Ms Gardner remarked: 'I've found that small business owners think of email marketing as just sending out e-newsletters. But it is so much more than that. Especially when you consider that eMarketer (emarketer.com) recently published a report which concluded that email is still one of the most effective marketing activities you can do.'

Another side that advertisers can work on is their automated emails, which are sent out after a consumer has completed an action, such as subscribed to the newsletter, completed a transaction or booked an event.

If marketers want their campaign to be a success, then a major part of this could come down to the planning and preparation they do before getting started, claims imediaconnection.com blogger Jason Brewer.

Mr Brewer described how a good way to start planning is to think about who the marketing is aimed at, what the goals are, which challenges will get in the way of those objectives and how you hope your target audience will find you.