With so many different options available to us when it comes to small business marketing, it can be hard to know where to start when it comes to relationship-building and getting leads for your business. Whenever someone asks me where they should start with their small biz marketing, more often than not, I suggest their email list. There’s also this feeling of being at mercy of the dreaded algorithms. Even if you post according to the perfect strategy, there’s no guarantee that your followers will even see your content. You’re competing with the hundreds of thousands of other accounts they follow and the only way around this, as we know, is to PAY for ads. When you have an email list, you have a direct line to the inboxes of your customers, organically. Avoiding algorithm changes, paid ads or software glitches. You can also set up some snazzy automations for your email list – meaning that when someone signs up, they receive a series of staggered emails automatically (also known as a welcome or nurture sequence) which is totally set-and-forget. Gotta love the automations when you’re a busy mum juggling a hundred things already. Do you actually need email marketing right now? Sometimes clients will tell me how they know they need to start an email list, yet they manage to see themselves constantly fully booked as a result of word-of-mouth referrals! If you’re in the same boat, I would encourage you to keep doing what you’re doing with your WOM referrals and look at slowly building your list, or outsourcing the process, instead of stressing that you haven’t done it yesterday. Yes, an email list is a valuable resource to have for the future, but maybe you need to focus on it just then – in the future. However; if you’re not finding yourself fully booked and unable to keep up – there is no time like the present to start building your subscriber base. If you’re at the very beginning of your business – start an email list. If you’re 5 years into your business journey and haven’t put time into it – start an email list. There’s no time like the present. Some popular email marketing providers:
Active Campaign MailChimp ConvertKit Keap (formerly Infusionsoft) Flodesk Omnisend MailerLite
MailChimp is popular with startup businesses as the free plan has all the basics you need to get started. I personally use MailChimp because I always have and it’s a case of sticking to what I know (for now). Realistically, they all do fairly similar things and everyone has a different opinion on which they think is the best. It will depend on your budget but most hover around the same price point for similar features so don’t let making this decision hold you up from taking action – you can always change down the track. When crafting your lead magnet, you want to think about the sorts of things that attract you to hand over your email address and sign up for mailing lists. Lead magnets can include things like:
Competitions Discounts Freebies Exclusive offers or information.
With this in mind, spend a little time brainstorming some of the things you could offer your potential customers in exchange for their email address. This is known as your lead magnet or opt in. I would say aim for at least 3 emails and remember the goal of a nurture sequence is to encourage your customers to engage with you or your brand and ultimately purchase from you in the future.
A sample email welcome sequence:
I really believe if you’re going to send a regular newsletter, make sure it’s adding value to your audience. I have an email series called Honesty Inbox emails. They are an unfiltered, behind-the-scenes look at my life and biz. The format is raw, honest and the open rate is always >70% because people LOVE a gritty real life story. And it all comes down to connection. We don’t want to feel alone as humans, we want to feel like there’s other people walking a similar path to us. The more experiences of others that we hear, the more validated and confident we feel in our own experiences. Again, it’s one of those things that you can try different approaches, see what works and tweak accordingly. Most paid email platforms allow you to split test your campaigns. This means sending two different campaigns out at the same time and see which has a better result (keeping in mind, your goal for each email may be different – i.e. clicks, conversions etc). Consumers are more ‘plugged in’ than ever before and feel like they are getting sold to at every turn thanks to the constant use of our phones, so if you’re going to be popping into their inbox regularly, make it worthwhile! My tip here is: Just start. Put your lead magnet together and get it out there, see how it performs. You can always come back and create an automation later – it would be a shame to spend hours/days/weeks on the perfect welcome sequence only to have your lead magnet flop with zero sign ups to enjoy your hours of automation creation. Remember, having your customers email address is something you can always use. Unlike social media, which requires you to be constantly active to stay relevant, email doesn’t have the same rules. You could create an epic lead magnet, get 150 signups without a welcome sequence in place and that’s totally OK! Your subscribers aren’t going anywhere and you’ll still hold onto those email addresses. Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram and Facebook. FREE 5 Page Guide
21 Creative Ways To Grow Your Business
(Without Relying On Social Media)
