This press release about our upcoming partner contest, Grow Big in 2010, hit the wire this morning.

The contest is meant to help our partners shake the holiday doldrums and start the New Year in a fast, furious and focused fashion. And to keep things interesting, we put together a list of great prizes. What kind of prizes, you ask? A Ninendo Wii (bronze), Amazon Kindle (silver) and a 46-inch plasma TV (gold).

The rules of the contest are as follows: Partners must use the Kutenda toolset to create and launch an email marketing campaign that incorporates proven best practices, such as integrating a tailored landing page with the campaign. The partner that generates the most response from his or her campaign will take home the gold, and those that meet key milestones along the way will be eligible to draw for a Wii or Kindle (there are two of each).

Learn more about the ‘Grow Big in 2010′ contest here.

In part one, we covered designing an email campaign, avoiding the spam filter and improving your open rate. This process is analogous to getting your serve in play in a tennis match—it’s essential if you want a chance at winning the point, let alone the game, set, or match.

And I tried to put email marketing in context by pointing out this juicy statistic from the Direct Marketing Association: For every dollar the average business invests in email marketing, it gets $48 in return. Today we’re going to discuss the following: optimizing your layout for the preview pane. As you read this post, keep that $48 figure in mind!

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Read part two here

It’s no secret that email is a great way to draw large numbers of leads down your sales funnel. Not only is it easier and cheaper than other lead-nurturing methods, it’s incredibly effective. According to the Direct Marketing Association, email returns $48.56 for every $1 you invest.

But great ROI is not automatic. To fully realize the potential of email as a sales tool, you need two things: (1) knowledge of email best practices and (2) a well-reasoned strategy for success. These are the things we’ll cover in this two-part email series.

First let’s make sure we’re on the same page: We’re assuming you already have a targeted list of leads that you’ve collected yourself (as opposed to a list you purchased). If you’re not at this point, don’t worry: Robin’s post on building your opt-in list is a great place to start. Read it, start implementing it, then come back here. (We’ll wait…)  OK, let’s go.

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Summary: Email is a powerful advertising medium, but it won’t do a thing for your small business unless your messages actually get delivered. The key to avoiding the spam folder? Follow federal CAN SPAM regulations and obtain permission from your recipients.   

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