Email Marketing Strategy for Small Businesses: Review & Refresh Your Approach to Emails

Should you email? Shouldn’t you email? Should you automate? How do you automate? How many emails is too many?

… If you’re reading this, maybe you’ve been overthinking your email to the point that you’re now in analysis paralysis, and have no idea what’s a good idea any more.

This is a whistle-stop tour to resetting your email marketing strategy, so you can capture the attention of your website visitors, convert them into email subscribers, and start building a relationship with them.

Whether you’ve been sending ad-hoc emails for a while, or you’re brand new to email marketing, or you just need a reminder that what you’re doing is the right approach - this is a guide to the essential steps of a good email strategy.

So let’s get stuck in!

1. Start with a Valuable, Interesting Lead Magnet

First things first... ask yourself this: Why should someone give you their email address?

The answer: Because you have something they want or are interested in. Also known as value.

When you incentivise someone joining your list, it’s simply offering them a clear example of the kind of value they can get from being on your mailing list.

Reflect on your own thinking processes when you’re signing up for newsletters: What piques your interest?

Would you sign up for a newsletter without knowing what's in it for you? Probably not.

Here are some different examples of lead magnets that small business owners typical use:

• Video tutorials or webinars: Short, on-demand tutorials, or live webinars where you can connect with your audience and explore a topic or area of interest.

• Private podcast feeds: Using tools like Hello Audio to create an easy-to-digest audio feed that your audience can enjoy on-the-go.

• Checklists: Provide step-by-step guides that simplify complex processes or give actionable overviews of topics.

• Templates: Offer ready-made solutions your audience can customise to their own life or needs, like social media calendars or budgeting sheets.

• Discounts: My least favourite, but super common in ecommerce - you end up with an email list full of people who only subscribed to save money, which usually ends up with a disengaged audience.

2. Make Sure People Can Find Your Sign-Up Forms

You've got your lead magnet, now let's talk about getting people to sign up. Your sign-up form needs to be:

1. Simple yet compelling: Keep it short and sweet, and just ask for the essentials (usually name and email). No one wants to fill out a long form!

2. Easy to find: Placement matters! If people can’t find your form, they’re not going to fill it in. Here are some different places you should be putting your mailing list sign-up form:

• Homepage: Front and centre, but not intrusive.

• Blog Posts: Within content that's already engaging readers.

• Pop-ups: Love 'em or hate 'em, they work when timed right.

• Footer: A subtle reminder at the end of each page on your website.

3. Segment Your List for Personalised Content

You don't necessarily want to be sending the same emails to everyone - you wouldn’t give everyone you know the same gift for their birthday. Segmentation is your secret weapon here, because tailored content equals happy, engaged subscribers.

Instead, segment your audience based on things like:

• Their interests: What topics do they care about?

• Their actions or behaviour: Have they made a purchase recently? Browsed certain pages?

• Their demographics if it’s relevant: Age, location, etc.

4. Automate Your Welcome Sequence

First impressions matter... so make yours unforgettable! Your welcome sequence sets the tone for your relationship with new subscribers and gives you a chance to introduce yourself, and give them a tour around the things that make your corner of the internet super fun.

Here's are some examples of emails you might want to include:

• A welcome email that delivers your lead magnet

• An introduction email that tells them more about your business & journey

• Some of the top content on your blog, podcast, or social channels

• A sales email about something you sell they might be interested in

Automation tools make this process seamless, because you can set it up once and let it run - which makes sure every new subscriber gets a consistent introduction to your brand.

5. Actually *Email* Your Subscribers - Automate It If It Helps!

So, how often should you email? Most people overthink this half to death, and finding the sweet spot can be tricky…

Too frequent, will people be annoyed?!

Too infrequent, and they’ll probably forget you exist.

A good rule of thumb is at least once a week or bi-weekly.

You want the content to be high quality, but you also don’t want to be emailing people once per month if you’re taking email marketing seriously. Here are some examples of emails you could send:

• A behind-the-scenes tour: It could be a new product or service, how something was made, your office, or a look at one of your processes.

• A story that leads to a business point: Think about something that happened and what you learned from it, and then use it to entertain your audience.

• Case studies & customer stories: Have you got some cool stories from your customers or community? Share them! It’s a great way to highlight the impact of what you do.

• A resource round-up: What are some of the things you’ve been loving recently that are relevant to your business, and that your audience might find helpful too?

You’re building a relationship with your email list, so keep showing up in their inboxes with valuable content - and don’t take unsubscribes personally.

6. Make Your Emails Fun & Add Interactive Elements

You can add quizzes, polls, GIFs, and images to your emails to make them more fun and engaging. 

Giving people ways to interact with your emails helps you engage with your audience without it being a one-sided conversation, and it can help your email marketing metrics, too. 

It also helps you learn more about them - what do they like or dislike? What are they interested in? How can you personalise your emails to them further? 

Here are some ideas for adding interactive elements to your emails: 

• Create a “this or that” image poll: Add two images, and link each one to a different result. Maybe it’s voting on something like packaging for a new launch, or which workshop they want you to create next. 

• Add a review block to get their feedback: If they click on 4 stars or lower, send a follow-up email to ask how you can improve their experience. If they click on 5 stars, send them over to your review platform. 

• Create a quiz: Give them a personality quiz or something fun related to your business that will help you learn more about them and add interest tags in your email service provider, so you can send them more relevant emails in the future.

Remember, you’re building relationships.

How many people are on your email list is a vanity metric if those people aren’t opening your emails and engaging with your business.

Email marketing is more than just collecting addresses: It’s building a relationship with your subscriber, and delivering emails that they find interesting and valuable.

When you have the key components we’ve talked about in this guide, you’ve got all the foundational elements you need for an email marketing strategy that builds relationships with your customers and potential customers, and helps your business grow - not just your audience.

Want to get a helping hand with your email marketing content?

The software I created, Marketing Magic, has a whole suite of Email Magic tools that will help you create high quality, engaging content for your list. Try it for yourself with a 7-day free trial here >>