EMAIL LISTS ARE THE BREADCRUMB TRAIL OF YOUR MARKETING EFFORTS+
Think for a moment and try to recall every single website you’ve visited over the last seven days.
Every. Last. One.
Yikes, right? As voracious consumers of information, we flit around the internet each day like a presidential candidate at a town hall rally. Whatever is in front of us at the moment has our rapt attention. A handshake. A smile. A quick snapshot with a drooling baby. And when we hop on the bus and roll into the next campaign stop, the throngs of people who just held our rapt attention are a fleeting memory, and we couldn’t tell you the first thing about them.
Such is life on the internet.
Modern consumers live their lives in sound bites: quick downloads of information, squeezing something into every 60-seconds of our day (while parked in the carpool line, while sitting at the red light, while making dinner, while brushing our teeth). If we don’t establish a tether to whatever has our attention at this moment, then we’re unlikely to find our way back to it. The tsunami of digital information and connections that greet us each day are simply too great.
And that’s precisely why soliciting an email address from site visitors should be one of your highest priorities as a brand owner. Because once visitors hit the “back” button, we’ve likely lost them.
Email addresses are an invitation to stay connected.
They’re the spark that ignites an ongoing conversation between you and your future customers.
They’re the Hansel-and-Gretel-esque breadcrumb trail that leads back to your site.
OUTSMART THE ALGORITHMS AND GO DIRECT TO YOUR AUDIENCE+
In a world where so many of our marketing efforts are controlled- at least in part- by third parties, our email list is a rock solid asset over which we have total control.
Etsy, Faire, and Amazon own the sales and the customers that you interact with on their platforms.
Facebook and Instagram install filters that reduce your exposure to the faithful following you’ve built.
Google builds complicated algorithms that update frequently, shuffling your site in the organic search engine rankings.
But your email list? It’s a goldmine. You own it outright, and you can leverage it in any way that you see fit. It’s one-on-one, mano-a-mano, your most direct route into the inboxes (and hearts and wallets) of the people you most want to serve.
If you’re not making the collection of relevant email addresses one of the highest priorities on your entrepreneurial “to do” list, then it’s time to roll up your sleeves and give this area of your business the time and attention it deserves.
- If your email list is teeny-tiny,
- If your open rates are anemic,
- If you’ve been using the promise of discounts to convince prospective customers to share their email address with you,
- If you’re not sure what the hell you’re supposed to talk about in your email newsletters,
… then this project is going to hit your sweet spot.
Cracking The Code On Email Marketing For Product-Based Brands+
Think you have to tempt prospective buyers to join your list by offering them a discount on their first order? Not so… promise!
I hold tight to an idea that many would consider radical: product-based brands don’t have to lure email subscribers to their list by tempting them with discounts.
That assertion flies in the face of conventional wisdom, but I’m confident that we can attract our people and convert them into customers without giving away the proverbial farm. If you’ve been following my work for a while, then you probably already know that I’m not a big fan of discounts as a means to elicit orders. Discounts erode brand perception. They shift the conversation away from value and place it squarely on price, and they train your audience to order only when offerings are on sale. Setting that tone from the earliest moments of your relationship doesn’t bode well for the sustainability of this brand-customer relationship.
In this workshop, I share ten ideas for creating effective incentives to attract subscribers to your mailing list and not a single one requires that you discount your work. I also share actionable email marketing advice developed especially for product-based brands, including:
- The importance of building your email list.
- A glossary of oft-heard email marketing terms.
- Tips for warming up the opt-in invitation to increase the number of people who hop on your list.
- Strategic placement of your opt-in invitation to boost conversions.
- How to make wise use of lightbox pop-ups (without being an a-hole).
- Ten ideas for creating valuable opt-in bonuses that don’t rely on discounts.
- Ideas for twelve unique umbrellas of content that you can include in your email newsletters.
- My thoughts on creating smart wholesale newsletters (what types of content to include, who to send them to, how often to dispatch, etc.).
- A self-auditing worksheet that will put your current email marketing efforts through the paces to discover areas that are ripe for refinement.
- A monthly newsletter tracker to help you measure your efficacy and look at the bigger picture of what’s happening.
- A carefully curated list of resources: recommended email marketing services, a library of “real world” examples of non-discount opt-ins, links to articles about key email marketing issues.
This is a savvy DIY email marketing blueprint for makers and product designers who want to widen their audience and deepen their engagement with people who matter. I designed it to spark ideas, demystify urban legends about direct marketing, and help you make more money. Three cheers for that, right?
ENJOY FREE ACCESS TO THIS RESOURCE AS PART OF YOUR THINK TANK MEMBERSHIP+
This project is available as an instantly-downloadable asset within the Think Tank, my mastermind program for serious brands-on-the-move. Offered individually, this project is $60, but VIP Think Tank members enjoy…
- A vault filled with dozens of smart business tools (including this project).
- Regular Q+A calls with me, where no business question is off limits.
- Access to a supportive community of product-based business owners who share resources on a daily basis.
- Preferential pricing on every product, service, and software offered by Lucky Break. Save 15% anytime you tag Team LB into the ring to help!
For a minimal investment beyond the cost of this one project, you’ll enjoy access to a few dozen information-rich, actionable workshops I designed especially for product-based brands. Membership in the Think Tank is secured on a monthly basis and you can cancel at any time. We’ve made it blissfully simple (and deliciously affordable) to enjoy the business support you need to grow your brand. We’d be honored to have you join us, and you’ll be able to instantly access my Email Marketing Blueprint!
