I began my journey in marketing working for a text-messaging company called Skipio. We used to joke that “email was dead” and laugh at the ridiculously low open rates.
Today I am a little bit more mature as a marketer. I’ve seen the power of email and what it can do for your business.
Smart companies are doubling down on their email marketing efforts and here’s why.
Borrowing traffic means you are paying to advertise on a website (Facebook, Google) for a portion of their audience's attention. There are aspects of advertising that you can’t control. When there is more demand for advertising, the price for advertising goes up. Borrowing traffic means you are constantly paying for attention.
Owning traffic means you have access to your own audience for attention. If you have an email list it doesn’t cost you money to send every email. You can also gather an audience in a Facebook Group, Social Media Platform, etc. When you own traffic you have options.
You don’t only talk to your friends when you need a favor. If you did you wouldn’t have many friends or at the very least they wouldn't like accepting your calls.
Your customers are the same. You have to train them to open your emails by consistently providing value. If you only send an email when you have a promotion or when you want something your open rates will continue to drop. You need to be consistent if you want to see consistent engagement.
Easiest way to do this is through a consistent email newsletter. Remember you want to add value and train customers to open these emails. If you do have a newsletter make sure you take time to think about what your customers would like to see and why. If you don’t provide value it can backfire.
Your list is an asset. Chances are you’re not the only one who could benefit from your email list. There is most likely another company who would love to be featured on your newsletter.
Think of joint ventures as a form of influencer marketing. In this case you’re the influencer. You have the list.
To find the right partner,
think about your list…
If I thought my clients were really interested in how to get more reviews for their business then I could find a company that specializes in that. There are many ways to partner with a company but here are two of the easiest.
Many people make a living just from affiliate commissions and being promoted on someone else's newsletter is a great way to get more attention. The two are not mutually exclusive. I highly recommend you try both.
There is no better place to do product research then by talking to your current customers. When you have an email list you have the opportunity to talk directly to them. This could come in the form of:
Two years ago I had the opportunity to join a beta group for Ray Dalio’s app Principles. The Principles team sent an email and asked for feedback from people who were on his email list and had read his book. It was fantastic! I had the chance to choose between which designs I liked better, different type of interfaces, and ultimately watch the app evolve into what it is today.
The reason I tell you this is because I now follow Ray Dalio religiously. I open almost every email. I’ve downloaded the app. I promote the book. None of this would have happened had they not engaged me through their email list.
No doubt you have potential to make more raving fans from your email list. Think of ways you can get them involved.
When other customers see that you are rewarding engaged customers the more they will want to engage with your content. It’s social proof for engagement. Seeing others engage with your content gives them permission to engage themselves.
Customer lists are not just useful for direct communication. You can also use these lists to enhance your advertising efforts. I know I know.. borrowing vs owning traffic.. but here’s the deal. You can do both!
Lookalike audiences are a powerful way to reduce your advertising costs by giving Facebook and Google enough data to show your ads to the right people.
In almost every case you will see a reduced cost per lead. They look at your current customer list behavior and then find those with similar behaviors and interests.
If you’ve never done advertising or you would like to start an ad campaign I highly recommend starting with at least one adset containing a lookalike audience.
If you haven’t doubled down on your email list, start today. Lookout for an article next week about exactly how to grow your email list.