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A couple of weeks ago I watched as influencers and brands freaked out over the six hours that FB & IG went offline. It begs the question: Why are so many businesses going to market with strategies that leave them 100% reliant on a single platform (not to mention, the Internet’s most dubious company)?
If you want a social media strategy that can outlast the Insta-apocalypse, you need to think differently. Plus, it’s super noisy out there on social media, isn't it?!
When I’m on my phone on social media it's pretty rare that businesses have my full attention. But when I'm in my inbox I'm in a better frame of mind to process information and act on the content that's in front of me. So it's no surprise that email marketing has a better success rate than social media when it comes to converting leads to bookings. Have you or are you using email marketing to talk to your ideal client or to nurture past clients? If not what's stopping you?
I resisted email marketing for a long time because I was scared of the technical side of setting up a list. But have recently seen the benefits after connecting with 10 clients over email during lock down and coming out with bookings because of it.
What is email marketing? (skip ahead if you're familiar with this!)
Email marketing is a form of marketing that can make the customers on your email list aware of new products, discounts, and other services. Email marketing can help you build a relationship with your audience while also driving traffic to your blog, social media, or anywhere else you’d like folks to visit. It can also be a softer sell to educate your audience on the value of your brand or keep them engaged between purchases.
HOW DO YOU DO IT?
Choose an email marketing service provider. I use Flodesk, other options are Mailchimp, Convertkit, Mailerlite, ActiveCampaign. Most providers will have a free option for those starting out!
Gather contacts for your email marketing list. My favorite way to do this is to pop a question box on my Instagram stories so all people have to do is add in their emails and I enter these manually into my system. Another way I collect emails is to ask if the client wants to go onto my email list in their client questionare. Giveaways are also a great way to collect email addresses just make sure you have permission. It's illegal to add somebody onto an email subscription list just because they have emailed you before.
Add your contacts to your email marketing account. If you need to talk to different genres eg Weddings, portraits, you can create segments to separate these different audiences.
Set up your welcome email. This is the email clients receive when they are added to your list. This simply needs to say hi and let them know what to expect from you - how often you might be in touch and what type of content you might send.
Create a reusable email template.
WHAT PLATFORM DO I USE?
One of the things that has motivated me the most has been switching from Mailchimp to Flodesk. Mailchimp made me want to hit my head against a brick wall every time I used it. Flodesk is a joy to use with intuitive on-brand templates all ready to go for you to pop your content into. The process is quite similar to what you’d do when creating a blogpost so it's quick and easy to use.
MAKE IT EASY
I don't have time to write fresh content, so generally, I will use the content I’ve already posted on social media and expand on it into an email. Or I might create an email from an existing blog post. Regenerating content you already have is a great way for your email list marketing to be sustainable!
READY TO DO THIS?
If you’re interested in Flodesk my 50% off code is RUTH50 and this expires Tuesday the 3rd of November.
My second choice would be Mailerlite, or Convertkit if you want to spend a little more and have a few more integrations and options available to you.
I hope that helps get over the fear of emailing marketing! Any questions? Ask me in the facebook group!