As entrepreneurs, we know our email list is the lifeblood of our business.
It’s been true for a long time. We’re constantly reminded of it.
And the power of a healthy email list is only getting stronger.
That’s why I knew I had to host a live entrepreneur workshop on email marketing ideas to grow your list, featuring the unparalleled expertise of Paul Gowder.
Why is email marketing so important?
How do we leverage email marketing to actually grow our business and raise our bottom line?
Watch the free replay below or scroll down for the major takeaways and additional resources for your entrepreneurial tool belt.
Here’s what Paul Gowder and I (Lauren Gaggioli) unpack:
- Essential practices and useful tips for growing your email list
- What to write about to your email list
- How often to send emails to grow your list
- Favorite tools to-date for growing your email list
Whether you’re just getting started or you’re well established but looking to level up, these amazing ideas can help.
Email Marketing Best Practices & Tips
In our highly digital world, there is a lot of noise that you have to break through as a business owner.
In each industry, there are going to be different expectations and forms of engagement with your audience.
But there are tried and true principles that can help you grow your email list and propel your business growth, regardless of where you’re at now and what you’re selling.
Here are the most essential tips for growing your email list:
- Always respond. If somebody replies to your email, they’re opening a conversation, they want to engage with you. Prioritize a response, even if it’s simply a “thank you.” You'll be amazed at how many times people will be shocked that your email list isn’t just an automated robot. Great way to win fans and stand out!
- Ask for the email. Give them a way to share and connect with you. If you don’t clearly, bravely ask, it’ll never happen.
- Ask for the email in the right spot. This means in MORE PLACES than your front page or footer. Have frequent, specific opt-ins at prominent locations. Make it as easy as possible for your audience.
- Be consistent. Once you’ve figured out how frequently you want to connect with your list, make sure you regularly and predictably do so to keep people engaged but not irritated. Don’t know how often is best for your business? Keep reading; we tackle this important question below.
- Keep your ideas and emails organized. Don’t know what to talk about? Most people don't know what to say in emails. The tips below can help you with that.
- Have a Facebook group? Use the “join us” questionnaire to ask for their email address from the get-go.
- Cull, cull, cull. Scrub that list actively and regularly (like, once a month!). People can always rejoin if they want to reengage, but in the meantime, you don’t need deadweight cluttering up your data and wasting your precious energy.
What To Write About To Your Email List
Many amazing business owners hit a painful wall when it comes to worrying about what to say to their audience.
And others are excited to jump in, but quickly struggle to maintain a consistent flow of new ideas.
If you’re looking to liven up your “upcoming emails” folder, here are some email ideas to help:
- Highlight a new blog post and point them back to your article for further reading
- Repurpose old articles with new updates
- Do a giveaway
- Attract new email subscribers with a wonderful prize specific to your niche
- Reward & inform
- Build great relationships with other businesses in your niche
- Create a quiz or a game
- Broadcast messages to your whole list that…
- Build your community through success stories
- Offer additional lines of communication
- Highlight a product or service (plus make some affiliate money even if it’s not your own product or service)
- Announce big industry changes and include your specific perspective
- Inspire excitement for upcoming events
- Build out your sequences and specify your segmentation…
- Have a welcome sequence of 3-5 emails (based on your most critical business points, sort of like your elevator pitch, bringing everyone into your ecosystem)
- Have any special entrance sequence eventually connect back to your welcome sequence
- Let these do the heavy lifting of maintaining your outreach
- Keep doing the work to identify and understand your customers
- Personalize and update stuff that you reuse
How Often To Send Emails To Your List
This is always a huge question for business owners.
And possibly the one with the widest ranging answer, if you’re looking for exact numbers, because it’s going to depend so much on what you’re comfortable with and what resonates most in your industry.
Experts suggest a ratio around 5:1 or at least 3:1 in terms of how many educational content emails to send before you can send a more pushing-for-the-sale-oriented email.
But once you’ve figured out your magic email marketing ratio to keep your audience happy, how often should you reach out in order to keep your email list engaged?
Here’s the rule of thumb:
As long as you're delivering value to your reader, it's okay to send another email.
If you're just sending out another email because you just want to send two emails this week, they're going to see through that and they're not going to appreciate it.
If you’re sending too many sales emails, laden with things you want your audience to do for you, they’re going to feel irritated and taken advantage of.
If you’re beginning from scratch, here’s a general map to get you going:
- Start with sending one email a week, at most.
- Build consistently, based on what kind of content you have and how much content you need to communicate with your audience. Don’t rush to increase your frequency - new businesses take enough work as it is.
- Deliver on your promises and be as clear as possible, at all times.
- Build trust by always adding value, even when you’re asking for a sale. Know your audience, listen to your audience, care about your audience.
If someone gives you their email, they’re saying they trust you and they’re letting you into their personal space.
Don’t squander that or take it lightly.
Be brave.
And trust them back. Remember, if they’ve signed-up, they’re already saying yes they want more. Feel secure in guiding them to what you think will help them the most.
Suggested Email Marketing Tools For Entrepreneurs
When it comes to email marketing tools, there are a ton of good ones out there.
Try out the options and figure out what works best for your business, your website systems, and your team.
Here’s what Paul Gowder and I (Lauren Gaggioli) discuss works best for us:
- An email management system
- ConvertKit
- ActiveCampaign
- A lot of people talk about MailChimp.
- A WordPress site
- An email opt-in
- Opt-in Monster
- Convert Box
- Thrive Leads through Thrive Themes
- An ad company
- Such as Grow Tools through Mediavine - especially for their Spotlight Subscribe opt-in feature!
- A giveaway platform/contest software
- ViralSweep
About My Featured Guest: Email Marketing Expert, Paul Gowder
Paul Gowder is the founder of PowWows.com, the place for anybody to come learn, explore, and connect with Native American culture and origin story. (And incidentally, the #1 trafficked site in the whole Internet for the general culture of pow-wows.) Paul is also a self-proclaimed “accidental entrepreneur,” community builder, RSVLTS Disney shirt collector, and major Star Wars fan.
If you’d like this brilliant, humble human to help you boost or grow your email list, you can learn more about how to hire Paul as your digital marketing coach.
Interested in more game-changing entrepreneurs and ideas?
I host an entrepreneur workshop at least once a month - sometimes more - to cultivate and connect our vibrant community of go-getters.
We cover a huge range of topics with a variety of amazing guests.
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