In the December Issue:
Utilizing email marketing as a part of your business strategy has the biggest ROI, yet it is an area of business many entrepreneurs are intimidated by, and feel overwhelmed. I’m here to tell you it is 100% possible to utilize email marketing with ease, in order to move your business forward.
Reframe Email Marketing
One reason why entrepreneurs shy away from email marketing is they’re worried about being sales-y. Let’s remember, you have a business to make money, so yes, we definitely want to make sales, but you can do so in a way that you feel good about. Reframe the use of email marketing as a way to communicate with your customers, giving them more value than asking for a sale.
Another belief to reframe is the concept of consistency in your email marketing. Consistency is an overwhelming pressure for many, so I encourage you to focus on being persistent.
This goes against the grain, but hear me out on this one! Being a business owner is hard, and when we shift from working towards being consistent to being persistent, the focus shifts to a mindset to keep moving forward. If your goal was to send an email to your audience every week, but you miss a couple of weeks, that is okay. You didn’t fail. Your business will not fall apart. Accept that you missed a couple of weeks, and persist ahead in writing next week’s email.
A third piece to reframe email marketing is to focus on quality emails, not quantity. How many times should I email my list? One of the most popular questions I hear. Rather than focusing on how often you “should” email, focus on making each email you send an email that your audience knows has value in it. What will your email list learn from this email? What is the purpose of the email? What do you want them to know? What do you want them to do from this email?
What To Say In Your Emails
When writing emails, keep your audience in mind. The 80/20 rule is a great method to use when strategically planning your emails. Twenty percent of emails are sales-focused, while the remaining majority of emails are educational, entertaining, or emotional. Some examples include:
- 3 books that shaped the way you run your business
- Why you started your business
- How to update your wardrobe with a plain black t-shirt
- Highlight a product or service and what makes it so unique
- Share a challenge in your business
- Dispel an industry myth
- Share a hack
Chances are, you already have plenty of content for emails within your social media postings. Rewrite to fit an email structure, maybe add a picture, and you’re all set!
Best Practices
Personalize - No matter what email platform you use, personalize emails using your subscribers' names.
Automate - Setting up email automation is a necessity! Even if you have 10 people on your email list, set up that automation now, so that as you grow you have everything already in place.
Email automation can include welcome emails for new subscribers, product purchases/appointments, reminder emails, follow-ups, and asking for testimonials/reviews.
Know Your Numbers - Deliverability, open and click rates is really useful data to see what is working and what is not.
Be authentic - I’m a big believer in writing emails in the same way you speak. Do you speak more formally and matter-of-fact? Or more casual, as if you’re talking to a friend? Either way, your emails should sound like you.
Don’t let all the “shoulds” of email marketing hold you back from implementing this in your business strategy. Start messy and perfect it along the way!
MEET LAURA KOCKLER
FOUNDER & CEO OF SUB SUPPORTHER
Laura is passionate about supporting and advocating for women-owned businesses, especially within the e-commerce industry. Having owned her own subscription box business, she pivoted to provide strategic support and accountability to women running their own subscription or e-commerce brands. Her favorite things to help her clients with include strategic planning, email marketing, storytelling, and anything that helps you work smarter, not harder. She’s also proud to have launched a fulfillment center exclusively for women-owned businesses.
She works with integrity and values doing business in a way that makes you feel good. As an advocate for mental health, Laura openly shares how her mental health and ADHD diagnosis intersects with being a business owner.
Connect with Laura HERE!
