How to bring email into your Marketing Mix (and why I think you should).
I think a lot of ‘small business’ owners, don’t consider email as a relevant channel for them.
The perception that email marketing is for the 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 if you’d like to send regular newsletters or sales comms.
I have been talking about bringing email into a marketing plan for ages and I’m on a mission to get businesses (especially those using Instagram as their main channel) to build an email list. At the very least to back up all that hard work you’ve invested in building your Insta community.
But it’s another thing to add to never ending to do list, isn’t, it?
But what if I told you that it all starts with email?
If you are building campaigns (planned messaging around any specific offer), tapping email at the beginning of the journey makes perfect sense. Here are just a couple of reasons why:
Sharing your brilliant offers with them first is a perk to joining your list (and a reason for them 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 you’re message is being received.
I've created a repurposing content guide which outlines adding email into your current comms plan in a super simple way.
If you’re overwhelmed at the idea of starting on your email marketing journey, all you really need is:
An ESP – like Mailchimp, Mailerlite or Flodesk (pick one that suits your budget/ anticipated email send numbers)
A sign up mechanism – so a super simple landing page/ website pop-up – this allows you to capture email addresses that complies with GDPR/ data protection regs.
Of course, having a brand kit set up and a campaign template built makes things 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 a little direction I have a downloadable masterclass which takes you through the steps to getting started with Mailchimp.
And if you’d like to get started with email, but you’d rather hand over the set up to a 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