Best Email Marketing Strategies For Beginners

Email marketing, if done correctly, will be one of the most powerful part of your revenue generation. Yes, you heard it right! Anyone who decides to sign up for your newsletter and agrees to share their email address with you is your potential customer and eager to hear from you. One more benefit to this is that your email list and your database belong to you – opposed to your social media network that can disappear in an unsuspecting moment due to hackers, connectivity or network downtime. For this reason, your main goal as a business owner should always be to stir your community towards signing up for your database.

Once you are able to email them, you control the communication and how often what you send out. It is the start of a more personal and connected relationship with your target audience.

Do Not Buy a Database!

It is needless to say, but I will just put it here anyway. You do not want to purchase a database – not only because those people never consented to hear from you but also because they are not necessarily your target audience. The email addresses may not even belong to a person or are being used at all. Stick to organic tactics and take time and effort to grow your email list; you will reap the benefits in manifolds. It is vital to acknowledge GDPR and how your business will comply with internationally-applicable legislations related to emailing people with or without their consent. I recommend you do your research to clearly understand the relevant details of where you operate in the world. 

Why you Need Email Marketing 

Most people who land on your website aren’t ready to buy from you yet. First, they want to get to know your better. You want to build a trust factor and serve them until they are convinced that you are the one who is offering a solution they need to their “problem” or pain point. 

Building your Email List 

The easiest way to get people to join your email list is to entice them with something they want and need: a lead magnet. Offering a small piece of content that is also an actionable, quick solution to one of their problems is an excellent way to get people to share their email addresses with you. A lead magnet (or freebie) is a free piece of valuable content you offer to your reader in exchange for their email address. It helps to build your credibility, shows your target audience your expertise, and it is also the start of your hopefully long and fruitful relationship with a person. 

Welcome & Nurture Sequence

Your Lead Magnet is a “Gift”, and your Follow Up Email is your Introduction. It is pretty likely that some people find your website and your freebie when researching a topic and looking for a solution—for example, going on Google or Pinterest to find an answer to their problem. They download their freebie but possibly know nothing more about your business or you. The lead magnet offers that one contact point that enables communication, and afterwards, it is up to you to maintain your relationships. I recommend using a welcome sequence – a string of emails that helps establish who you are, what you do and how you can help your readers. This should not be done by trying to hard-sell your products or services in the first emails. Instead by sharing, educating, offering value and serving your audience.

Create a collection of behind-the-scenes insights into your business, value-added content, occasional mentions of your offers, and positive customer reviews. This continuous selfless communication will help you to warm your audience up to the idea of buying from you. 

Email Marketing Ideas 

There is plenty you can do to keep your audience engaged. I recommend checking your email box first to see what type of emails you receive from others. You will see that marketing emails often fall into the following categories: 

• The latest blog post shared some narration to gently point the reader towards the website while also offering value-rich content. 
• Newsletter style round-up: about the latest news, activities, events and things are happening in your business (and in your life). While I would not recommend going personal, adding some personal touches – and insider stories - can help show your audience who you are and build a closer connection as a person. 
• Seasonal or time-sensitive content that has a deadline and a seasonal relevance connecting to a holiday, an event or a specific activity. 

What Lead Magnet Should you Offer?  

Let me start with what you should not: your lead magnet should not be an over-complicated, time-consuming piece of content that may or may not deliver results. It should not be a long and super-detailed piece of work but rather something that will offer a quick win and easy learning for your reader. Your lead magnet should be easy and quick to consume, actionable and focused on solving one specific problem in a short amount of time. 

The Best Lead Magnet Ideas that Convert: 

1. Demonstration or training video 
2. Mindmap or blueprint of a complex idea put in a simplified and easy to digest form.
3. Cheatsheet 
4. Free trial or time-limited access to what you’re selling 
5. Quiz, test or an assessment 
6. List of resources 
7. Templates such as social media post templates, presentations, email or webinar templates etc. 
8. Swipe files for email marketing or social media posts 
9. Scripts - for pitching or discovery calls
10. eBooks
11. Reports and case studies 
12. Free discovery call or email consult 
13. Audio file focused on one specific pain point and solution. 
14. Calendar and planners filled with content that your audience can use for their own benefit (it can be some inspiration, supports or instructions) 
15. Workbook or worksheet - to help complete a specific task and overcome a particular challenge. 
16. Sample - a smaller version of your product, such as the first chapter of a book or a lesson from your online program.
17. A live webinar or online masterclass or the recording of these classes. 
18. Newsletter signup – when people are interested in the type of content you offer, they might be happy to hear from you regularly. 
19. Access to free Facebook Group
20. Your catalogue - they need to give you their email address to receive your online catalogue. 

Once you have the content you want to confirm into a lead magnet, you can easily create something visually attractive with Canva Pro. There are plenty of ready-made templates to choose from, and all you have to do is switch out the colours, and images, perhaps adjust your fonts and add your logo and text content. 

If you are new to writing your brand content with impact, download this Quickstarter Guide. It will help you with simple strategies to learn how to create content without feeling overwhelmed and burned out! If you’re new to creating lead magnets, get started with this guide to How to Create a Highly-Effective Lead Magnet.