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?