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Email marketing is a way for you to directly communicate with customers by sharing new products, sales, and business updates. It is a direct marketing channel that should not only help drive sales, but it also help you to foster a brand community! 

When I ask a business owner why they aren’t using email marketing, it’s usually the same response:

“I don’t have time…”

“I don’t have the budget…”

“I don’t know what I’m doing…”

You know, I get it. It’s easy as a small business owner to discount what email marketing can do, but you’re only doing your business a disservice by not taking advantage of this marketing channel.

It’s time to learn how. 

 

Why Should I Use It?

When someone says, “I don’t have time to do email”, I flashback to my early days as a business owner. I felt the exact same. I was already doing all the things, wearing all the hats, juggling all the balls. How could I add in email marketing? And isn’t that just for big companies anyway?

Turns out, I was wrong. 

Here’s why you need to make time to develop an email marketing strategy for your biz: 

• It is consistently one of the most lucrative forms of marketing with an ROI of $36 for every $1 spent
• The number of email users and emails exchanged is continuously increasing ~ more than half the world’s population {over 4.2 billion people} were active email users in 2022
• According to the Constant Contact Small Business Now report, 55% of consumers prefer email to stay up-to-date with the businesses they support {outpacing other methods such as texting and social media}

Basically, email marketing allows you to get the most bang for your buck and reach a wide audience successfully.  

 

How to Use It Effectively 

Here’s the deal ~ if you’re totally new to the world of email marketing, it can seem really overwhelming, especially if marketing or tech isn’t your wheelhouse.

So, let’s change that with some basic tips + tools to demystify email marketing and get you started.

Choose the Right Tools

If navigating finances are overwhelming, you don’t just ignore it. You find a tool {like this small business budgeting worksheet} to help. The same goes for email marketing. 

Now, email marketing for your small or medium business does not have to require investing a ton of money {or any}. There are so many email management platforms out there to handle everything from managing your list to tracking data. Using a platform definitely can make things easier ~ I’m all for streamlining and simplifying. But it can be tricky finding the right one for you and your business. 

To help, I’ve broken down a comparison of my favorite free email management tools here and for those of you with a budget or a bigger list, check out a breakdown of my favorite paid email management tools here. 

 

Grow Your List 

Obviously, you need email addresses of existing and prospective customers for this to be effective. In today’s world, modern marketing focuses less on mass mailings and more on consent {meaning people actually want to receive your messages} + personalization {meaning people get content specific/relevant to them}. This requires authentically building your list.

Here are some ways to do that:

• Create a signup form on your website, blog, and social media
• Create lead magnets to entice your audience to sign up {freebies, workshops, giveaways etc.}
• If they are purchasing anything from your website, include a place for them to opt-in for emails at checkout

Nurture Your List

Once you have a growing email audience, it’s time to enact a strategy to keep them engaged. Don’t let the word “strategy” scare you! As with anything in your business, you need to implement some type of strategy or plan to make it the most effective. 

Here are four ways to nurture your list with relevant, engaging content:

1. Quality Over Quantity. 

Who likes to be bombarded with daily, promotional emails? No one. Focus on creating content that your subscribers actually want to read, even if it’s on a less frequent basis. 

Quality emails offer some value to the reader ~ they also don’t go on and on. People like to scan, so break down your information into digestible paragraphs and provide links to external pages (a blog post, a sales page) if someone wants to keep reading.

2. Be Intentional 

This means choosing when to send your emails. There’s a lot of research out there about when’s the “best” time (this study lists Tuesday + Thursday as prime time), and it definitely doesn’t hurt to follow it. However, early on in your email marketing journey, don’t hesitate to try out different days/time to see what gets the most engagement for your audience. 

3. Don’t Forget the Subject Line

In order to read your email, your audience has to click on it first. The best way to do that is with a subject line that catches their attention. When it comes to crafting a subject line, here are some best practices to keep in mind:

• Keep it short and sweet 
• Create a sense of urgency 
• Pique their curiosity
• Be personal whenever possible
  

4. Remember a CTA!

A call-to-action {CTA} is critical in emails ~ and across marketing in general. You want to prompt whoever is reading your email to do something. This might be signing up for a free trial of your service or buying your product. Whatever it is, make it clear, concise, and accessible.  

Typically, CTAs come at the end of the email, but it also doesn’t hurt to embed one or two throughout. 

 

Remember, email marketing might seem overwhelming, but it is doable and can be a critical piece in your overall marketing strategy. You got this! Next month, we’ll cover organic social media marketing.

Email marketing is one of the {many} back-end pieces of your business that we’ll cover in the Dreaming + Doing Implementation Mastermind ~ coming August 2023. Reserve your spot today!