Welcome back to Making Good, the podcast for small businesses who want to make a big impact.
I’m your host, Lauren Tilden, and this is episode 59.
Here’s something that I actually said out loud recently:
Email marketing is the love of my life.
Sorry, Kate, but it’s true.
At least when it comes to marketing, NOTHING beats email. In this episode, I’m going to do my best to CONVINCE you of the power of email marketing… and then give you some simple instructions for getting your email marketing set up RIGHT.
BUT! We have a few things to talk about first.
First of all, by the time you hear this episode, I will be a parent!! This episode comes out on April 27th, but it was recorded before the baby arrives. I am sure I will share on the podcast about this in the future, but in the meantime, check out my Instagram for updates on that at @laurentilden.
Now, I wanted to tell you about a couple of things I have to share with you:
FIRST, I have a brand new free resource for you. Do you ever feel like the hardest part about marketing is coming up with what to say in the first place?
If so, I can totally relate to this, and I know a lot of other small biz owners do as well.
So, I put together this guide that will walk you through a process that will help you figure out what to talk about in your marketing… and help you generate A LOT of really good content ideas on demand.
You can find this guide at makinggoodpodcast.com/content.
AND SECOND, I really want you to join the Facebook community for this podcast. It’s called the Good Business Community, and it’s been such a great spot lately.
A couple fun things we’ve been doing in the Facebook group recently:
FIRST - I’ve started hosting what I call Procrastination Sessions, which are basically just 90 minute long Zoom calls where a bunch of us make ourselves accountable to get the things done we’re procrastinating on by hopping on a call and getting it done TOGETHER.
SECOND - I’ve invited social media expert Chris Emmer of Mindful Social to do Instagram audits where she’s going through content on everyone’s IG account and providing tips and feedback.
There’s also community, inspiration, and good conversations. You can join at makinggoodpodcast.com/community.
Okay, with that -- let’s get into our conversation about EMAIL MARKETING!
INTRO TO EMAIL MARKETING.
For some reason, email marketing is something a lot of small business owners resist when they’re just starting out. Social media is flashier, and a lot of us are tired of receiving emails from brands, so we completely underestimate how powerful it can be.
However. When it comes to driving REAL business results, email marketing is one of the most important tools in your marketing toolbox (if not THE most important tool).
There are TONS of studies showing the effectiveness of email marketing -- I’ll link to a great compilation from HubSpot in the show notes. A study recently shows that for every $1 spent on email marketing, $38 were generated by email marketing. Statistics also show that your reach is four times better on email than social media -- meaning if you have the same size audience in both places, you’ll reach 4 times more people with your email.
BUT. I’d be willing to bet that you spend A LOT more time on social media than you do on your email marketing.
I’m definitely not suggesting that you do away with social media marketing -- they both have their place.
But, I KNOW the power of email marketing and I really hope you’ll consider investing some time in your email marketing.
So. In this episode, we’re going to talk about:
How email marketing works in general
How email marketing should fit into your marketing plan as a whole
The importance of permission in email marketing
How to get people to sign up for your email list
Creating an approach to email marketing
What to say in your emails
My email marketing philosophy
If you’ve been around here for a while, my philosophy to email marketing will come as no surprise to you.
Email marketing is a powerful way to build relationships with your audience. It’s a little bit more personal than a platform like social media or your website because you’ve been given permission to show up in your reader’s email inbox.
That is a gift, and we shouldn’t take it for granted. We want to send emails that feel personalized, and add something to their life.
When I write my emails, I like to imagine there is one person on the other side of it… because there is. I try to write to one person. I try to write using words that I would use in real life, and share little snippets from my life the way I would with a friend.
Most importantly, I make sure that I’m providing value… that when my ideal customer receives this email, that the contents are helpful to them in some way. Sometimes that means a bit of education, sometimes that means offering resources, sometimes that means inspiration, and occasionally it means entertainment.
Of course, we occasionally ask for a sale. But for most businesses, we should aim to be GIVING 80% of the time, and ASKING 20% of the time.
You might have preconceived notions of what email marketing SHOULD look like because of the emails you receive from big brands. But I would encourage you to throw that out the door.
One big reason that people buy from small businesses is that we’re small businesses! The human behind the business is much more present, and it should feel like that in your marketing.
How email marketing works in general
So. Let’s talk about how email marketing works.
When we talk about email marketing, we are not talking about logging into your email, typing in a bunch of email addresses, and sending it out to a lot of people at once through your regular email service.
With email marketing, we are referring to emails sent by businesses or organizations out to a lot of people at one time, but not through CC or BCC.
These emails are sent through what is commonly called an ESP -- an Email Service Provider.
You have a LOT of options when it comes to email marketing service providers, but when you start out I’d select a free or low-cost option.
MailChimp and Mailerlite both have free plans.
Flodesk has a relatively low cost, and has nice design options.
Klaviyo is a great option for product-based businesses -- particular those on Shopify.
ConvertKit and ActiveCampaign are also used fairly often, mostly for service based businesses.
In this episode, we’re not going to go into the weeds of how to select an ESP, but the big thing I’d say here is: Don’t overthink it. Do a little bit of research, see what fits into your budget, and pick something. You can change anytime you want (I would not suggest you commit to an annual subscription if you’re paying).
So here’s generally how email marketing works. To create an email, you would log into your Email Service Provider, design the email, add whatever links you want, and then schedule it to be sent out to your audience. After it is sent out, you’ll be able to see statistics around which subscribers opened the email, who clicked the link, etc.
The importance of permission in email marketing
Here’s something very, very important to keep in mind.
There are rules and laws that come into play when it comes to email marketing, and it’s really important to follow those laws.
This is not my area of expertise and I don’t offer legal guidance on this, so look up the email marketing regulations for your country, but in general:
The only people who you should email in your email marketing should be people who have given you their email address expecting to receive email marketing from us.
It’s not okay to add someone to your email list without their consent.
It’s also very important to make it super clear how they can unsubscribe from your email list if they want to stop receiving your emails.
How to get people to sign up for your email list
So, we just talked about how important it is for people to give us their permission to send marketing emails to them.
Which brings us to a very important question: HOW do we encourage people to sign up for our email list?
Before we get into this, I like to ask the following question:
How often have you been on a website and seen a little sign up form at the bottom that says “Sign up for our newsletter!”
I’m guessing the answer is YES.
And another question. How many times have you filled out that form because you want to receive someone’s newsletter?
I’m going to guess the answer is - not very often.
We all have email addresses, and most of us guard our inboxes very carefully. I do not want to give out my email address to just anyone.
If I’m subscribing to receive emails, I need to be pretty sure that it’s going to be worth it -- that i’m actually going to WANT TO RECEIVE the emails in my inbox.
So, what’s usually most effective is to give someone something in exchange for their email address.
In marketing terms, we call this a lead magnet -- something valuable that we trade someone in exchange for their email address and permission to add them to our list. There are a lot of other words you might hear used for lead magnet… maybe a freebie or opt-in.
For product-based businesses, one of the most common lead magnets is a discount or coupon code. If someone is visiting your website, we know they might be interested in what you sell. So why not set up a pop up that says, Hey! I’ll give you a 15% off discount code if you pop your email below! And of course make it clear that they’re signing up to hear from you more. Some product-based businesses also choose to offer free shipping.
But, you don’t have to discount this ways.
There are lots of other types of lead magnets that you can design to incentivize email subscribes. Here are some ideas:
An eBook
A style guide
An audio file (private podcast or guided meditation?)
A video training
A free event
A tutorial
A workbook
A cheat sheet
A worksheet or checklist
I encourage you to view this as a process of experimentation. Try something, see how it goes, and then update/tweak/adjust as needed.
When you’ve chosen a lead magnet, you’ll set up a form on your website or on a standalone website. Most Email Service Providers have something called a “landing page” that you can set up.
A landing page is a super simple website that simply asks for someone’s name and email address in exchange for the lead magnet. When they enter their details, your ESP will automatically send them an email with the resource or discount promised.
Creating an email marketing approach
When you hear people talk about email marketing, there are really two types of emails that are sent:
Scheduled
Automated
Scheduled emails are the emails that many of us think about first. A scheduled email is sometimes called a newsletter, and it’s a regularly scheduled email that goes out to our list. This email is usually sent consistently -- maybe every week, or every two weeks, ideally on the same day.
The other kind of email is an automated email, often called a drip email or a flow. An automated email is when emails are triggered based on the behavior of the email subscriber.
For example, an email is automatically sent 24 hours after a purchase to check in on buyer satisfaction. Or, a sequence of automated emails is triggered when someone signs up to be on your email list -- they get the first email immediately and then another email every day or so for a while.
In your business, you’re going to want to have both kinds of emails.
If you’re wondering, “how often should I send an email?” That’s really referring to scheduled emails. I recommend that you commit to a regularly scheduled emails -- probably once a week or once every two weeks.
What you DON’T want to happen is for someone to sign up to your email list, get a welcome email, and then not hear anything for months until we have something to sell to them. We need to CONSISTENTLY provide valuable content to your email list, whatever that schedule looks like for you.
And then, you’re going to want to set up some automated emails/sequences. We will go into more detail about automations that you can think about adding in a different episode, but I do recommend that you have an automated welcome sequence at the very least.
This can be 3-4 emails that are sent out in the week or so after someone subscribes to your list. Each email is different.. Maybe you introduce yourself in the first one, teach your audience something in the second one, provide your favorite resources in the third one, and tell a personal story with a lesson in the fourth.
You can approach this however you want, but this is an important opportunity to start building your relationship and demonstrate your value.
What to say in your emails
Okay, we’re getting to the most exciting part, or possibly the part that is most intimidating to you.. And that is this. Figuring out what to SAY in your emails.
As we started to talk about a little bit earlier, I believe the best strategy is to provide value almost all of the time, and occasionally ask for a sale.
So again, what does this mean? It means that 80% or more of your emails should be interesting and useful, and not centered on asking your audience to buy something. They should help them get to know you, give them tips or ideas or inspiration, or generally make their lives better, easier, more entertaining.
Then, the other 20%, when you’ve proven that you aren’t only there to ask for their money, you can tell them more about your product and invite them to purchase.
I shared these examples in episode 15 of this podcast, but I thought I’d share them again to illustrate what I mean by providing value.
Let’s start with service-based businesses:
If you sell graphic design services, you could provide an email telling people how to combine fonts effectively
If you’re a life coach, you could provide your tips for having difficult conversations
If you’re a home organization expert, you could put together a list of your favorite products that help keep a home organized
I think this is harder for product-based businesses, but here are some ways you could be adding value:
If you sell greeting cards (like me!), you could have an email that helps people create a schedule for writing letters to their friends
If you sell facial products, you could write an email or a series of emails that explains how to build a skincare regimen
If you sell candles, you could put together an email explaining how to prolong your candles’ burn time
If you sell art, you could include in your email a Pinterest board with some of your favorite ways to display art
Note that ALL of these topics are related to our product and what we sell, but they are something that is valuable to our audience, even if they don’t buy.
So, what precisely do we talk about?
When it comes to WHAT to say, I want to start by telling you something that will hopefully relieve some of the anxiety around this: You can apply the same content strategy you use in other platforms to email. If you post on social media, write a blog, create videos, you’re already creating content. You can write about the same things in your emails.
I have a process for content creation that I think would be a great tool for you to go to use to come up with email ideas… as well as ideas for your other content.
That process is laid out in detail in my free workbook at makinggoodpodcast.com/content, but here is a quick overview:
First, you want to collect insights about your ideal customer and what’s already resonating with your audience.
Who is your ideal customer? Think demographics and state of mind.
What are your ideal customer’s pain points and problems?
What are their hopes and dreams?
What does your ideal customer need to learn to get to what they aspire to be?
In your Instagram insights, what posts have been most SHARED and SAVED.
Check analytics on other platforms to see what topics resonate most with your audience.
What are your business values?
What questions do you get repeatedly asked?
Second, you look at all the information we collected and identify our main content topics -- content pillars.
I suggest that you narrow this down to between 5-6 overarching topics. NOte that these are not product categories, but should generally relate in some way to your business.
For my stationery business, Good Sheila, my content pillars are:
Art behind the scenes
Plants, natures and flowers
Small business life and tips
Values in business and kindness
Personal growth
Finally, we’ll do a deep dive into each of our content pillars to come up with tons of content ideas.
For each pillar, here are some exercises to go through:
Get questions straight from your ideal customer. Use the IG story sticker feature and say, “What questions do you have about <content pillar>”? Browse other forums online to collect information.
Get clear on your customer’s pain points related to this pillar and find ways to give them small solutions
What does your ideal customer need to learn about this content pillar? Create mini-lessons and tutorials.
What kind of content or messages would be inspiring or entertaining on this content pillar? Think about using quotes, bold statements or memes/humor.
What stories from your own life do you have to share as it relates to this topic? Remember, they don’t have to be huge and dramatic… just a small, everyday moment connects.
Do some keyword research on this topic to see what people are searching about.
Again, there’s a workbook you can download that goes into much more detail -- you can find it at makinggoodpodcast.com/content.
In this episode, we’re not going into detail about HOW to write the emails, but I have a LOOOT of tips on that too.
For more details there, go listen to episode 15, where are share a lot of tips on copywriting, putting intention into your writing, writing a strong subject line, and much more.
Finishing and sending
One important step to go through before you finish up your email, is to TEST it. Every email service provider has a test capacity, and it is so important that you don’t skip this step!
When you think you’re all set, send yourself a test email, and then go through it very carefully.
Make sure to check:
That it reads properly and there aren’t typos
That any links included work and goes where it’s supposed to go
Check dates and names for accuracy
Break up any big paragraphs for easier reading.
After you’ve proofed your email, you can schedule it to be sent! You can do some research on the best time to send emails -- most people aim for weekday mornings, but there’s no real rule of thumb here.
If it’s an automated email, there’s no scheduling of course -- you would just “publish” the automation or flow so that it is active and ready to be sent out when it is triggered.
Finally, it’s important to keep an eye on how everything performs! Email Marketing PRoviders have very powerful statistics that you can access to see how the email performed, and we can learn a lot from these stats.
Some things you can learn:
What percentage of your audience opened your email?
What percentage of your audience clicked a link?
Which links did they click?
How many people unsubscribed?
Did you get any responses to your email? What were they?
Anything else you notice?
Looking closely at these numbers can help you learn things about your audience.
For example, if your open rate is higher than usual, that might indicate that you had an especially good subject line.
If you got a higher number of link clicks than usual, what link was it? This might suggest this is something your audience is especially interested in.
Email marketing is an art AND a science, so it’s important to pay attention to your stats to see what you can learn so you can get better and better at it.
And there you have it! Your email marketing strategy, all laid out for you.
The big takeaway that I hope you have is to view your email marketing as an opportunity to serve your audience with something you want. As long as you’re giving them what they want in their email most of the time, they will be unlikely to unsubscribe.
That’s what I have for you today! I REALLY hope I have convinced you of the power of email marketing… it is a gamechanger.
Remember, I told you about two things at the start of this episode that I’d love for you to take action on:
First, download my new (FREE) guide to creating great content. That’s at makinggoodpodcast.com/content.
Second, join the Facebook community for listeners of this podcast! makinggoodpodcast.com/community.
As you’ve probably If you got value out of this episode, I’d *LOVE* for you to share it on your Instagram stories! Take a screenshot from your podcast player, and tag me @laurentilden so I can say hello!
You can find the full details from this episode over at the show notes page at makinggoodpodcast.com/59.
If this is your first time tuning in and you’re interested in hearing more about my businesses, check out my plant-inspired stationery company goodsheila.com, or Seattle retail shop Station 7, station7seattle.com.
Thank you for being here, and for focusing on making a difference with your small business!
Talk to you next time.