Email Marketing: What You Need To Know
By Wade Harman
Once there was a blogger that thought he could become successful without email marketing. Every morning he woke up and started his day targeting social media followers with his content…all his content. The story ends with this blogger giving up because he didn’t include email marketing in his strategy.
I want to share with you some tips on why you shouldn’t leave out your email campaign and why it’s important for social as well as everything else on your blog.
Why Is Email Marketing So Important?
Email marketing is important simply because it’s a way that you can create a community around your target niche. That’s the “correct” way to say it.
The real reason why marketing through email is so important is because every successful marketer knows that it’s a license to print money.
The rules of business and marketing have changed, and those changes have killed many businesses. But the changes have also created enormous opportunity for thousands of others. If you understand the new playing field, grabbing your prospects attention and building a relationship with him or her has actually gotten a lot simpler in many ways.
That’s why email marketing is so important. It’s a place where you can be intimate with the people that have opted into your email list. They have told you that it was ok, they expect to receive things that you know will help them.
Whether that information comes in a free package that will build trust and enthusiasm for staying on your email list, or whether that info comes in the form of a $49 deal, they will still love you for it because they expect you to do whatever you can to help them succeed.
When to Do Your Email Marketing
I understand that you’re probably wanting to go out right away and start building your list with people that want to purchase your wares, however, while I applaud your enthusiasm, you’ve still got to understand what you’re doing in order to learn the “when” to market your email to people.
I love this quote from the GetResponse Team that states:
“The key to sell more is to build lasting relationships with your customers”.
They understand that before you can really be effective at email marketing, you have to build that solid bond between your brand and your customer’s idea about your brand. Heck, even their landing page creator prompts a more personal and friendly approach that shows us that we, as the email marketer, are not the most important people in this endeavor…the subscribers are. So learn how to build a relationship with them.
How do I do this with a complete stranger?
One of the best ways that you can start to build a relationship with your email list is to ask them questions. A good start is after they sign up to your list, you can re-direct them to a page that thanks them for signing up. In this page, you can have a created Google Drive template of some polling questions they can answer that will better help you – help them in the future.
If your niche is “social media marketing” have some questions ready that will ask them what social network they plan on targeting, or what problems they have with a certain thing related to social.
Tell them you’re going to help them answer these questions and they’ll give you the tools you need to build a relationship with them.
In time, after you have continually helped them with their problems or questions, trust will form and that is where you want to be with your list.
You get where I’m coming from?
It’s easy to manage for someone that knows absolutely nothing about email marketing and list building if you stay consistent with trying to help the people who have subscribed to your list.
This Is Not a Right to Spam
One thing that I must speak on now is that when I talk to most beginner list builders, they see dollar signs because they know that once you have captured that email you are able to send as many emails as you want to the people in your list. However you have to focus on the journey, not just that one click that you will eventually get
Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Don’t spam your email list everyday with offers and sales pages. That won’t have any effect on them positively and you will end up losing subscribers.
What would you do if you saw someone screaming in the middle of a restaurant, BUY MY STUFF! BUY MY STUFF TODAY!!
You would ignore them wouldn’t you? I know I would, and so would everyone else.
What to Send to Your Subscribers
If you’re not emailing your subscribers more than one time a week, you’re not creating an active subscriber list. You have to understand that thin line between one too many and not enough. It’s different for everyone but my list responds to 2-3 emails per week.
The first email goes out on Monday, this is connected to my blog so it publishes an email to my list telling them that I have a new blog post out. Not really a sales email.
The second one has no links whatsoever. This is simply a strategy to keep them engaged with me by telling them a little about me and what I did each week.
Last week I stubbed my pinky toe on the bar stool, so I told them about it. It was a hilarious story and I left no detail hidden from them…including the part where I kicked the bar stool while I was naked!
The responses were amazing!
Replies flooded my inbox telling me well wishes and giving me home made remedies for stubbed toes. I spend a total of 5 hours replying back to all of those emails.
Become personal in email marketing
That’s the secret ingredient in email marketing. Share your lessons and what you’ve learned to your subscribers. Don’t just send sales copy and link spam all the time. Open up and tell them something personal each week. Make it an extra email. If you already have the blog broadcast set up, then you need to include this personalized email too.
This is a guaranteed fix on the activity and response in your email list.
People open up to you when you show them your flaws, it makes you human. They can understand it when you stub your pinky toe on the bar stool, because they’ve done it themselves.
Guess what? You’ve just made yourself relate-able to them, and now they want to share their story with you.
The Final Thought
Email marketing is a great way to make some extra money with your blog. Your subscriber list is not a prison where you put people so that you can punish them every day with spam and sales copy. It’s a place of happiness and helpfulness where people can come and relax because they know they’re in good hands with you. They know and understand that you have their best intentions at heart, and that, is trust.
Wade Harman, in his own words: I’m a full time blogger|speaker|social media coach that blogs primarily about Relationship Marketing for Social Media. I dedicate my time to building relationships and helping others! Go to my blog, find and press the Make A Friend button and see what happens! If I can help you in any way, please let me know.
The original version of this article titled Email Marketing Tips for Beginners first appeared on Basic Blog Tips.
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Jan Gordon
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