Guest Contribution by: Meaghan Dunham
There are so many myths out there about small business email marketing. When I talk to anyone in my community, their biggest concerns are about how to leverage email marketing for their business. I suppose it’s because email marketing can feel a little less intuitive or perhaps it’s because it’s not often discussed when people start a business.
Whatever the case, I’d like to take a moment to debunk some of the most common myths I hear about email marketing.
If you send too many emails to your list, you’ll be labelled as spammy.
As a small business, you have a better list of subscribers than a large corporation. In general, the people in your audience are more willing to receive emails from you because they know you and they trust you.
My personal belief is that if you are providing something of value, that you know your community needs, there is no reason why you shouldn’t send emails to your subscribers. Yes, even sales emails.
And there is no reason why you shouldn’t send emails frequently, either! Especially when you are launching a new product or service. The social media algorithm makes it impossible to reach every single person in your community, but a well crafted email? There’s a much better chance of developing meaningful relationships that lead to happy, aligned clients/customers.
Again, they’re on your list for a reason. Leverage that relationship!
Email marketing isn’t worth the time and money.
Selling your products or services via email campaigns can be 400% more profitable than selling through social media. This statistic has been proven again and again, year over year. And the cost of most email marketing software is very reasonable — some even provide a robust platform for free! The biggest thing I can say here is consistency is key. But don’t overcommit yourself. Can you send out a monthly newsletter? Great, start there.
Once you get more comfortable with your email software, you can begin to send emails more frequently — heck, maybe you’ll even implement a sales email sequence for a new product launch! If you don’t have an email marketing system yet, here’s a free spreadsheet you can use to evaluate which tool is best for you.
Unsubscribes will cause me major problems.
Unsubscribes aren’t the death of you, unless everyone unsubscribes at the same time (they won’t). If you’re providing something of value to the right people, they won’t unsubscribe. And, if they do, don’t take it personally.
As a rule of thumb, for each email you send you’ll want your unsubscribe percentage to be less than 1%. If it goes above that (which, honestly, rarely happens for small businesses) you’ll want to re-evaluate the content you’re creating to make sure it’s landing right for your audience.
Overall, email marketing doesn’t have to be as scary as everyone thinks it should be. Implementing any new system into your business will come with a learning curve, but that’s when it’s important to lean into your community to help you. You can absolutely do anything you put your mind to, but don’t forget that can sometimes mean asking other people for help to get you started (lean into that growth mindset!)
The most important thing I need you to know as you consider an email marketing strategy is that corporate marketing strategies don’t work for small businesses. Period. Don’t try to compare your email marketing strategies to Old Navy — it’s just not the same thing.
Want to get started with email marketing but not sure how? Check out my Instagram account — I provide lots of educational content on my feed all the time! Need specific support? DM me. I won’t bite (and I might just buy you a coffee so we can talk through what you need help with while sipping on a delicious vanilla latte)!
Hi, I’m Meaghan! I’m a Marketing Coach, currently living in Charlotte, NC. With a background in teaching and over 5 years of experience in corporate marketing, I decided to use my skills to develop marketing materials and resources that new business owners could ACTUALLY use. My attention to detail and crazy work ethic help me transform not only the success of a business, but the mindset of the person running that business. I’ll be your biggest cheerleader, your accountability coach, and your business strategist. Ok, now where are we meeting for coffee?www.meaghanmdunham.com
@meaghan.m.dunham
facebook.com/meaghan.m.dunham