It’s natural for marketers to seek out the newest trends and the latest social secrets to success. But at the end of the day, it seems that most savvy marketers know exactly where to invest their time.

According to eMarketer, it was email – yes, email – that topped the list of Target Marketing‘s survey to B2B and B2C marketer managers about which medium they plan to use throughout 2012. Most of those surveyed, at a whopping 86.3%, declared email as their medium of choice, despite the fact that this  marketing channel has been around for decades. Not only will marketers continue to use email, but the number is actually up from last year, when 83.3% responded the same way.

As far as total online spending, eMarketer predicts it will reach a collective $39.5 billion by the end of 2012 in the United States alone.  That’s 23% growth for this year.

In a recent study by the Direct Marketing Association, researchers found that spending on other marketing methods, including SEO,  SEM and gaming, remain flat in 2012. Traditional forms of advertising, like TV and radios ads, can expect a drop in investment by marketers.

On the other hand, and perhaps unsurprisingly, email marketing – along with social and mobile – did better, showing more focus when it comes to marketing budgets.  Numbers all around were more conservative than in previous years.

Other research shows that those companies who planned to allocate more marketing budget on digital over traditional marketing this year, did so primarily because of better measurability, increased customer engagement and lower cost per customer acquired.

So the question isn’t ‘should we be investing in an email campaign?’ It’s actually – ‘how do we stand out from everybody else?’

Needless to say, with email at the top of B2B and B2C marketers’ lists for customer acquisition strategy, it’s important for marketers across the board to consider what messages they are sending, and whether they are maximizing email efficiency when sending text-heavy, misdirected or deflated email communications.

With so much investment and energy poured into email marketing in 2012, it’s never been more important for publishers and brands to set themselves apart from their competitors with dynamic, rich emails, complete with actionable media for on-the-spot engagement. Imagine a retailer could send users an engaging email that goes beyond a static update on current deals; they could offer the actual shopping experience, from viewing the most relevant and up-to-date deals, to browsing the catalogue, selecting an item and sealing the deal, all from the convenience of the customer’s inbox.

ActiveMail empowers marketers to do just that, and to position the brands they’re responsible for ahead of competing brands vying for the same attention in the customer’s crowded inbox.