You know email marketing is ranked as the most effective form of digital marketing. You know how awesome it is to own your connections and have the ability to reach them directly on their time, so why haven’t you started?
Maybe you feel too busy, too overwhelmed, like it’s just one more thing that you can not possibly fit in. Or maybe, you’re just not sure how to get started.
It’s actually pretty simple. There are just 4 main steps to email marketing:
- Strategy
- Set Up
- Growth
- Nurture
STRATEGY
Google “Email Marketing Strategy” and you will get thousands of results on what your strategy should look like.
My advice?
DON’T Google it!
But then how do you come up with a strategy to do this? For me, it comes down to these things:
- What do you want your email marketing to do (usually nurture your audience and sell your thing)
- Who are you email marketing to?
- What content are you going to send?
- How are you tracking?
Basically think about what you want from your email marketing, what you audience wants, how you are going to deliver it and how you are going to measure if it’s working. That’s it, that’s your strategy.
If you want to look at these things a little closer, check out this blog.
Set it Up
First up, you will need the software. This is the most talked about issue when it comes to email marketing. I am constantly getting questions about which software is the best.
Here’s a hint – it doesn’t really matter.
They all do similar things, for similar costs in similar ways. Do your research, but go with the one that seems to feel right. The best email marketing software is the one you will actually use, so choose one that works for you and your budget. If you want a quick run down of the main options, check out this blog.
Once you have chosen the software, it is time to set it up. This will mean different things for different systems. But, basically you will need to enter all your details, links to your socials and set up your lists.
GROWTH
Of course, none of this is relevant without having an audience. There are various ways you can get people to sign up to your list. Potentially the most valuable of these is having an opt-in (otherwise known as a lead magnet or freebie). Something of value, usually a downloadable, that you can give your audience in exchange for their email address.
There are other options if you are not quite ready to develop an opt-in yet. Set up a sign-up form on your website, promote it through your Socials, even in your email signature. You should get a few subscribers and you will be able to start getting comfortable with your email marketing while you set up some delectable opt-ins that your audience just cannot resist.
nurture
Now we get to the fun bit. It’s time to start sending. Your audience may be small to start with, but this is the perfect time to practice. Get comfortable with your email marketing software and your content and get sending. It doesn’t have to be perfect and it doesn’t have to be every day, it just has to be done.
The best email to start with, in my opinion, is a Welcome email. Set up an automated email that send to your subscribers when they first sign up to your list. This will let them know a little more about you and who you are, while warming them up and getting them used to hearing from you.
Get these 4 steps into place and you will find that email marketing is not as daunting as it seems. The last two stages are going to continue and you may find you are going back to strategise every so often, but email marketing really is that easy.
If you need some more detailed steps (and maybe a super handy checklist to tick off as you get your email marketing set up), then why not download my guide to setting up your email marketing – the no-fuss way!
If the idea of having yet another download to work through does your head in, then why not let me take control of your email marketing set up for you. Click here to learn more about what I can do to get your email marketing software all set up an working for you.