Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Hi and welcome to another episode. This is now number 125. And last week I had KPC to talk about email marketing and I've had a few questions since, so I thought maybe it was the perfect time to talk a little bit more about email marketing.
[00:00:21] I know that many of you have newsletters, but that you might not be using it to its full potential and that's completely normal. I think having an email list is one of those things that you're told that you should have and then you don't really know what to do with it or how to make the most of it. So we can talk a little bit about that. But first of all, I want to give you like a four step process to actually getting it set up and to get it going. If you're considering email marketing, you first have to figure out why. Why do you want to have an email list? What are you going to use it for? Are you going to use it to email your existing clients, to try to attract new clients?
[00:01:08] What do you want? Do you want to get more bookings from it? Do you want to get more people to visit your website? What is it? You also want to know who your audience is.
[00:01:22] Who are your clients? And I know that this can be a bit tricky for many of us because, you know, we want to serve everyone. We don't want to leave people out. But knowing who you most want to work with is really important. If you try to work with everyone, then that's going to be really hard because no one's really going to feel like you're speaking to them because it's going to be too broad. So a good way to get started with this is to think about who are you? Who do you want to work with? What do you like, what is most important to you? Because when you know that, when you know what you're all about, it's going to be easier for you to know who you belong with in a way, who you're a good match to work with. And I'm sure that if you think about it, there are some people that you like more than others. There are some people you get on with better than others. There are some clients you've had that you have had better chemistry with, that you felt really got you, and that have enjoyed working with you more, that have really appreciated what you have to offer and have paid what you ask without asking any questions.
[00:02:47] Those are probably pieces of who your dream client is. Because having a dream client profile doesn't mean that a new client has to check all the boxes it just means that you know more about who it is you want to work with in an ideal setting so that you can adapt your marketing message, the language you use, your whole client experience towards that one person.
[00:03:14] And the reason that we're talking about one person is because that becomes so much easier and so much more personal than if we are talking about a marketing segment and we're talking about a group of people from this age to that age. And it's easy that you become too detached from it. So that's why I like to talk about a dream client. And a good way of doing it is if you know someone who you feel are kind of close to being your dream client, whether you've worked with them or not, to have an actual conversation with them. And in terms of setting up a newsletter, figure out what would they want to know about, what would pique their interest into being, into wanting to book a session with you, to ordering an album afterwards, what kind of information would they want and kind of taking it from there. Listen carefully and take a note of what works, words they use, what words they don't use, and just generally what they're interested in. So yeah, knowing who you want to email and why, that's your first step.
[00:04:20] The next thing that you want to do is to decide on an email marketing service.
[00:04:26] Yes, you can send out emails from your normal email provider or even your CRM, but that's not really recommended by neither your CRM, by GDPR and privacy rules, anything like that. It's also really hard to keep track of and you want to have a proper service helping you out with this stuff and it doesn't have to cost a lot. But like with everything else, you get what you pay for. I started out with Mailchimp a few years ago and I quickly found out that even though it was free to start, I really needed more than what the free plan included. So it quickly started to cost more and I thought it was kind of hard to use. So I moved over to activecampaign. And Activecampaign is what KPC uses, who we talked with last week, and it is a bit more advanced. It does cost a bit more. I would say it's definitely worth it, especially if you're more serious about wanting to do marketing this way. But if not, if you just want to test things out and get started. I've tried mailer Lite as well and I thought that was just fine. So maybe that is another option if you want to start on the more budget side of things. So definitely figure out how to use that software, how it works in terms of setting up templates and automations and analytics and all that stuff. Because really there are two things you want to be able to send out. You want to be able to send out regular emails like once a week, once a month, every day, whatever you want to do. And you also want to be able to have some automations, meaning if someone signs up for your email list, that you can send them an email and say, hey, you're in. And maybe you also promised them something when they sign up and you want to make sure that they get that once they've signed up.
[00:06:34] That's definitely what you want to do next. You want to find an email service provider that you think can do everything that you want it to do.
[00:06:44] Next up is actually building out your list.
[00:06:50] And again, this is one of those things where you need to know why you want people to get on your list, for them to know that they belong there, right? So just letting people know that they can be on your newsletter, that's not really very helpful. Usually you have to have very keen fans or be a very big name for it to be enough that it's just a newsletter list. Usually you want to entice people to be on there for some reason, like getting your offers, being the first to sign up for something. Maybe you give a discount for those people who sign up. Maybe you give some information that's only for your subscribers. Maybe you give away like a gift for people when they sign up. So whatever you want to do, that's fine. But definitely know why people should be on your list. And I don't mean for your sake because you obviously want people to be on there for marketing reasons. But what, why should your clients want to be there? Usually when I sign up for someone's email list, it's because, you know, I get a 10% discount on my first purchase or I get this cool download that I really want or something like that. So definitely figure out what benefits can you give your client if they sign up, or potential client probably at this point.
[00:08:24] And that is something that you need to mention again and again, because in the same way as when you're selling something that cost money, it's also work. And it requires marketing to get people to sign up for something that's free. So if you want to get people on your list, you have to prepare to mention that again and again and again to entice people to sign up. So mention why they should be on the list. Mention what kind of content they're going to receive on a regular basis once they do. Also, you're probably going to need that first incentive of why they should sign up, whether that's a bonus or some kind of exclusive content.
[00:09:06] When I ask people to sign up to my newsletter list, it's usually because I have some kind of a free resource that I'm giving away. My latest free resource was or is a mindset freebie, and you can go to engvillecolness.com mindset if you want to check that out and download it and see for yourself what it's all about. But basically what I did, I thought about some things that my clients might have in common, something that they're struggling with. And mindset really came up because I know how many people, no matter how talented they are, tend to think, but I'm just not good enough and it's really hard to make enough money. And this year is the year where it's not going to work anymore. And that is for most people that I work with, not a reality, but it's something in their head, which means mindset is what you need to work on. So I made a resource to kind of help with that, and that's how you should think, too. What issues do my clients have? Or how can I help my clients? Or what, what would interest my clients if I could help them with? Or what can I give them to inspire them? That's a good way to think of what can you offer as an incentive to sign up? When I first set up my email list, I kind of went about it the wrong way because I didn't really know what my clients were struggling with and I wanted to set it up. So I had a ton of different freebies for all kinds of things that might show up and that could be the problem. So I probably, I don't know, I think I started with maybe two or three different ones and I didn't really know what I was doing with them. And that was just a lot of work for really no reason. So instead of just jumping into it, just give it a minute or two and think about what your clients really need and then create that for them. Or maybe you already have it. Maybe you already have something that you can offer them. Maybe you have a Pinterest board with outfit inspiration that you can share with those who sign up. Maybe you have a blog post that you can make private only accessible for the people on your email list. There's so much you can do, and it doesn't have to include making a really elaborate PDF download. You don't have to make a video, it doesn't have to be perfect, but some kind of incentive is definitely a good idea.
[00:11:43] And you not only need the free resource itself or the incentive, you also need a place where your clients can sign up. And usually it's best to do that from your own website where you have a section or a page, like a landing page on your website where you say sign up and get this thing and get more information about all this cool stuff that you can now be on a waitlist for.
[00:12:15] You can add that sign up form in the footer of your website or as I said on a landing page and maybe you want to do all of it. You also want to mention on your social media again and again that people can sign up for your newsletter. And you have to mention it again and again. Because as with everything, once is hardly ever enough. And the more cluttered our digital lives are and the more busy our lives are in general, the more times we need to repeat this stuff.
[00:12:48] I'm not surprised if the number of times someone has to see something before they're ready to buy is now about ten times.
[00:12:56] That means that you have to just share again and again and again. You can share that message in a variety of ways, and you don't have to say it in the same way using the same photo or the same graphic every time, but definitely mention again and again and again that people can sign up for your email list and the benefits of doing so. And one of the benefits of using an email service provider is also to make sure that your clients or subscribers privacy is taken care of. You have to make sure that you're treating the personal information of your people in a good and secure way. And you also want to reflect all that in the privacy information on your website.
[00:13:43] Finally, the fourth step of getting started with your email list is the content itself. Because now hopefully you have some people there on your email list and then it's time to send them stuff. And as I said before, there are kind of two ways of sending things. One is the automated way, and I do that with my elopement clients. They can subscribe and get a PDF about elopement planning and then once a week from there they'll get this automated email giving them more advice. And I do that for, I think ten weeks or something like that.
[00:14:21] That's all set up. There's nothing I have to deal with that later on. And for my regular email list, the one that you should be on, I send out an email at least once a week, giving information about the news podcast, just a reminder that that's out. And my goal is to send one more every week with more personal information, more stories, things that have happened. And I used to be quite good at that, but I've kind of been too busy hoping to get back into it. But I also send out emails when there's something special going on, like a sale or a launch or something like that. So if you're on my newsletter now, you'll know that there is a live workshop coming out next week because that is what I'm writing to my list about.
[00:15:15] So one is the automated kind where, you know, someone signs up and then emails are sent out and the other kind of content you want is the more regular kind, the kind that you can also schedule it. So it's not like it happens here and now necessarily, but it's something that is more fresh, it's something that is happening here and now.
[00:15:46] It's the regular emails and you don't want to wait until you have ten or 20 or 100 subscribers to start sending out regular content. You want to do that right away. So as soon as you have one person on your list, that's when you want to start sending out those emails.
[00:16:03] And there's two reasons for that at least. One is you don't know if that first person is going to buy from you or not. Just because it's one person doesn't mean it's not a potential client. And second of all, it gets you into the habit. It gets you used to sending out emails because as with everything else, when you get started, you're not going to be at your best. So just get started right away and send out regular emails. And also decide on how often you want to send out stuff. How often can you commit to sending out content? Is that every week, every day, every month, every other month? That's completely up to you. But stick to it so that your subscribers will know what to expect from you. Because that's also a huge part of getting that trust and kind of knowing what to expect from you. And that is really important.
[00:17:01] And also, once your subscribers are on your list, that's also a good idea to every once in a while, send out something extra, something that they're not expecting to show that you really appreciate them and you want them to, to stay. Don't just sell stuff. Also give them content, give them resources, inspiration, a reason to stay, basically.
[00:17:25] And if you want us to talk more about email marketing, we definitely can do that. So just let me know what you want going forward, but I hope this was enough to get you a little bit more interested in email marketing because it can be such a great thing. Imagine if you are sending out regular information about whatever is going on, whether that's booking a certain kind of session, or if you want to sell albums to clients you worked with last year, or to just let people know what's going on so that you're top of mind for whenever they know someone who might need your services. There are so many reasons for doing email marketing that if you have the capacity to do so, definitely get started.
[00:18:14] But don't think that you need to have a million freebies to get started. You don't. At its most basic level, all you need is just an email service provider and a place to sign up and just get started.
[00:18:29] So I hope this was helpful and I'll talk to you again next week.
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