You've got mail! But for how much longer can email run our lives?

Sad news reached the IT industry this week with the news that the email inventor and selector of @ symbol, Ray Tomlinson, had died aged 74.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/mar/07/ray-tomlinson-email-inventor-and-selector-of-symbol-dies-aged-74

His creation in 1971, as part of his work on ARPANET, had a revolutionary impact on how the world communicates. The first email was sent between two machines sitting next to each other, but has gone on to become a mainstay of communication and marketing for billions across the globe.

Yet while it has become so intrinsically important and an integral part of our lives - even helping give rise to the nickname Crackberry for the addictiveness of instant email on Blackberrys - the death-knell has been regularly sounded. Text Messaging, Instant Messaging, Social Media have all arrived and yet none have replaced Microsoft Outlook or Hotmail as the hub of our conversation. Email remains an IT security risk, with attacks becoming ever more sophisticated to lure people into danger (from Nigerian princes to malicious links and attachments to advanced social engineering, the current tactic of choice) - yet IT departments would never dare unplug the Microsoft Exchange Server. Organisations call for a ban on email and a return to actual conversation, or even ruling it illegal to require employees to check their email out of work hours. Even the very basic technical foundation of email is flawed, and if we designed it from scratch today it would be very different (and certainly not so easy to spam, spoof and trick your way into someone's inbox). Ultimately - surely - a replacement will be found, and email in its current form will be no longer. But the ping of incoming mail on the iPhone first thing in the morning or last thing at night cannot be lost yet.

As a marketing professional, email remains a challenge. In terms of lead generation, it's a blunt tool despite the fantastic platforms available, and far too often in one direction, while social continues to rise and you can never beat getting face to face with a prospect or customer at an event. But the low cost, ubiquity of email contact databases and simple power of the right email to the right person at the right time means that it retains it's place at the heart of our marketing strategy.

Like so many marketing activities, it's all about being in that right place at the right time. Using a variety of methods, staying in regular touch, providing insightful content and networking opportunities alongside some direct touch means that you can maximise your chance to engage with your target audience. So for now, email is still right @ the heart of what we do.