How to bring email newsletters into your Marketing Mix (and why I think you should).
A lot of ‘small business’ owners I speak to don’t consider email a relevant channel for them.
The perception is that email marketing is for big brands with huge marketing budgets.
I couldn’t disagree more.
Email marketing is a brilliant tool for every size business and you can get started with a tool like Mailchimp or Mailerlite, with zero financial outlay.
I’m on a mission to support businesses (especially those using Instagram as their main channel) with building an email list. At the very least to back up all that hard work they’ve invested in building an Insta community.
But it’s another thing to add to never ending to do list, isn’t, it?
But what if I told you’ll be using content that you already have? That you’ll just tap newsletters into your overarching plan.
All content covers your key message - which feeds the offer you’re promoting.
If you are building campaigns (planned messaging around any specific offer), bringing email newsletters into the plan makes perfect sense. Here’s just a sprinkle of reasons why:
Sharing your brilliant offers with your email community first is a perk to being on your list (and a reason for subscribers to join!) Early access to limited drops or bonuses.
Your email list is your warmest audience. They are the people who have shared their email addresses with you and have asked you to talk to them. So it would make sense to speak to them and speak to them often.
Building email into your campaigns also comes with a confidence boost built in, because your list are waiting to buy from you. You send an email, you make a sale / get an enquiry and you know you can press on knowing your message is being received.
You’re not depending on any one marketing platform.
You get detailed analytics - see exactly who opens your newsletters and clicks on your links.
You can segment your audience, send bespoke comms to different groups, depending on their interests.
How to get started
If you’d like to back up your Instagram community, but you’re overwhelmed at the idea of starting on your email newsletter journey, all you need is:
An Email marketing platform– like Mailchimp, Mailerlite or Flodesk (pick one that suits your budget/ anticipated email send numbers). Or check to see if your website has one built in.
A sign-up mechanism – a super simple landing page/ website pop-up – allows you to capture email addresses that comply with GDPR/ data protection regs.
Of course, having a brand kit set up and a campaign template built makes sending regular newsletters a lot easier, but to get started, pick a platform and create a sign-up form or pop up and tell your audience (whether that’s on socials, in person at networking, website visitors) that you have a list.
If you’d like some support, I have a downloadable masterclass which takes you through the steps to get started with Mailchimp.
And if you’d like to start building a list, sending regular newsletters, but you’d rather hand over the set up to an award winning marketing pro with over 20 years experience, send me an email and we can have a chat about bespoke set-up, built to your needs.
Barbara