Transcript of EP57:Your Business Needs Email Marketing. Here's Why & What To Do

Welcome to the Mothers of Enterprise podcast. I'm your host, Susie Olivier, mama of three, military wife and successful serial entrepreneur of 15 years, now turned business mentor and mindset coach for women who want it all, minus the hustle and the overwhelm. This show is for the woman who wants to build a wildly successful, high profit, heart centred business and thriving lifestyle, all while raising a family. It's time to harness your feminine superpowers and join me as we dive into all things mindset, business strategy, wealth creation and motherhood to support you in building the business and life of your dreams. Welcome to the Mothers of Enterprise podcast.

Hello, hello and welcome back to the podcast and a shiny new episode where we are going back to business basics. I did a flurry of CPR calls recently. Those are my clarity profit results calls. They are 20 minutes long. They are completely for free. They are a chance for you to get on a call with me and pretty much pick my brains regarding your business and just essentially troubleshoot or strategise. Get some clarity around where you are going with your business and just how to improve things so that you have a business that you truly love and they are available. So go and get yourself booked in. The link to book in is in the show notes. But back today's episode which is all about email marketing.

Now, the calls that I had recently were some amazing business owners, but when I kind of spoke about their marketing strategy or their sales process, it just wasn't there. It was oh, I'm posting on social media and oh, I'm sharing in groups and oh, I'm showing up on LinkedIn and it was just what is kind of the problem? I guess I can say that with the new modern day businesses, everything is so focused on social media because that's what gets preached about the most. And things like email marketing is either seen as like, oh, it's too technical or oh, it just makes more sense to post on socials because I haven't got anyone on my list and I know how to get anyone on my list.

So in this episode, I'm going to give you a really basic introduction, a 101 guide to email marketing. Now, I will say it gets a lot more. I almost said complicated based on the word I'm looking for here. It gets more fun, it gets more intricate, it gets more detailed. There's a lot more strategy that we can add to this later down the line. But this is for someone who is maybe looking at things like email marketing, or maybe you've got email marketing on your do list. Maybe you've got Mailchimp set up and you've sent one or two emails, but it's not a working, functioning, money making strategy in your business. So this episode is for you. We cover the absolute fundamentals, the basics, and then we'll do another episode where we can drill into it a bit deeper.

I would say we go super deep into all things your marketing strategy, which obviously includes your email marketing in dream business school, which is my five month coaching course hybrid where you get to go through every layer that is required to build a successful, sustainable, scalable business in a way that feels absolutely beautiful, aka your dream business. And we're currently accepting new students. So if you are interested, please head over to Instagram at Mothers of Enterprise and send me a DM and we can chat about it there.

Okay, but basics 101 introduction to email marketing so firstly, yes, absolutely, you do need to be doing email marketing in your business because, and this gets said a lot, but if social media went tomorrow, and I know it probably won't, but you never know, you need to have a way of accessing and contacting your audience, your community. Now, I know social media is here to stay in whatever form it evolves into, but as we've experienced so many times and recently, that accounts just vanish. They get locked out. I know I had this. I was talking to my ladies in the latest cohort of the ultimate Business Kickstart six week program, and I was having them back in December 2019, I think it was. Instagram just locked me out for four weeks for absolutely no reason.

And then one day it just let me back in again. So it does happen. It's happened to me personally on several business accounts, again for no reason. And I had a client recently lose all her social media accounts for, again, absolutely no reason that she knew of, and she had to start building from scratch again. So I love social media. You've heard it before, especially if you listened to my podcast episode a few weeks ago about how to build a business that isn't on social media. I love it. I think it's an amazing tool and I think we should definitely be utilising it. But you don't want to build your entire house there. It is not land that you own. It is rented land, and it can be taken away at any moment.

So an email list ensures that you still have a way of marketing your business. You still have a way of reaching people who have expressed some interest in you. So number one, yes, you need email marketing. Number two, you need to find an email marketing platform that you can afford and that has the functionality that you need. Now, obviously, Mailchimp is kind of the first one that pops into so many of our minds. It's free, it does the basics very well. There are so many other ones. Back when I started, it was like Mailchimp, Infusionsoft, Active Campaign, and Kajabi was just coming in. It was very new, but now, my goodness, there must be a new one popping up on a weekly basis. So I'll be here for the next hour if I list them more. So go and do some research.

Go and find one that's affordable. But most importantly, it has the functionality you need. So I know I've had a lot of clients go, oh no, I don't want to use the Kajabis, the cartridge, the active campaigns. I'm just going to use Mailchimp. And then when it comes to actually kind of building out some funnels or some automations, they've been met with some limitations, shall we say, when it comes to Mailchimp, unless they upgrade to a much more expensive paid for account, in which case it just makes more sense to go with one of the big all in one platforms, like Kartra. I recommend Kartra all day long because it's my favourite and I think it works so well. The functionality, the features, in my opinion, are second to none. So again, I'll link to Kartra a in the show notes as well.

If you want to have a look around, that link will give you a two week free trial to go have a look around and see if you like it. So go and find your email service provider. The next question is, okay, yes, I know I have to do email marketing. Yes, I've got my email service provider. Got my account. Now what? Now we have to start getting people onto your list. There are several ways to do this. The most easy, simple kind of strategy that I can teach in this very short episode is going to be a lead magnet. I know some of you are going to be very well versed in lead magnets. Some of you might be thinking, I'm entirely sure that is so super quick intro.

It is essentially something that you give away for free in exchange for an email address. It could be a guide, an e course, an eBook, a miniseries, a masterclass, a template, a checklist, a pdf. There's 101 different examples of what it could be. The way I teach it to my clients is your lead magnet does one of two things. The first way is that it creates a bridge from where your clients, where your audience is, rather, to where they need to be ready to work with you or buy from you.

So what can you provide to them that builds, know, like and trust, that builds your credibility, that positions you as an expert, that kind of highlights the problem that they have that you can solve, that makes them aware, going, wow, if I work with you, then this problem is going to go away and it kind of positions you as a no brainer next step in their journey. The other option is that it actually provides a quick win. It provides a micro transformation for them so they can go away, they can go put whatever your lead magnet into action. They can go and take your advice and implements it, and they can achieve some kind of a result from working with that lead magnet or whatever description.

When you provide someone with a micro win, with a micro transformation, they will have such a beautiful, strong connection to you because you have actually changed something in their life, no matter how small or how trivial. But you have made a positive impact. And I say this to my clients all the time, but when you can achieve that, the distance from potential customer to customer, potential client to client, suddenly shrinks drastically because they go, wow, if that's the type of thing that she gives out for free, can you imagine what working with her is like? If this is the kind of transformation I can get, again for absolutely no cash at all. Wow, can you imagine what's going to be like being her program? Can you imagine what's going to be like to work with her?

Can you imagine what's going to be like to actually buy one of her products? So there's two ways to think about it. Now, product based ladies, this can be a bit more tricky. There are still guides and there are still kind of digital resources you can use to grow your list. But in all honesty, from my experience with several product based businesses, nothing grows your email list like a discount code, free shipping, 5%. I'm not saying you always have to discount. You could just say like, if you buy 40 pounds worth, I will give you this free gift. If you pop your email in the box here, I'll give you the code to kind of activate that at checkout. That must have put seven, eight, 9000 on my email list. For my previous product based business, I used a plugin on my Shopify website.

I cannot for the life of me remember it was called, but they're everywhere now. It's those like little kind of jackpot type wheels where they spin the wheel and then they'll see what discount they get. They enter their email and they get the code that worked so well for me. It works so well for many of my clients. Again, we are talking massive discounts here. 5810 percent, absolutely fine. Or free shipping or like a free mini product or a free sample. So just get creative there. But again, don't think if you are product based that you can't do a digital product of some kind for your lead magnet. It is totally possible.

In fact, if you are product based and you're thinking, I have absolutely no clue what to do here and I don't want to offer a discount, head over to Instagram, send me a DM and I can support you there and sort of brainstorm what's going to be the best fit for you. Okay, so yes, for email marketing, we've got our email marketing platform and we've got an idea for a lead magnet. The next part is, step four is don't make your lead magnet rubbish. Which sounds really obvious, but there is a certain, how should we say, a certain feeling kind of a trend right now, which can only be described as freebie fatigue. People know that the freebie is just there to build the list. They know the freebie is just there to get the email address and it's probably going to be crap.

Those days of crap lead magnets working are completely and totally over. So I say to all my clients that when you make a lead magnet, it needs to be something that you are willing to sell for like 20 to 30 pounds. Not only willing to sell, what's more important is that it is something that people would actually want to buy for 20 to 30 pounds. That's when you know your lead magnet is on point. That's when you know that your lead magnet is going to convert, aka is actually going to get you email addresses onto your list. So, ladies, do not skimp here. Don't try and do shortcuts and try and just put a rough guy together with some crappy Canva template and hope it's going to work. It will not work. You are wasting your time.

Put some beautiful heart and soul and energy and time into this. Really brainstorm some ideas. Get some feedback from your audience. If you can do an Instagram story, I got these three ideas. Which one do you think would work? Which one would you love to have? Or how can I best serve you with these three different options and get votes in. People love to vote. They love to give their opinions. So use it as a little engagement tool and then go away and invest the time on making that lead magnet, whether it is sort of your design based PDF or a guide or a checklist or a template on Canva. If you are completely rubbish at that then just get someone in to make it look pretty for you. It doesn't have to be a fancy pants graphic designer.

Like get the bare bones on there and then get someone in just to again, put some design professional branding wizardry over it to make it look beautiful and attractive to your buyers. If you are doing like a master class, a webinar, a mini course, then just put some effort in to make the recording look as good as possible. I'm not saying you have to go and get a studio, you have to have them professionally filmed. Like again, your iPhone is amazing at what it can do. Get a little ring light off Amazon, you can get enough like 1520 quid, maybe even get a mic. Again, you can get them for like ten pounds and just put some production effort into the filming so it doesn't look like you just whipped it out in your home with laundry hanging on a rail behind you.

I literally have seen that recently, which is why I use an example. So yeah, put some effort into it again, we want people seeing your lead magnet and experiencing your lead magnet. They're going, wow, this is so good. Can you imagine what it's like to work with her? Can you imagine the value she gives you in her paid for containers, her paid for offers or programs? Okay, so we've got the lead magnet. It looks beautiful. It's on brand, it's professional, it's high quality, it's high value. Now we have to actually promote it. And this is where I see so many business owners.

I don't want to use the word fail because it sounds very negative but fall mildly short, not live up to full potential because they make this thing, they post about it once or twice and they're like, oh, Suzy, no one's opting in for my lead magnet. Brilliant. How many times he spoken about this week? Oh no, I posted about it three times last month and no one opted in. Ladies, sell it, sell it, sell it. I could probably keep saying sell it for the next half an hour, but I'll save your ears.

You need to treat this lead magnet as if it's a product that you desperately, in a really beautiful way, not like bad, desperate energy, should probably just do it all disclaimer there that you really want to sell because you are so passionate about people experiencing the value of it and because you want to have those people on your list so that you can serve them. That's the point of this, we are handing out invitations essentially with your lead magnet to get people into a space where you know you can reach them and you can deeply, beautifully, soulfully serve them. So make sure you have within your content strategy that you have put aside time that you have allotted time to promote your lead magnet. It should be everywhere. It should be on the banner, on your website. It should be on the pop ups.

It should be in your Instagram bio. It should be on your grid. It should be on your stories. It should be mentioned on your highlights regularly. If it's in your Facebook group, it should be on your profile picture description. It should be a pinned post in your Facebook group. It should be in your email signature. It should be something you mention whenever you do a live or you do a video, like really push those things. And there are a million and one ways that you can promote your lead magnet. And maybe we'll do a whole different episode on that one day, but for now, just get a lead magnet and get it out there.

The next part of this is going to be a kind of a nurture sequence where you look after those new leads you build known like and trust with them through a sequence of emails and you sell them into your offers, your containers and your products. However, that is a big conversation and one that I would only want to advise you on if we have the time and the space to do it. And on a 20 minutes podcast episode that we are already 15 minutes into is not the time or the space. So if you would enjoy, if you would like a podcast episode talking specifically about a nurture sequence, a nurture funnel for new leads, please head over to Instagram and send me a DM and let me know and we can get a beautiful funnel strategist.

I just might know one in to come and talk to us and really map out what that looks like in your business. But beyond that, we're talking about email newsletters, a newsletter content strategy. Where I see people do wrong is they spend so much time on the lead magnet and so much time promoting it, they kind of forget about looking after the people who've already opted in on the list. Because I describe it to my clients, it's like you out in the street handing out invitations to everyone to come to your party, but you're so busy doing that, you're actually ignoring the people who are already in the party and unbeknownst to you, they are actually leaving through the back door. So all your hard work is actually gaining you nothing.

So make sure you are actually looking after your leads when they are on your list and that is done through your email newsletter. I recommend nothing less than two email newsletters a month. Ideally weekly. You want your people seeing you regularly. You want your brand name and your name popping into their inbox and popping into their vision and their awareness on a regular basis. Even if they're not opening your emails to read it, they are still going to see your name, your brand name in their inbox. So please commit to the consistency here. I say this all the time with social media content. You showing up regularly, you being consistent is more important than your content, which I know is very unpopular opinion. Everything's about content and quality and value and how to and everything like that.

And yeah, obviously you want to have a really sound strategy, of course, but you just showing up regularly and getting in front of your people regularly will honestly serve you more than any fancy. Fancy. That's a weird term, content strategy. Just go with it. So please commit to the consistency. Don't do oh, I sent one email newsletter and then I forgot about it and then I didn't email them again. Commit to once a week, twice a month, and then bash their content so that you can just schedule all the newsletters out and they can go out and reach your people. Now I will say regarding the content, you can just use social media content. You don't have to reinvent the wheel for every piece of content like repurpose and repurpose. It's a beautiful thing.

So law strategy, kind of a little tip hack I guess you can call it that. I share with a lot of my clients is when. So say for instance, we're doing two days newsletter. I would advise them to look over their previous week's social media content and have a look at which posts performed the best, got the most engagement, got the biggest reach, and simply copy and paste it into an email newsletter. That way you’re really good, high quality piece of content is being seen by more people and you aren't having to constantly create new content, which is a demand on all of us. So there's no need to add more to it. Also, beautiful souls, my final little tip when it comes to newsletters is make sure you are selling in them Please.

I really want to burst into sing and dance right now because it is so often missed. You are not just a value provider. You aren't just a how to teacher who lives online and who doesn't get paid for what she does. That is just. No, we're not here for that. We are here for you to beautifully compensated for the value and the expertise you bring to this wonderful world. So please, beautiful lady, please sell in every single most email newsletters. You can give your value and then pitch. You can pitch and then give your value. But get something in there, even if it is pitching your free calls, your discovery calls, inviting them into a conversation with you. Please do it. Please, please. Otherwise, you're just going to be this glorified, nice teacher lady who just appears in their inbox on a regular basis.

Okay, ladies, that is my intro to email marketing. There's a lot more to it. Like I say, if you do want to go deep into this and the rest of the marketing strategies, as well as the visibility, the client attraction, the client conversion, creating your offers, your branding, your positioning, your messaging, I could be here for a while listening and all that. Dream Business School is where you're going to want to be. So if you are interested in dream business school, please send me a DM and I can share the details with you there. Otherwise, thank you so much for listening. I appreciate you so much and I'll see you same time next week.

Thank you so much for joining me on this episode. If you know someone who'd love this podcast, I will be so grateful if. You could share it with them. Because what the world needs more of are mothers stepping into their superpowers and creating amazing success because they're mothers and not in spite of it. If you've enjoyed this episode and found value in this podcast, which I really hope you have, please rate, review and comment. I will be so grateful.

And as a thank you, we'll be selecting one reviewer each month who will receive a 1 hour business clinic intensive coaching session with me worth over 500 pounds. Thank you again so much for joining me. I appreciate it more than I can say, and I'll be back with you soon in the next episode.