The Value Of Email Marketing For Online Businesses

Some marketers say that email is dying. 

I suppose it depends on your market and the demographics you serve. Still, in my experience, nothing has been more valuable to the success of my online business over the past nine years than my list of email subscribers and my ability to share with them regularly. 

In fact, outside of running paid ads to grow my email list, email marketing has been my main marketing strategy, resulting in over $1,300,000 in sales of my Princess Ballerinas Lesson Plans (and counting!). 

The beauty of building an email list is that it's an asset you own outside of the social media platforms' controls. You don't need to worry about having your account shut down or anything like that when you have spent the time building your email list. You're also not beholden to the ever-changing algorithms that decide which posts your followers will see and which they won't. More and more, content creators have to pay for boosted posts or paid ads for their audience so that anyone can see their content. 

On the other hand, once you have an email subscriber, it costs you nothing to follow up with them in the future. 

Plus, email is more personal than social media. This is important. 

Sending an email has the opportunity to feel more like reaching out to a friend in your communications than posting content that feels meant for public consumption. 

Email correspondence can feel like a conversation over coffee or tea with a friend. In contrast, social media content feels like reading a billboard in Timesquare, which is far from intimate or personal. I'm not against sharing on social media; it's valuable for it's own purposes, but my point is that email communications allow us to build a more personal connection and mode of communication with our audience. 

What should we send via email?

The simplest email format I recommend is to share a link to your weekly content post, whether it is a blog article on your site, your latest podcast episode, or a video on YouTube. If you're in the rhythm of creating regular content anyway, simply sending an email to share it with your subscribers is a great way to stay in touch and be an ongoing resource for them. 

That said, my favorite emails, both to send and receive from other creators, read more like letters to a friend. It's nice to read an email with some context about what inspired you to create that content this week or what's been happening in your life or work lately. Adding that context creates a more personal connection, allowing people to get to know you a bit more. Remember, people like to support people they know and trust.

And, of course, when a new course starts or there are openings in your coaching programs, you can also include that in your email communications! Regularly extending invitations to your programs should be something you have choreographed into your email communications regularly, whether weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. 

Building a list of email subscribers and regularly communicating with them should be an essential part of your marketing strategy.