Most business owners, marketers and sales people utilize E-mail Marketing frequently as a means of reaching a large number of prospects and clients cheaply, quickly and effectively.  Constant Contact, Mail Chimp and Vertical Response are very popular tools for managing email marketing programs.  If you are a small business it fits in your budget, it's the effective and you see results, so email marketing should never be overlooked, its a no brain-er. 

According to an industry expert, Ramon Ray and the Smallbiztechnology.com team, you should treat Email Marketing like a 6 course meal. In this post from the business insider blog they share practical tips and ideas on making email marketing effective. Here are some tips on creating an effective email campaign, the content keys and a link to the original post:

The subject line: Communicates benefit, reason to act and time required to realize the benefit

Headline/intro: Clarifies the intent of the communication

Act I: Honest and direct. Focused on driving action

Act 2: Here is where folks can talk about themselves if they must

Act 3: Quickly get back to talking about the recipient

The Ask: After 2 or more calls to action delivered in the context of the evidence/support section, there is room for a more transaction “ask”.