Gentle, but profitable email marketing
By: Andrew Laws
Tags: Digital Marketing, Email Marketing Lists, Email Marketing, Funnel Builder, Email Marketing Tips

Email marketing is widely regarded as a ‘must-have’ by many marketers. Treating your list members with respect and a certain amount of pastoral care is what makes the magic happen.

Let’s start at the birth of your email marketing list; how do you get people onto a new list, even if you are a new brand and your market is not yet aware of your magnificence?

The lure.

You need a great ‘lure’ to get people onto your mailing list. What does your audience love? What would make them feel like they are getting value from you (without you ‘giving away the farm’)?. It could be something as simple as a free guide, or something as elaborate as a free holiday.

Some audiences will cheerfully join an email list in exchange for nothing more complex or demanding than the offer of free advice on a regular basis. For some markets, a lure with more value is required to catch the eye of your prospects. This is the realm of free guides, free consultations and other high-value lures.

Potential customers or clients in many niches love a competition. Contrary to what you might think, giving away a prize is often the cheapest way to grow your mailing list.

My advice would be to start small. For example; there’s no need to go to the expense of giving away a free holiday if a box of chocolates will motivate your audience just as well!

Once your audience is safely in your mailing list then tuck them in and make sure they know why are loved.

The love.

So what do you ‘do with’ your list members now they are safely installed in your funnel?

Email sequences are great, but use them to warm your prospects to your brand, not to knock them out with a brute-force marketing attack. People who grace your lists with their presence are now in your ‘circle of trust’. Treat them well, earn their trust in genuine ways and they should stick with you.

Email sequences are not a club with which to beat your prospects into submission.

So far we’ve got people into the email funnel and made them feel loved, but how do we motivate them to buy something?

One useful way to convert a particularly cautious audience is to guide them towards a purchase in a way that encourages them to arrive at the decision to part with money in such a way that they know they have made the decision themselves.

You don’t want your audience to feel bullied. So how do you instil this sense of ownership over the buying process in your list members?

There are many ways, but they all come back to one thing — relationship building. If curated in a meaningful and respectful way the people on your mailing list can become your best marketing asset.

With email marketing how you communicate your message is almost more important than the message itself. In a letter to a fellow writer, PG Wodehouse wrote that ‘it’s not the story that’s the thing, it’s the telling’.

Some readers may roll their eyes when marketing geeks like me raise the topic of copywriting, but it really is one of the most important tools in your marketing arsenal. Kickass copywriting can turn a dry statement of fact into an unignorable and motivating asset.

Making a genuine effort, and taking the time to communicate with clarity and really look after your email list members is an investment that will give you a great return on investment for many years.