Meet me under the overpass.
Let's talk about emails, bay-be.
Howdy hi. Or bonjour hi, to quote one of my recent faves from SNL. How's it been in your neck of the woods, lately?
I am feeling MUCH better after last week. Possibly because the sun is shining here in the Netherlands, which makes this vitamin-D deprived Colorado girl's heart SOAR.
This week I'm starting a new series on email marketing. Because I could talk about emails AAAAAALLLL day. So, as usual, let's start with some theory, then in the next few weeks I'll get more practical.
Cafe romance.
Before I get into how email marketing works, I want to paint a picture in your head.
Now, you'd never give your phone number to some rando on the street, right? But you might give it to a cute barista that gave you a free cookie and who smiled a certain kinda way at you. You know, when you feel a connection.
Now, imagine if that barista started bombarding you with text messages about his band like "8:30 PM TONIGHT AT THE DILAPIDATED STAGE UNDERNEATH HTE HIGHWAY OVERPASS MY BAND PLAYS U SHULD cOME WATCH LOW COST OF 59 $$$!!!!"
Major turnoff, right? Like...no thank you. I don't want to hang out with you and the raccoons whose den you're probably upsetting. You've given me zero reason to risk rabies, and I've heard those shots are UNCOMFORTABLE.
In short, there's no trust built yet. And that kind of a message completely erases any sort of attraction that existed in the first place.
Unfortunately, a LOT of email communication is like this. Most companies use emails to scream "LOOK AT ME, WE'RE SO AMAZING!!!!! CHECK US OUT!" And, just like dating, that's going to turn people off. In the B2B setting the reaction might not be as visceral as blocking someone's phone number and avoiding a certain cafe for the rest of your life...but it does cause a lot of blindness. Eventually people stop opening your emails if all you do is talk about yourself.
The email addresses people give you are precious. And once you realize that, you'll start to see the power of email.
How email marketing works.
Despite the fact that so many people want an email list, I've learned there's a lot of misunderstanding around how this whole thing works. And why it's important.
A good email marketing strategy consists of a three different parts: your characters, your content, and your cadence.
Your characters is another word for your subscriber list. I call the list "characters" because I like to think of my business as a story. And the main character is the client I serve, not myself. These are the people who have willingly (and that's a big one, willingly) handed over their email address in exchange for some sort of knowledge. They're you, handing over your phone number at a cafe. They're curious about who you are and what you do.
Your content is the actual information that you put in an email. The content should be engaging, informative, and, above all, useful. You want to provide valuable content every single time you email the list. But before you start firing off blog posts from your company's website, ask yourself, "Is this really what my prospect wants to read?" Remember that you are not the main character of your prospect's story. So anything you say should help the main character, your prospect, get what they want.
This isn't to say you can't sell to your list. Because you can...otherwise you won't see any ROI on your email efforts. But in general, try to send 3 value-buildling, blow-your-prospect-out-of-the-water-with-how-useful-this-email-is type messages for every promotional one.
Your cadence is the third part of this three-piece email suit. It's important that you have a regular cadence so your characters know when they can expect an email from you. Cadence is important just because consistency is important: you want to build your company up as someone who will reliably deliver great information, every single time you say you will.
You don't have to email your list every week. But you should be emailing frequently enough that you stay top of mind. If you're a busy B2B marketer with too much on your plate, I'd advise sending a newsletter once every two weeks. Any longer than that and your brand name will be forgotten.
Does email marketing make sense for you?
Here's the thing. I think email makes sense for every single business out there. Whether you're a punk bank playing for raccoons. Or a gillion-dollar software company.
Why? Because email is one of the most important methods for building your brand. Period. Full stop. Fin. Eind.
Think about it. When you submit your email to something, you're implicitly saying that you trust the source. You're giving that company permission to be in your inbox. And you're not just giving permission. You're signaling that you want to hear what the company has to say.
That's fucking powerful. And it's a moment for your brand to leave a great first impression, then nurture that lead and build trust over time.
Now, there are a few cases where email marketing won't make sense for you.
If you don't have the time to do it right. In which case you risk undermining your brand's value.
If you don't have a strategy for what you want to get out of your list.
If you don't know what your readers want.
But if you can find the time and space to develop a proper strategy...you'll be amazed. Because email can generate ROI as high as 3800%, when done properly.
Get the goods.
Like this? There’s more where that came from. sign up for the newsletter and get fresh content delivered to you, every Friday.
