Question, how do you view email marketing for your small business? Is it a daunting task that makes you uneasy? Or are you seeing it as a means to connect with the people who love and support you? You see, people who opt-in to your newsletter are not strangers just being nosy. They are people who are interested in what you do.
The first step to growing your newsletter subscriber list starts with understanding your viewpoint.
Outlook of Email Marketing
As, I discussed in the article, Email Marketing: Content, Layout, Scheduling and More, I connect with my audience. I am not talking to the thousands who subscribe. The conversation is more “Hey girl, hey. This is whats going on in my life”. So many people think of email marketing as spam or scammers heaven. It’s totally not that at all. I get to talk to my friends about insider information going on in my business. They know things before I blog or tweet about them. Want to know when I am doing consultations in a city, I email about it. Change your mindset. Your audience wants to know more about you and your business.
Segment Subscribers
Yes, everyone who subscribes is important to you, however you need to separate who gets what newsletter from you. In my Mailchimp account, I have several segments set up; Open Email, Engaged Email, Location, Social Media, and a couple more. This helps me make sure I one keep my open rate and click rate high. Most people swipe left on emails and don’t open a majority of them. To cut down on that I make sure the right people are receiving it.
Opt-In Options
A/B test your opt-in’s that you offer new subscribers. I subscribed to this young woman’s newsletter almost two years ago because the opt-in looked amazing. In addition, I subscribed to her blog to learn more information. However, she stopped blogging consistently causing me to unsubscribe. Last week on Pinterest, I saw a post that interest me. It was from her. So I subscribed to her newsletter again. She was using the same opt-in eBook from two years ago. This is a huge no, no. Give your audience different options when subscribing. Test to see which ones work. Don’t keep the same one with no updated information.
No Hard Selling – (Service Businesses)
Do you know when I land the most sales from my products? When, I am not selling them, but instead, am focused on providing motivation, inspiration, insight, and resources. It’s all about “becoming an expert in your industry“. The byproduct of helping others, by providing them the information they need, is sales. Yes, above the footer I have products being shown off, however, I focus on talking to subscribers. Telling them whats going on in my life, while helping them.
Give Them Something – (Product Businesses)
I know I talk about T+J Designs a whole bunch on this site, but they are a small business who get it. They send newsletters to their subscribers almost two to three times a week. The content is focused on providing information about their products. They are showing off how to style products, new collections, and much more. A great tip to do is, look at all the newsletters you subscribe to and ask yourself why. What makes you keep opening them and then going to their site? Target has great subject lines and Kate Spade is beautifully designed.
Growing your newsletter subscriber list is all about connecting with your audience on a new level. As you make each platform of your business different, you should do the same with your newsletter. Provide insight they can’t get anywhere else. What are you doing to increase your newsletter subscribers?
