs and email marketing:

• Social media services like Facebook & Twitter have made the playing field even more complicated. Both offer some of the best aspects of Blogs and Email Marketing, but where they differ is that your blog and email marketing campaigns are exclusive to and focused on you. While it’s great to be part of a larger community, you don’t always want your online presence adjacent to the latest news from your child’s soccer coach. So far, Twitter and Facebook haven’t replaced Email Marketing and Blogging as we know it – but they’re wonderful ways to get the word out!
• If you’re updating your blog frequently, you can expect people will subscribe to it and keep up-to-date with your content, but it is still a model where people have to take action to visit it. With the exception to subscribing to a blog via email, which tends to be a low percentage of blog visitors, email marketing puts your message right in their inbox. It’s a way to keep your content in front of a potential customer, and to let them know when you have something new to offer without them having to do anything at all.
• Read the rest of our considerations on The Web Marketing Therapy blog – including how to create a unique, searchable resource through your efforts…

There are benefits to blogging and email marketing campaigns, and luckily you don’t have to choose. And, to top it off, there are free & easy ways to do both (MailChimp & WordPress for example). Often it comes down to your budget for time and money. If you can’t really commit to both, and follow through so that they both have a chance of success, then put your time and money into one. Which one? That decision is based on the specific goals you’ve set up for your business, but  most often a blog is the best place to start.

That’s because a blog often establishes the reason why someone would want to be interested in you in the first place. It’s a chance to show your expertise while your content repository and readership grow publicly. It’s a place that can be linked to to widen your net and a place that can show up in search results. It’s a place people can interact with each other and you can communicate directly with your site visitors.

A great case study is Margaret Roach’s A Way to Garden. Her site, which is primarily comprised of her blog, also offers an email newsletter. She uses the email newsletter to point to things on her blog that her readership may have missed, but also to add a few extra touches that aren’t available on her blog, like additional stories and photos, or information about her new book. I look forward to receiving the newsletter in my inbox even though I read her blog.

So, as you go off to consider your options, make sure you look at models other people have tried that you like. Is there an email newsletter that you really love or hate to get? Why? Is there a blog that you wish had a way to subscribe for more information? How come? If you’ve ever unsubscribed from an email marketing campaign, what led you to that decision? The answers you come up with, along with the information here, will help you make the decision that will best work for you!

Related posts:

1. Tweet Your Blog
2. Outsourcing your social media marketing
3. Client Spotlight: Ann Levine, Law School Expert
4. Client Spotlight: Web Marketing Therapist, Lorrie Thomas