Are you tired of relying solely on social media to get visibility on your business? With the constant algorithm changes, it’s nearly impossible to grow your business using social media alone. However, Email marketing is a timeless marketing method that is proven to increase revenue when used correctly. In this blog, I’m sharing my email marketing strategy for service based businesses.
Email Marketing Strategy Overview
Why is email marketing so successful? For one, every person on the planet has an email address. Secondly, most people are using their email regularly. In fact, according to a Forbes article, 88% of people are checking their emails once a day; while 39% are checking their inbox 3-5x a day!
Email marketing is a great way to connect with your leads and clients without a ton of distraction. When someone opens up your email, they are more likely to read through it than if they were scrolling on social media. Once you solidify your email marketing strategy, I recommend encouraging your social media followers to join your email list.
The Best Email Marketing Service
The best email marketing service out there for small business owners and service providers is Flodesk. Flodesk makes it easy to design emails people love to get with stunning templates and the world’s most intuitive builder. Grow your list with landing pages, pop ups, and embedded forms, make money while you sleep with workflow automations, and run email marketing like a pro with advanced segmentation and robust analytics.
I’ve been using Flodesk for over 5 years for both my photography and education business. It’s so easy to use and my clients have commented on my emails a lot over the years. I’ve been able to generate over six figures from email alone.
What makes Flodesk really stand out from other competitors is their monthly price with unlimited subscribers. Flodesk doesn’t penalize you for growing your list. Want to save 50% off your first year’s subscription? Click here to see details.
How to Create Your Email Marketing Strategy
Before you can start sending emails, you need to know the end game. What do you ultimately want your subscribers to do? Some examples are purchase a product, hire you for an event, listen to your podcast, and read your weekly blog to name a few. Knowing your end game will help you determine your step-by-step strategy.
Don’t get so laser focused on getting sales or increasing your podcast downloads that you forget to be a genuine human. You aren’t building an email list to spam them with your services and offers. Aim to build a responsive and connected community through your list.
Know Your Audience
Knowing your audience is a crucial piece of a successful email marketing strategy. Who is your ideal subscriber/customer? What do they want to know? What is important to them? How can you connect with them on a deeper level?
As an example, let’s say my ideal subscriber/customer is a young woman (Anna) in the United States who is a wife and mom. She looks up bible verses, parenting tips, and meal planning ideas. Her family hires a photographer once a year for updated family photos.
Rather than just sending Anna a bunch of emails throughout the year about my availability for photography sessions, I want to give Anna a reason to stay engaged and open my emails all year long. Include topics that your subscriber finds important and interesting.
Writing Emails That People Want To Open
Writing emails that people want to open is the secret to making email marketing profitable. As we discussed above, you want to find 3-4 topics that you can include in your emails to add value. There are 3 parts to writing an email that results in opens.
- Your subject line needs to be engaging, peak curiosity, and encourage someone to click on it. Rather than saying “check out the Christmas minis,” you could say “Are you free on November 18th? 👀” Do you see the difference? Which one do you think will get more clicks?
- The body of your email needs to be enticing to read and organized. People have the attention span of a goldfish so if they see a long email with a bunch of words, they are likely going to click out of the email. Use spacing between paragraphs, include GIFs and images to separate long sections of text, and make the email skimmable.
- Every email you send needs to have one focus for your reader. What action do you want them to take? For example: read the blog, listen to the episode, view availability, snag your spot, etc. The email needs to direct them to take ONE action. Flodesk has a button option that you can customize to encourage your reader to take action.
When To Send Emails & How Often
Other than what to say in an email, this might be the most popular question about an email marketing strategy. How often you send emails is truly up to you. How often do you feel communicating with your readers is necessary; daily, weekly, monthly?
Using the example from above, I could have a weekly email every Monday that includes the bible verse of the week, one parenting tip/hack/story, & my current availability. The one action I want my subscribers to take 99% of the time is to click on my booking calendar button and book a session. Including the other two topics is going to keep them engaged and opening emails even when booking a session isn’t applicable to them.
Flodesk Features For Your Email Marketing Strategy
I love Flodesk as my email marketing provider for many reasons. One of those being the customizable features that represent my brand. You can upload your logos & brand colors so your email is a true reflection of your business.
Segments – Segments are simply categorized groups that receive emails from you for a specific reason. Some of the segments I have for my photography business include Fall Clients, Christmas Minis, Leads, & Current Clients. Be sure to set up at least one segment before creating an email.
Forms – Forms are a digital sign up form that people can use to sign up for your email list for a specific reason. The form helps assign people to the right segment. For example, I have an investment guide opt in form where people can enter their first name and email address and receive my pricing information. Once they fill out this form, they are put into a specific segment. In this case, they are now added to my “Leads” segment.
Workflows – Workflows are automated sequences of emails that get delivered to a subscriber for a specific reason. This is one of my favorite features and I have 50+ workflows created. For example, when a lead joins my email list to view my pricing info, automated emails are sent out to them. I typically do a set of 5 emails that are sent every 24 hours after they first join my list.
Take Your Email Marketing Strategy To The Next Level
Take your email marketing stategy to the next level with Flodesk. Flodesk is the world’s most intuitive email marketing platform designed to help small businesses grow, nurture, and monetize their list—beautifully.
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