Email marketing has changed over the years, and just sending out your monthly email newsletter is not going to get you anywhere fast. Let me rephrase: If you still just send out a monthly email newsletter to your email list, you are leaving a lot of money on the table.
Why Email Newsletters are Broken
Most coaches I talk to – if they started to build their email list – send out a regular (or sometimes not so regular) newsletter to their list. And their results are meager. And there is a simple reason for that: A monthly email newsletter is not a conversation.
Potential clients need to build trust before they will make an investment decision. What that means is, they need to get to know you, need to learn to like you and finally become convinced (aka trust) that you can and want to help them.
For that to happen, many will tell you that you just need to stay top of mind and “touch” them repeatedly over a period of time. And a newsletter is great for that, or so they say. What this approach is missing, however, is that the journey the client takes to get to the place where they are ready to buy from you is not linear. If you repeatedly send the same type of “touch” their way, they will be reminded of you, but they will not get to trust you more.
Providing Value
To build that trust, a lot more has to happen. That starts with providing value. Some people call this Education Base Marketing. But I think providing value is a better term. Now, what does “providing value” mean?
Let’s think about what people value. They value having more time, more money, less stress, better health and so on. And they all have something in common: They sound like goals.
People value reaching (or getting closer to) their goals. Providing value means to help them achieve that.
But that means, to provide value, you actually need to understand their goal. Different people on your email list have likely different goals at different times. Sending out the same email to everybody might hit the sweet spot for a few, but will not really do anything for the rest. And the trouble is, that it is likely not the same people that feel heard for different episodes of your newsletter.
So, while you might get the one or the other client out of sending an email newsletter, you will lose a lot of them on the way.
Marketing Automation
So, what can you do to make your email marketing more effective? Simply put, make it more individualized.
To be successful in email marketing, you need to meet your subscribers on an individual level.
To achieve that, you need to send out different content to people in different stages on their journey to becoming your client.
Let’s look at an example: Say you are helping people to lose weight. You might have people just starting out that wonder how to start exercising. And you might have more advanced people that wonder if they should spend more time on cardio or on muscle building exercises. If you send the same content to both, you’ll likely lose one of them. However, if you help them by answering their current biggest question individually, they will take notice, and they will be much more likely to listen to you the next time.
Now, you probably don’t have the bandwidth to sit down with each prospect for an hour each month, just to figure out what email to send them. But the good thing is that you don’t have to. With a good marketing automation software like the Infusionsoft® CRM, you can base the decision which email to send on the interactions each subscriber takes with the materials you are publishing.
If someone downloads your “How to fit an Exercise Routine in your Workday” cheat sheet, they are probably currently interested in exercising more. On the other hand, the person that clicks on the link to your article about the questions you need to ask before hiring a weight loss coach might be closer to hiring someone (you) and would see value in receiving a special offer.
Email Marketing That Gets Results
Take a look at your current email marketing strategy. If you are still sending email newsletters and are wondering why you are not seeing results, it might be time to upgrade your email campaigns to be based on where each subscriber is on their journey.
We know that this can feel overwhelming. That’s why we designed our Email Marketing Strategy Session, to get you the clarity of how to use email marketing effectively in your business. Let us take a look at your current email marketing strategy. Schedule your free Email Marketing Strategy Session with us today and let us help you figure out the next steps to take so you too will get results from your investments into email marketing.
