Over the past couple of holiday weeks I received some really creative email blasts from retailers. All included the same basic message: "it's not too late to shop at my store—we'll even overnight your gifts."

Even Apple was getting in on it: "December 25 is just around the corner. And so are we. We'll be staying open late to at the Apple Retail Store to help you find something for everyone on your list." This particular email appealed to me on several levels. I love the convenience message that was communicated—the store is located close to me—along with the fact that they'll be staying open late, and they'll even help me find the perfect gift for anyone left on my list.

I hope you sent out at least one email blast to your customers. If not, let 2009 be the year you start collecting emails and sending out blasts. By this time next year, you could have a list thousands strong and weekly email newsletters.

I was speaking with Deb Gold (a dear colleague of mine) the other day about the importance of loving the work that you do (and the profession you're in). She shared a really great quote with me that I have been thinking about ever since: "entrepreneurs use passion like cars use fuel."

I know from chatting with hundreds of retailers that the successful ones share this sentiment. When you love what you do, you put so much positive energy into your business that you take it to the next level.

I hope you can use passion to fuel your business for the remainder of 2008 and into the new year.

How many times have you gone to a store as a customer and discovered a yummy treat to sample? Once? Twice? Multiple times? Did you end up purchasing the product you sampled?

The well-known grocer Trader Joe's has a dedicated area of their stores set up for permanent sampling and I can't tell you how many times I've tried an item, then grabbed up several packages to duplicate the recipe at home.

If you sell any type of gourmet food in your store, bring home a few boxes, bake them and then pass out samples. I bet you'll sell out of whatever goodies you made.

I heard someone say the other day that "the largest fortunes are made during the hardest of times. Financial substance never actually disappears—it simply changes hands. A close look at this phenomena will reveal that the hands destined to receive are those that have been preparing to hold the potential presented by the new moment."

What does this mean you ask? It means that even in hard times there are opportunities to make money, you just have to know where that opportunity lies. This weekend I was doing some holiday shopping at a local mall with my daughter and I noted that some stores were packed to the hilt with customers, but others didn't have a single shopper.

I've heard some experts predict that smaller ticket items would do better this season than more expensive gifts, but it seems to me it's more about delivering value on items that customers want to buy. Tap into what people want, at a price they perceive as reasonable, and you can sell at any time of the year, no matter the economic climate.

A front page article in the Wall Street Journal today described how an increasing number of Israelis are entering the cart and kiosk industry. The article focused primarily on beauty product sales and I thought it was important to make two points I think the article failed to mention:

1. That the ease of entry into this niche market makes it ideal for small business entrepreneurs of any kind. In fact, many minorities and career-change individuals are getting a "bootstrap" fresh start by operating mall carts and kiosks selling all manner of products.

2. This style of selling (inviting customers to come over to sample the product) has been tremendously successful. As one of the readers posted on WSJ.com, this strategy of sales is no different than the strategies a successful broker, telemarketer or cosmetologist would employ.

The article also mentions one Israeli salesman, Rami Feinstein, who wrote a great song about his experience selling nail care products from a cart. Posted on YouTube, it describes his hesitation with learning the new sales practices at first, a glimpse into his sales pitch and his success.

Today's guest post is from Allisyn Deyo, Webmaster and Editor for Pinnacle Publishing Group.

I tend to sleep in on Black Friday, read a few papers, check my email and then do some of my shopping online. I had at least 15 emails Friday morning, advertising free shipping, 25% off, free gift with purchase, etc. I estimate I saved at least 25% on all the gifts I purchased—and they were gift wrapped and shipped straight to my family (this, by the way, isn't just an online, big company thing—for me it's a local gift and art shop and it's a great service they offer for a small fee and I take advantage of it every year). I also had two emails from local retailers offering afternoon sales—perfect for someone who hates mornings. One stated that if I came in between 1 and 2 PM, I'd get 30% off one item—I ended up buying three and paying for gift wrapping.

USAToday had a great piece describing how a lot of retailers are using email marketing to contact their customers. It's cheap and it's quick—and 80% of the population has access to email. The article states that the average email costs only $7 per consumer response vs. $48 per response for traditional mail—a huge difference when you're talking hundreds or thousands of customers.

If you're not collecting email addresses from your customers, you're stifling your reach and costing yourself money.

• Place a book at your counter with a note offering deals and special notice on sales to anyone who writes down their email address.

• Get a website and collect email addresses on the homepage—even if you don't sell your products online, a simple five page site detailing your location, your product range and how to contact you will bring people to your store.

• Do a "drop your business card" jar for a free gift card—use those email addresses to offer secret, one-time only sales. People love being "in the know" and they'll tell their friends.

• Check with other retailers around you and see if they'd be interested in sharing their email list and doing a joint email blast—10% off one day only at both stores.

There are lots of cheap email marketing options—iContact, Constant Contact—that cost very little per month and will give you templates to help you design your email blast. They'll handle all the email addresses and give you tracking statistics.

Small local shops, malls, giant retailers—they're doing it. Why aren't you?

The reports are in and many retailers reported higher sales this year (when compared to last year) on Black Friday. According to early figures released by ShopperTrak RCT Corp. (which monitors sales at more than 50,000 stores) day-after-Thanksgiving retail sales rose 3% over last year to $10.6 billion. And across the country more than 172 million shoppers visited stores or shopped online over the four day holiday weekend according to the National Retail Federation.

I decided to see for myself, so I posed a question on GIFT SHOP's Retail Forum and overall the reports were very positive.

Today the news of an official recession came out and stocks fell sharply, but I feel very optimistic about retail after seeing the numbers from black friday.