Email Marketing Jumpstart

A Step by Step Guide to Email Marketing for Small Business Owners.

In today's digital age, email marketing remains a powerful tool for small businesses to connect with their audience, drive engagement, and boost sales. But where do you start if you're a small business owner or entrepreneur? It can be overwhelming trying to run your business and still have time to learn how to do all the back end things that are so important.

This guide will help you navigate the essentials of email marketing, empowering you create a strategy that you know will work and a system that you can maintain and be proud of.

1) Choose the Right Email Marketing Platform

Select an email marketing service that suits your business needs. Consider factors like ease of use, automation / workflow features, segmentation, and analytics. I've used tons of different platforms in my time as a Virtual Assistant, and I have to say, Flodesk is my favorite. It is so easy to use, creates beautiful emails, has amazing segmentation features and allows for great workflows and automations. And it's really affordable in comparison to some of the other options out there (I'm looking at you, Mailchimp!).

Get 50% off your 1st year of Flodesk here

2) Set Up Your Email Marketing Account and Verify Your Domain

Setting up your account and verifying your domain are the first things you need to do once you have chosen your platform. If your platform has options to customize your branding, you'll want to make sure you have all of your fonts, colors, and logos uploaded to speed up the process of creating and sending emails. You may even want to create some templates that you can duplicate and use to keep things consistent for your audience. Don't forget to connect your social media accounts and website too!

Verifying your domain is a very important step in creating credibility for you as a sender. This will help you stay out of the dreaded spam folder and also protects against others from sending emails from your domain without your permission. Most email marketing platforms will provide instructions on how to do this, but you can always contact us for some extra help.

3) Understand Your Email Marketing Audience

Identify your target demographic, including their preferences and needs. For instance, if you're targeting professional cleaners, consider their interest in efficiency tips or eco-friendly products. This understanding will help tailor your email content to resonate with them effectively, allowing you to experience higher open rates and more loyal subscribers.

4) Build a Quality Email List

Encourage opt-ins through your website, social media, and in-person interactions. Offer incentives like free resources or discounts on products or services. Always prioritize consent and transparency to maintain trust by using a clear opt-in form on your website. Giving your subscribers a chance to clearly consent to receiving your emails will increase your credibility among email providers and keep you OUT of the spam folder.

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5) Craft Compelling Email Content

This is one of the most important steps (obviously). You need to have engaging subject lines with preview text to create curiosity and get your subscribers to actually open your emails. Utilize personalized content by adding their name into the email or subject lines, and offer solutions to their specific challenges. Include clear calls-to-action, like "Shop Now" or "Learn More," to encourage desired responses. You'll want to have obvious buttons for these to make it nice and easy for your subscribers to get to where you want them to go.

Make sure you proofread and test! Double check for typos, broken links, or images that need to be edited, and send test emails before you schedule the real thing. This gives you a great opportunity to make sure you are sending exactly what you envision.

If you're struggling with this step, download our Email Copywriting Checklist to help you create emails that actually convert!

6) Check Your Emails for Mobile Responsiveness

Stats show that 47% of people are using their phones to open emails, while only 21% are using an actual desktop setup. The rest is filled in by tablet users and webmail applications. So you definitely want to ensure your emails are mobile responsive and visually appealing. Use a clean design with easily clickable buttons and test emails on multiple devices before sending.

7) Warm Up Your Audience.

You want to send emails in a way that helps you build a good reputation with mailbox providers. This is where you'll need some patience. You'll want to utilize a process called "Domain Warming". Start out slow, and send emails only to a small number of people that you know are likely to open them, namely- people who have subscribed. Then, you can gradually send more and more over time. This approach helps to avoid raising any concerns with mailbox providers and getting your emails flagged as spam.

Domain Warming helps you build a good reputation and having a good reputation increases the chances of your emails landing in the right inboxes.

Don't forget: You need to have an "Unsubscribe" option in the footer of all of your emails. This will give people the opportunity to leave your mailing list. if they don't want your emails, you don't want them on your list as it will effect your open rates negatively.

8) Analyze and Optimize

Use analytics to track open rates, click-through rates, and conversions, and refine your approach based on performance data. For example, if emails sent on Tuesdays have higher open rates, consider scheduling your campaigns on that day. Or if emails that have free resources inside do better, consider offering more of those to your subscribers.

It's worth noting that the average email marketing campaign has an open rate of 30-40%, so don't expect your emails to be opened 100% of the time. It's about nurturing your subscribers and staying relevant in their inboxes!

Starting with email marketing can seem daunting, but by following our guide your small business can see significant benefits. It's time to begin your email marketing journey today and watch your business grow! What do you have to lose?

We're here to help!

Contact us today to book your Consultation Call.