Every action you take can be an opportunity to market you small business. This May, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers reported that most Americans check their phones an average of 23 times a day for messages.

It’s an instant-reply world–we text, we talk and we share information all day long. Small business owners know that their business isn’t a 9-5 job. So it can be easy to forget how important it is to always write professionally in our emails to customers and potential customers. Some quick tips:

1. Consider what action you want the recipient to take. Then focus your content so that the beginning and end of the message supports this call to action. The recipient should know exactly what to do to respond to your message. For example, beginning with, “Thanks for asking about the next phase of your project” and then closing with, “Please send me the next file by Friday so we can complete the next phase of your project” ties all the content together and gives the reader a clear task to complete.
2. Proofread every message you send–and don’t just use spell check. It is of course wise to have an automatic “check spelling before sending” option enabled no matter what email client you use. However, before hitting send, take just one more moment to read through your email again, aloud to yourself if possible. Reading your email aloud will help you correct any sentence that might sound cold or unfeeling.
3. Consider using automated tools to help you deal with your email deluge. Everyone has issues organizing email and making sure they respond to all their messages in a prompt fashion. If you use Gmail, a great browser tool called Boomerang can help you schedule a time to respond to emails if you cannot respond right away, or if the recipient of your message is going to be unavailable. More email tools can be found at tech help sites like Lifehacker.