From student councils to specific niche clubs and organizations, email marketing software can help students take their initiatives to the next level. This approach is not devoted to just older students. Over the past 12 months, we've seen a spike in email marketing activity amongst a variety of schools and academic institutions, from elementary through to high school, college and university levels. Since most people, both young and old, have an email account they check regularly, using email marketing software is a fast and effective way to reach out and communicate your message.

Many school organizations that traditionally would have relied on paper flyers to promote an event have now turned to email marketing software to pave the way. They've learned email marketing is environmentally friendly and, best of all, they are seeing even better results. Beyond the environmental concern, the problem with paper flyers is that they can easily be scrunched up and tossed into the garbage and forgotten about by the end of the school day. However, when the school or group sends out an email marketing campaign, they don't have to worry about that, since messages will wait patiently in the recipient's inbox. Students are much more likely to notice messages they receive on their own time, as opposed to paper flyers that compete for their attention when they're already busy with campus life.

Many school organizations have found that running a fundraiser with the use of email marketing software is a lot easier, due to the inherent viral nature of email. Most email marketing software solutions have a special 'forward to friend' option that will let a student (who is a member of a club, for example) forward the email along to all of their friends. This helps the school organization really spread the news about their fundraiser a lot faster because instead of just communicating with the one club member, they are actually tapping into their entire network.

Another one of the benefits email marketing software can offer a school organization is the ability to track all of the respondent activity. Since student run organizations do not have full time staff (since they are student run!) it's important that they only employ the most effective tactics to maximize their efforts. But, if they can't measure their impact, then how would they know if it is working or not? With most email marketing software solutions, you can track exactly who is opening your email, which links are being clicked on, who is forwarding the message, and more. The school organization can easily see which emails are most effective and which ones yield the greatest response. With all these metrics readily available within their email marketing software, the organization can take steps to really boost their efficiency.

Since most students already have their hands full, the last thing they would want is to have to learn something new and complex. That's why most email marketing software solutions are incredibly easy to use. In just a few minutes, a student council member or club/organization member can easily create a snazzy professional looking email without needing any technical skills. From newsletters to event promotions to fundraising announcements, it only takes a couple clicks of the mouse for results that will surely impress your other members. They'll probably think you spent hours working on it. And, hey, you can even let them believe that!

The important thing is that email marketing software gives you more tools in your arsenal to help achieve the goals of your school organization. At the end of the day, since every school organization wants to thrive, the better it can communicate with its members, the more likely it is to succeed.

Robert Burko is President of EliteEmail.com (http://www.eliteemail.com), the most trusted email marketing software used by academic institutions around the globe. Schools can qualify for special nonprofit email marketing rates so they can start spreading their message faster and more affordably.