20 Mar 3 Core Steps to Improving Your Email Marketing Strategy

In the light of what’s been happening with us and the shutdown due to the Corona Virus we’ve got a lot of time at home to build and strengthen the way we do business online, and today I want to talk with you about the 3 Core Steps You Can Be Taking at Home to Improve Your Email Marketing Strategy.

Earlier this week I went live and had an introductory discussion about 5 strategies you can be working on to improve your digital impact and email marketing was one of them, and after listening back, I realized that from what we discussed, you can do them in the order of priority and come out with a pretty efficient email marketing strategy in the matter of a couple of weeks.

So if you’ve found yourself with a considerable amount of time available, there are some core things that you can do that will allow you to make incremental steps to long term success for your business, and that’s what we’re going to discuss on today.

Here are the 3 Core Steps You Can Implement to Improving Your Email Marketing Strategy

Now email marketing is a whole strategy in itself but there are a few key areas that I want you to pay attention to right now.

#1 – Ensure you’ve got a lead magnet in place to collect emails. 

This is extremely important because whether you like it or not, YOUR WEBSITE and YOUR EMAIL LIST are the only two properties online that if you do it right, you’ll have complete control over.

Social Media is an excellent place to distribute your content and start conversations, but creating long-term sustainable sales on social media is unpredictable and not guaranteed.

As a small business owner, it’s more important that we have systems in place that will create predictable sales.  This allows us to be better at forecasting (knowing in advance) what is possible to come in and plan better to expand our businesses.

There’s no way to control that on social media so you’ve got to create it for yourself.

And if you don’t currently have a list or anything in place to build your list this is a great place to start.

If you need any ideas on how to get started, I’ve got a wonderful resource for you that will outline over 19 ideas for you and you can DOWNLOAD IT FOR FREE HERE…

#2 – once you have a lead magnet in place, be sure to create an automated follow-up system

Collecting the lead is just the first step, now you’ve got to nurture the lead to the sale, and THIS is where a lot of us fall short.

We create a lead magnet because everyone says we should, and we’re frustrated because sometimes the list grows and nothing happens from there, and it’s not your subscriber’s fault it ours.

The role of email marketing is to move a person from one stage of the buying process to the next.

When a person initially subscribes to receive your thing, I hate to say it but there’s really nothing special about YOU (the business) in particular.

They saw a post or something you created, it intrigued them, they may be having a particular problem and they just happened to run across this thing you said might fix it so they decided to take you up on the offer.

There’s no real commitment here and unfortunately, they’ll forget about YOU (the business) tomorrow if you don’t do your part in reminding them of how you’re special and what you can bring to the table, and that’s where your welcome series comes in.

The goal of your WELCOME SERIES is to do a couple of things

1. 1. You want to introduce them to who you are, where else they can find you, who you serve, and what you offer as a business.
   2. You want to highlight your best work and content
   3. You want to set expectations for how often they will hear from you
   4. You want to let them know where else they can find you to stay in touch

And you want to do this quickly so trust and awareness can deepen for who you are and what you bring to the table.

You think social media is crowded but so are people’s inboxes, and we naively assume that just because someone gives us the email addresses that they know and like us already and we have a long way to go before that truly begins.

So put a welcome series in place so you can shorten that learning curve and be ahead of your competitors.

There’s a very small percentage of business owners that are doing this right now, so if you do this well, you’ll be a rockstar to your subscribers.

#3 – Plan out regular communication with your subscribers

Once the welcome series is complete, your work doesn’t stop.  You’ll want to ensure that you’ve put a regular communication plan in place so your subscribers can hear from you on a regular basis.

I’ve spoken to so many business owners that have email fear and they get blocked at how often they should be emailing their subscribers and the truth is it’s more than you think, but the key to it is always making sure you’re providing value, even when you’re selling.

I’ve heard everything from,

“I don’t like to receive a lot of emails, so I’m not going to send them.”

to

“I get annoyed when I subscribe and I start getting a bunch of emails.”

Both are very valid complaints, but what I always challenge the business owner to do is look at the emails that they are receiving and see what about those particular emails made them cringe, then DON’T do that, lol.

But the concept is a tried and true one, and in the first week or couple of weeks, a new subscriber’s journey is where the most opportunities for sales come from, sooooo, email your list and create a plan to stay in touch.

Remember in the welcome series where we set the expectations for how ofter we were going to be in touch and they didn’t unsubscribe, well it’s because they were ok with it and they actually WANT to hear from you.

Imagine that?!?!

Your subscribers WANT to hear from you!!!

Surprise-surprise, lol.

So talk to them, send them helpful resources, share your content with them, and let them know how you can help solve their problems.

Trust me, if they don’t leave you in week one, you’ve got a shot to keep them engaged and turn them into cash, you just need to do so effectively.

This part is indeed a more detailed strategy, so in future articles, we’ll talk more about how you can create long term campaigns that will serve your subscribers and serve your bottom line at the same time.

More on that later.

But for now, I’d challenge you to see where you are as it relates to these 3 functions.

1. 1. Do you have a lead magnet and no welcome series? If so, start with your welcome series.
   2. Don’t have anything in place to collect leads? Start with creating a high-value lead magnet. 
   3. Got the lead magnet and the welcome series but you fell off the face of the earth? Create a strategy to re-engage and keep in touch regularly. 

Right now we’re in the middle of a pandemic, so use that as the reason why you’re reaching out. I’m not saying capitalize, but it’s something that is relatable and everyone will understand, no matter where they are in the world so use it as a way to build rapport and start regular communication.

I’m telling you it will work like a charm.

In the next article, we’re going to talk about using this time to educate your audience online so they can get more familiar with who you are as a business owner and your expertise to build trust and drive sales.

This was part two of our conversation and you can find it in the next article!

I hope this was helpful, I’d love to hear what you think in the comments.

And please, now is the time to keep each other lifted, so share with a friend who needs to hear this. Let’s keep the small business community alive during this time of uncertainty.

Keep you and your family safe, and I’ll see you in the next article.