As someone that has been niched in email marketing for the past year.

I’ve a few insights I would like to share with you of whether your business can benefit from email marketing. My last client, I’ve helped them generate an extra solid $14k for their startup company (small business) using email as a main part of their marketing strategy.

I’ve also help consult with several companies on how to improve their email marketing efforts in order to generate more revenue for their company and I hope to be able to do the same so let me share with you some tips.

Does Every Business Need Email Marketing

The biggest misconception with email marketing is that email is business-like. This cannot be further from the truth. Email Marketing is a very personal form of communication.

In fact, I believe that it’s the second most personal form of online communication, the first being video content.

Why? Well, imagine when you receive an email from someone, most likely it’ll be a friend, colleague or a boss emailing you. It’s from someone you know. You communicate through email one-to-one, unlike something like a blog article, or a social media post.

Though while working in this niche, I found that many businesses fail in using this form of marketing even though they have a large sized email list. The number one culprit for failure which I’ve found is simply a lack of personalization.

The company in question’s goal is to try to sell something, to promote something and they see the customer as that, just a customer and not another human being on the other side of the screen.

On the other hand, the companies that do the best with email marketing and I’m talking generating up to 7-figure income in revenue, have been influencers. This is because when an influencer is talking to you via email, it feels personal, it feels that this person understands me and is talking to me.

In addition, influencers have a brand they need to protect, an image. When they transition into email marketing, they still have to be coherent within that message. The second-best type of company to do best with email are e-commerce brands.  E-commerce is good because you can always keep in touch with your customers and also can show several different offers for them.

Email Marketing in B2B vs B2C

There are also companies such as B2B companies where email marketing is not really needed. This is because email marketing is good one-click instant conversions, but not ideal for lead generation.

B2B companies’ sales cycles are much longer and usually involves multiple meetings. The type of nurturing a B2B’s customer need is not exactly the type email marketing can offer.

If we’re talking about broadcast emails, which is the form of email marketing I’m talking about in this blog post, then I would not recommend email for B2B companies. Cold emails on the other hand are great for lead generation for B2B, but that’s a topic for another day.

On the other hand, the best niche for email marketing is B2C because of its ability to instantly convert. B2C is great for email because you’re able to talk directly to the customer and keep in touch with them even after they’ve bought. If you’ve a B2C product then email is a great way to scale your company.

How to Start Building Your Email List

As I’ve highlighted in my book: “Cash Emails”, an email marketing campaign is only as effective as its email list. The list should not be bought and be built organically. A big part of a successful email campaign is not necessarily the size of the list, but the quality of the list. Though not to say that email size is not important but in general, the people that subscribe to your list should fit your ideal customer profile.

If the people that subscribe to your list are people that are not going to be interested in buying from you ever, then there’s no point in having the list. If the people that subscribe to your email list are also people that did not willingly subscribe to your list, then they also will probably not buy from you.

Remember, email is personal – you would not want to ever invite yourself into someone’s home without their permission first.

The Key Reasons Why Companies Fail Utilizing Email Marketing

There are many factors onto why companies fail in utilizing email marketing.

1 – They don’t understand the medium. In copywriting and marketing, understanding the medium of communication is absolutely so important in getting your message across. Email marketing is a very personal form of communication and a lot of companies forget about this.

2 – They try to sell too quickly. People can easily opt out to unsubscribe to your email list, so if you’re not generally offering value to your customers there – then there’ll be gone in no time soon.

3 – They don’t have a compelling offer. It comes to no surprise that you have to be able to ask for the sale, but they don’t have an offer that will push buyers off the edge. Most companies out there end their emails with – “buy this product now” and leave it at that.

Why would you go all of the way to build your content base, to build your email list only to fall short at the close. Put it this way, your offer has to be compelling and be enticing enough for people to think in their head that they’re going to be getting the best deal of their life. But that’s the job of the email copywriter writing the emails

4 – They’re not consistent. In addition to quality, I believe consistency wins out every time in the game of marketing. If a customer is only hearing from you once or twice a year, then that’s not enough. You want to be constantly be at the top-of-mind of your potential customers.

That’s why it’s so important to consistently create email content for your list, even though it may not be perfect. It may not necessarily win you any business now but this is an investment for your future.

What Does Good Email Copy Look Like?

I believe the number one trait a good email copywriter needs to have is the ability to write in the company’s voice. If you’re an influencer then you don’t need to worry about this because you’re just yourself.

But if you’re a company, what do I mean by writing in a company’s voice. Well, you want to be able to communicate & convey your company’s brand values to your customer. This is especially very important because people are more skeptical about corporations than ever. People’s trust with businesses are at an all-time low.

Therefore, when writing your email communication, you don’t want to just say what you feel like saying. (which is about the sale) Instead want to ask yourself: “what do you want the person on the other side of the screen to feel.” Which in general, you want them to feel that they’re heard, that they have value, and that your company can help solve a problem they have through your products.

Getting Started with Email

If you’re brand new on the other hand. Here are the steps you can take to get started.

1. Sign up for an email marketing software. At JTC we use Mailchimp, but other alternatives are Aweber, Constant Contact, Klaviyo or Drip.
2. Second is to gather existing emails into the software. You probably already have an email list somewhere, existing clients that already use your products, people that have contacted you or signed up somewhere. Don’t need to start from scratch.
3. If you don’t have an email list and are starting from scratch. I would recommend creating something called a lead-magnet. A lead magnet is basically a free gift you give in exchange for an email. However, lead magnets are not bound by a free e-book, or cheat sheets. Lead magnets can simply be giving your customers a free trial of your product in exchange for their email.
4. Promotion. The next part after you’re a lead magnet set up and a way to capture emails is promoting your lead magnet. Find places and popular traffic sources to get people to sign up. This is how you collect emails.
5. Start emailing your list once you hit your first 100 subscribers. I’ve worked with companies that have generated a profit only after 200 subscribers, but still the recommendation of list size to earn a sizable revenue would be 1,000 or 10,000 and bigger.
6. Map out a content schedule and content ideas and start emailing. Content is great, but also don’t forget your offers that you’re promoting. Your email marketing strategy should aid your overall marketing strategy which is dependent on which products you are focusing on promoting at any given time.

Conclusion

Email marketing is one of the best ways you can generate revenue for your company. For every $1 you invest, according to DMA (digital marketing association) you will get back $42 return of investment.

Remember, email is superior to any method of direct marketing if you have a people brand, a brand that is represented with people. This is because email as a platform is something that is personal – when you open your inbox, you’re talking with another person in general.

For this form of marketing to have any chance of success, it HAS to be personable, you have to demonstrate empathy and not be fake. If not, you’ll just be like any other company and be lost in the noise.

Be vulnerable, be funny, be authentic and then offer your business and wait for the shower of a buyer’s frenzy coming your way. It however goes back to the core of communication, people want to feel that they’re buying from another human being, not a company. Human beings are vulnerable, and imperfect – but on the other hand, we have the power of empathy.

Empathy and understanding is the bedrock of all successful email communication. I hope you enjoyed this article and if you haven’t already don’t forget to sign up to my email list for private email marketing content to help grow your business.

If you enjoyed this article, don’t forget to check out my free e-book: “Cash-Emails” in which you will have the best marketing templates, I learnt through my millionaire mentors, that will allow you write emails that can generate you a couple extra thousand dollars in sales. The strategies I will be sharing with you in this book are specifically made for email marketing but the templates can be applied onto virtually any platform. Download it through the link below.