Setting up Email Marketing

 Third Lesson - Getting Started with Email Marketing

It’s time for your third lesson in the Getting Started with Email Marketing Crash Course. In your last lesson we talked about targeting, motivation and setting up your content schedule. Today’s lesson is all about brainstorming a list of email topics and setting up an auto responder series to market for you.

An auto responder series is a great way to build a relationship with your new subscribers. As I mentioned in your last lesson, you don’t want to start emailing your list every day until they get to know you better.

Setting up a series is the only exception to this rule, because it allows you to contact them in succession without making them feel like you’re bombarding them with unwelcome emails.

As you create your series keep in mind that one of the most important parts of setting up an effective email marketing campaign is to provide value that will help keep your subscribers active and engaged.

Figuring out what to write about can be a big stumbling block, especially if you don’t have any idea where to begin. To help you with this, sit down and generate a list of topics that will be of interest to your target audience. Just let the ideas fly. Don’t worry about grammar or editing until you have at least fifty ideas. You can always go back and fine tune your list later.

Be sure to think about what your business has to offer as you’re brainstorming. You can also include ideas for short tips, reminders and promotional emails. You want to have a good mix of long and short emails. This way you can contact your list more frequently.

If you are stuck for ideas, ask your current subscribers what they want to learn. Set up a survey or take a poll and find out what people in your target audience are interested in. Do a little research online. Look at what your target audience is chatting about on social media and (YES) look at what competitors are posting. If they are getting a good response on a particular piece of content, then create something similar.

Once you have a solid list of topics you can start creating the content. I like to organize my content chronologically, so that I can send them out in order. Much like this short course.

Here is an example:

Email one – Welcome/Introduction to your business and what it can do for them.

Email two – Offer something of value to them (coupon – discount etc.)

Email three – Follow up to see if there is anything you can help them with

Email four – Invite them to connect with you on social media

Email five – A short tip the help them solve a problem

Email six – Send them to your website to read an article

Email seven - You fill in the blank

You can do this with as many emails as your autoresponder will allow you to include. The goal here is to lead your subscribers down your sales funnel until they make a purchase.

Once you have all your emails written you can load them up into your autoresponder, set up the frequency and they will be sent automatically to every new subscriber that joins your list, in order.

Now, in my opinion it is never too soon to ask for the sale, so always include a solid call to action (CTA) in your emails. This can be as simple as saying “click here to get all the details” or “check out this special deal I have for you here”.

You always want to give your subscribers something to do, whether its visiting your website, checking out your post on Facebook or clicking the buy now button in your store. They will follow your lead, so let them know exactly what you want them to do.

That's it for today's lesson. In your next lesson, we will be talking about setting up and promoting your opt-in page, so that you can add more subscribers to your list.

Until then,

"add your name here"

"your email address"

P.S. Don’t forget, I’m here to help, so if you have questions just ask!

The fastest way to reach me is here: "your URL here"

Fourth Lesson - Getting Started with Email Marketing

How are you? Well we're winding down to the end of this short course, but we still need to go over a few things to help you make the most of your email marketing campaigns.

In your last lesson we talked about brainstorming topics and setting up an autoresponder series. In this lesson we’re going to talk about setting up and promoting your opt-in page, so that you can add more subscribers to your list.

When it comes to getting more subscribers it’s important to think about promoting your lead magnet (free offer) just like you would a product someone would pay you for. Even though it's free, you've still got to sell it and make your visitor want to leave their name and email address. Plus, you've got to make it so enticing, they're going to want to open the emails you're going to start sending to them.

Here are a few tips that can help:

Add an opt-in form on every relevant page of your website. Include an attention-getting headline and a compelling reason to subscribe. Don't force your readers to scroll around to find the opt-in form. Make it easy for them to find, fill out and submit.

Set up a dedicate opt-in page, just like you would a sales page. You want this page to be free of distractions and completely dedicated to showing the benefits of joining your list. This is where you'll send traffic from advertising campaigns.

Use images that represent your free offer. For example, a report cover, software box, etc. It’s always a good idea to have a graphical representation because it makes your offer more tangible and attractive to your visitor.

You can include things like:

A catchy headline. If you're reader has a problem, show them how your offer can help them. A persuasive description that shares the benefits they will enjoy after joining (explain what your business can do for them) so they will be excited to join your list and open your emails.

Provide step by step instructions on how to join your list. Spell it out for them, so there's no confusion. When you guide people through what they are supposed do, they are more likely to do it. Tell them: "Enter your first name and email address, then click "Submit”. Make it as easy as possible for them.

A privacy policy. People are concerned about spam and may hesitate to give out their email address. Include a brief statement about what you do / don't do with your readers' personal information. You can include this at the bottom of the page.

After you get that done you're ready to start promoting. It's time to spread the word. You can do this through paid advertising or by including links to your opt-in page in the following places:

- In social media, blog posts, guest blog posts, etc. You want a link to your opt-in offer in as many places as possible.

- Add a link to your website navigation that says, "Free Video Course" or whatever fits your unique offer. You can also add links in the footer of your page. I do this because people often scroll to the bottom first to look for links.

- Create videos and share them on Facebook and YouTube. In them tell your viewers where and how to sign up and include a link within or below your video.

- Co-promotion still works. All you have do is share other people's offers, in return for them promoting yours.

- Look for popular podcasts that are related to your niche and see if they accept guests. If they will interview you then you can let their listeners know about your free offer.

The key is persistence, tracking and testing. The more people you can send to your opt-in page, the more subscribers you’ll add to your list and the more your business will grow, so you must test and track your results. To do this you can use the tools built into your list management platform and Google analytics to get started. Of course, there are all kinds of powerful tracking tools available, but these free ones will do the job very well.

You can use them to see how many people are visiting your optin page, seeing your forms and joining your list.

You can then determine your conversion rates to see if your offer is enticing enough to get people to actually give you their email address.

If you have a fair amount of traffic and you aren’t getting any signups then you will need to fine tune your opt-in page and maybe even your free offer. There are many things you can test, like headlines, font sizes, colors and so on.

You can do this with an A/B split testing campaign. This will let you test multiple versions of the same web page and find the one that works best for your visitors and it can be done within your tracking software.

That topic is a little bit beyond the scope of this short course, but it something that you should definitely explore, especially as your list grows.

I hope today's lesson was helpful to you. Don't forget to keep an eye out for my next email. There will be some great stuff in your last lesson.

Until then,

"add your name here"

"your email address"

P.S. Do you have questions? Please feel free to ask:

"your URL here"

Fifth Lesson - Getting Started with Email Marketing

Well, we have come to the final lesson in the Getting Started with Email Marketing Crash Course. I hope you’ve enjoyed your lessons and learned a lot about how to set up an effective email marketing campaign.

In this final lesson we’re going to talk about maximizing your list to achieve better results. It's all well and good to build the list, but then what. What are you going to do with it?

If you want to achieve real success you need to build a relationship with your readers. Provide them with quality content and great advice so they will stay interested, engaged and coming back for more.

Here are a few tips that will help you make the most of your list:

- Be consistent

As we discussed in your second lesson, it’s important to set up a regular schedule for keeping in touch with your subscribers. You want your readers to remember you and eagerly open your emails.

- Speak directly to your audience

Get to know your readers and what they’re interested in. Understand their problems and help them solve them. Always, be sincere and write to them as if you're writing a letter to a dear friend who needs your help.

If your goal is to sell more products, provide them with good information and a nice mix of relevant offers. The products you sell and recommend should enhance your readers lives, help them achieve their goals and solve their problems.

- Focus on the CTA

As I mentioned in lesson three you should always include a solid call to action (CTA) in your emails.

This can be as simple as saying “click here” or “check this out”. Give your readers something to do in every email you send. Even if its just sending them to read your latest blog post or watch a new video you shared on YouTube. By doing this you are teaching them to interact with you on a regular basis.

- Easy on the links

While it’s tempting to share links to all kinds of exciting things in your emails, you don’t want to go overboard with the number you include in an email, especial if you want your readers to do something in particular. If this is the case, then make that the only link in your email. This will keep them from getting confused or distracted and help increase click throughs on that link.

- Keep them interested

As riveted as we hope our readers will be, their attention spans will decline if they get bored and they won’t read through the entire email. Do your best to keep things interesting. Use headings and teasers to encourage them to keep reading.

Keep your emails short and direct them to a webpage for more details if you have a lot to tell them.

If you are sending a newsletter with a few different topics or sections, make sure to mention the most important part at the

beginning of the email, with a little reminder at the end or in the PS.

When it comes to running a successful email marketing campaign it’s very important to listen to your readers and be prepared to change with your market's needs. As your list grows, you’ll gain new insights as to what works and what doesn't. Be persistent, always track and test your results, so that you can fine tune your campaigns and remember consistency key.

As we close this final lesson I would like to thank you again for joining me for this short course. I sincerely hope that you’ve learned a lot about how to use email marketing. And, even though the lessons have come to an end I want you to know that you can still feel free to contact me if you have any questions. I’m more than happy to help.

Until then,

"add your name here"

"your email address"

"your URL here"