How often do you send out an email newsletter to your mailing list?
Do you even have a mailing list? If you don’t why not? Are you relying totally on social media to promote your business and get new clients?
If you’ve been in my world at all, you’ll probably have heard me banging on about growing an email list, and not relying on the “algorithm” to support your business, this is because I’ve seen businesses fold overnight when the algorithm changes and no longer is it sending people your way.
The great thing about email is that everyone who joins your list is:
- a warm lead – that’s right, they know who you are and they have CHOSEN to hear more from you, so don’t ignore them by not emailing them.
- interested in what you have to offer, their style is giving them some sort of pain and they want a solution, and you provide the solution, don’t hide that solution, don’t not tell them about that solution, that’s just plain mean!
- more loyal to you, these days to choose to give an email address means that they have already felt like they could have some sort of professional relationship with you, they feel like they like you and want to get to know you.
Remember, that brands are built on KNOW, LIKE and TRUST so if you don’t communicate with your potential clients, they’ll never get to know, like or trust you.
What builds that all-important trust?
Consistency.
That’s right (it’s why McDonalds has become so successful because it’s not their fine dining), when you’re consistent and people know what they’re getting from you, this builds trust.
Whether it’s sending out a weekly email (yes even if you have a tiny audience you still need to contact them regularly so they remember who you are and why they decided to join your list in the first place) offering solutions to their problems, letting them know you get their pain and how you can solve that pain with one of your services.
Selling is not icky or nasty if your intention is to make a positive difference in your client’s lives, selling is helping.
Your brand is the emotional connection you build with someone. It’s the trust you build in the process. Emailing your list regularly helps to build your brand.
You may think nobody is reading your emails, but they are, and they will if you provide useful content and offers.
You may think that nobody is seeing your social media posts (because you’re not getting lots of comments) and that’s true to a certain extent because the algorithms only serve up your content to around 4% of people who follow you, so posting again and again isn’t bothering people because most people haven’t seen it anyway! This is why you want to be building your email list as well, as it’s an asset that can’t be taken away from you overnight.
There will be people on your list who buy straight away, and others who will be there for years before they buy (but the time wasn’t right before, now it is). That’s normal and how business works. I always ask my clients how they found me, and one client told me that she’d read an article in the newspaper which I’d been featured in, she’d kept it, and 3 years later she came to see me as a client.
If someone unsubscribes when you send out an email think of that as a great thing because they weren’t your ideal client and so there is no point in you paying an email service to have people on your list who don’t want to be there.
Use your social media accounts to attract your ideal client. It’s a way of spreading the word that you exist and are here to help. And consistency with your social media is also important, what’s great about it is you can batch posts and schedule them so you don’t have to be on it every day.
Know Your Ideal Client
Know who your ideal client is – their needs, their pain points, their desires – then talk to them specifically (the language you use needs to resonate with them so they really feel that you “get them” in a way that others don’t).
Then offer them something of value that’s free in exchange for their email address. This free lead magnet (as it’s known in the marketing trade) should be something that goes to solving your ideal client’s problems, but it can only solve a small portion and ideally, they need to come to you for the rest as they see the value you offer.
Then once they are on your email list, email them weekly. Send them a little something of value and also an offer for your services in some way. You’d be surprised how many clients don’t know all that you can do for them. If you don’t let people know, they have no idea. I remember when I started and clients came for a personal colour analysis, so many didn’t realise I also offered personal shopping and wardrobe editing etc. I had assumed that because they’d found me and contacted me via my website, that they knew, but they frequently didn’t, they hadn’t looked that far. You need to tell people frequently what you do and the benefits of how you can help them, don’t be like me assuming that they already know.
You Can Never Stop Marketing
Marketing never stops, no matter how long you’ve been in business, you’ll always have to do marketing and sales. When you’re consistent, someone who first came across you a couple of years ago knows that you’re still around, that you’re still there for them, when the time is right. If you disappear, stop emailing, stop connecting, they’ll assume you’ve gone out of business and will look around for someone else to help them.
Show them that they can rely on you. Keep on sharing to connect with the people who want to be in your tribe and show them that you care and that they matter to you. Then the right people will show up and want to work with you.
So be consistent so you can build your list, and keep contacting your list regularly because that makes you more trustworthy.
