There still seems to be hesitation by some industry professionals to jump on the Twitter bandwagon because they don’t yet understand its value. They don’t see a bottom-line altering reason to devote manpower and resources into building up Twitter followers and starting to tweet. While the uses of Twitter are as varied as the number of members, to those professionals, I would like to present the case that Twitter can be considered and used as Email Marketing 2.0.

Email marketing has been around for a long time. The typical cycle worked something like this:

First, you had to buy or generate what you think is a targeted email list. Next, you would design an email, cut it up, build the html, insert it into an email program, and test, test, test. Then you would blast your email. You would get a 1-8% click through rate. Of those that click, a percentage may convert. Finally, you would try to figure out how to improve open rates, click rates, conversion rates, etc. etc. etc.

Twitter, it would seem, has changed everything. Assuming you have built up a solid follower base and you have built up trustworthiness with them, you are only a tweet away from driving solid traffic to your promotion.

Maybe you’re not convinced yet. Could Twitter actually be BETTER than email marketing? Consider these 5 points and decide for yourself.

1. Fewer Barriers. Email marketing requires two clicks to get to the content - an open and a click through. This extra barrier to entry actually makes email marketing inferior to Twitter. Twitter is a direct channel to new products, sales, promotions, news and more without the hassle of signing up for email updates and possibly racking up spam in the process.

2. Lower Overhead. Email blasting can get expensive. By the time you have a designer build and prep it, deploy it, and pay to have the blast managed and tweaked, you may have invested thousands of dollars. Twitter is FREE! And with new tools emerging every day that track the results, you can get similar ROI data.

3. More Accessible. Twitter, like email marketing, is opt in, but users are far more at ease with following your company than they are handing you their email address.

4. Constant Contact. Email marketing has a cap for most people: If you blast them more than once or twice a week, they are very likely to unsubscribe. Twitter, on the other hand, enables a steady stream of communication. If I received 2 emails a day from Starbucks, I would probably unsubscribe, but 2 tweets a day from them is perfectly acceptable.

5. Better Results. Not only will your tweet be less intrusive, shorter, and free, you are likely to have a higher response rate!

Businesses like woot.com have figured Twitter out. They realize that people don’t want spammy deals crammed down their throats via email anymore. They want bite-sized information from trusted sources. Email marketing is on the way out.

All business owners should be taking note of what is happening with Twitter. They should be sending out email blasts asking their loyal clients to join them on Twitter. They should be transferring resources over to daily tweets and setting up feeds. They should be engaging their brand advocates in conversations, and rewarding their clients with deals and special promotions.

We will all benefit when businesses get this because we will be rewarded with new and interesting channels of communication that are less intrusive and more direct.

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My name is Daniel Allen and I would love to engage you on Twitter! My handle is @danieldallen.