DE-STIGMATIZING EMAIL MARKETING: Tips for Creating Your Own Email-List

When we think of email marketing, we tend to think of unwanted spam emails from Fashion Nova, insurance companies, or those random places you might’ve bought something from online ONCE. Either way, we’re rarely inclined to open these emails but this aspect of email marketing is not all there is to it. 

In this article, I will destigmatize the concept of email marketing as we know it and provide you with tips and incentives to create your own email list and/or newsletter for your business or brand in order to engage with your community, customers, and clientele in a new way. And for those of us who aren’t really interested in creating our own email list, I’ll provide a little insight on how to curate and tailor your email inbox in a way that is inspiring and informative. This way you aren’t overwhelmed with a million and one marketing emails from places you’ll never shop with.

What is email marketing?

Email marketing is a marketing strategy that uses email as a tool to deliver commercial messages and generate sales. However, that isn’t all there is to it. This strategy assists small and large business owners in communicating directly with each individual that is subscribed to their email list by giving them valuable information, exclusive discounts, and so much more. It also allows business owners the opportunity to connect with their audience while simultaneously funneling sales.

Email marketing is such a gift because when you realize how valuable having access to someone’s email is, you won’t want to squander it by spamming your inbox or by being inconsistent. If you’re questioning whether or not email marketing is worth implementing into your business and marketing strategy, I’ll answer this question for you, IT IS! Now, get on it and start building your list and come up with a creative way to get your brand's message across in a newsletter. How can you let your customers, clients, or community know what is happening in your world? Any new products or sales you will be adding/have added to your shop recently? Which flea markets and pop-up shops will you be attending this month? What is inspiring? And/or anything else you can think of you can do so with email marketing.

Do you have an interesting perspective? Then email marketing is for you.

Do you have a product your selling? Email marketing is for you.

Launching a new business? Email marketing is for you.

Launching a new project? Email marketing is for you.

A musician? Email marketing is for you.

A painter? Email marketing is for you.

An accountant? Email marketing is for you.

A plumber? Email marketing is for you.

Have a service-based business? Then email marketing is for you.

The point is that no matter what you do or what your business is, email marketing is for you.

TIPS:

Start where you are. Don’t overthink. You can do this. Most platforms like Squarespace offer email marketing and newsletters when you host your website on their platform. Twitter even recently debuted the option to create a newsletter via their platform.

Cherish the emails you have acquired even if the number is small. Starting small is the perfect way to experiment and use your subscribers as a focus group to gauge what kind of content people want and need from you!

Don’t be afraid to evolve and improve with each email you send. you’re not going to have it all figured out, especially after your first email, but with each email you send, you’ll notice what type of content people are inclined to open and which ones they do not.

What kind of information will you offer? What are your subscribers gaining from being subscribed to your list? Answering these questions will help you create something unique that tells your brand’s story. Create something heartfelt, relatable, and inspiring while also promoting and incentivizing your audience to want to buy from you. If you can make it beautiful and aesthetically pleasing, too then you’ve got yourself a winner.

Determine how frequently you want to be in your peoples' inboxes (daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly). this is important because it will help you remain consistent and people hopefully will be looking forward to your content.

Don’t be afraid to check your analytics. If your opens are lower than usual, don’t take it personally. Maybe they are busy and haven’t checked their email in days. Maybe it got pushed to the bottom because of a shit ton of fashion nova emails, or maybe they missed it. Regardless, don’t stop sending your emails to all your subscribers because one day they will open them and if upon reading the content, they are not interested then they will unsubscribe on their own. This leads to my next point:

Don’t be afraid of unsubscribes. that just means they aren’t the ideal person for your audience. Keep doing what you do and keep improving and you will continue to grow your audience over time.

Don’t be afraid to promote your email list. Especially if you’re providing exclusive content or insight that you aren’t otherwise sharing on your social media platforms.

Lastly, your subject line is CRUCIAL. try to be as interesting and creative as possible with your subject lines but don’t make it too long and make sure it kind of sums up what your email content is.

In closing, email marketing is exactly like catalog marketing and commercials on TV. The only difference is that we’re now in the digital age. In order for our businesses to succeed we have to adapt to the times and learn the tricks of the trade. I hope this has been helpful and encouraged you to consider thinking of ways you can use email marketing with your business. If you have any questions, let me know. if it’s within my knowledge I’d be glad to assist!