Email is one of the best marketing tactics you can invest in. But it’s also a world filled with mysterious terms like ROI, segmentation, and behavioral targeting. If you don’t understand them, it's easier to back away slowly and forget about emails.
While there is a lot of complexity when it comes to emails, you don’t need all that when you’re starting out. In fact, email marketing can be downright simple with the right approach.
That’s what I’m here to help you with today. I'll show you how to create a simple yet effective email marketing plan for your small business in three easy steps.
Why Have a Plan?
You may be wondering why you need a plan in the first place. Why can’t you just send emails whenever you want?
You can do that. But if you do, you won't see the same results from your emails as someone who follows a detailed marketing plan. It's like the difference between a person who ice skates for fun and the strict training regiment of an Olympic-level figure skater. The first person may have fun, but they won't be winning a gold medal.
While you don't want running your business to be a chore, it's still a job. It requires dedication and planning to succeed. That extends to your email marketing as well.
Creating a Simple Small Business Email Marketing Plan
Now, let’s get into the meat and potatoes of creating your plan. For the sake of this post, I’m assuming you’ve already set up an email list through the ESP of your choice. If you haven't, do that first.
Step #1: Decide Your Goals
The best plans start with goals; otherwise, how will you know what you're trying to achieve?
Start by figuring out your yearly goal for email marketing. Do you want sales? To build customer relationships? To build hype for upcoming launches?
Next, you need to break it down into quarterly goals. For example, if your yearly goal is getting 600 email subscribers, you'll need 50 new subscribers a quarter. (Assuming, of course, you don't already have some subscribers.)
From there, you can break it down further into monthly and weekly goals. Just remember to make them as specific as you can. Not just to get sales but to get 50 sales through emails this month.
What goal you choose depends on your business and what stage you’re at. They could look like:
Build your email list to 1,000 subscribers
Earn $500/month from emails
Get two new gigs a month
Increase your click-through rate to 2%
Sell out your upcoming launch
Step #2: Create a Sending Plan
Now that you know your goal, you can create a plan for sending the emails themselves. It's no different from creating a content plan. You can even make a calendar like you would for your blog.
Your plan should include:
The number of emails you send per week
What kind of emails you'll send
Send time
Any important business dates (such as launches or sales)
You don't have to go the calendar route, but you should have a repeatable system for planning your emails each month. Then, all you have to do is fill it in each month.
I want to discuss one important thing before we continue. Email frequency.
A lot of small business owners struggle with sending frequency. They don’t like how big businesses blast emails at their subscribers, which is valid. However, they often go to the opposite extreme, only sending one email monthly, if that.
If that's you, I know you're doing it because you don't want to annoy your subscribers. But you’re running a business. Your subscribers understand that you're going to send them emails and even sell them things through those emails. That’s what they signed up for.
You don't want to send your subscribers daily emails, but you also don't want them to forget they subscribed to you in the first place. You want to find a healthy balance between the two. It depends on your business, but 1-3 emails a week is ideal.
Step #3: Test and Adjust
With your plan in place, it's time to start sending emails. But with that comes the crucial last step– testing and adjusting.
To achieve your goals, you'll need to do some testing. You may want to earn $1,000 in sales from emails, but do you know the perfect combination of elements to get those sales? Probably not, at least not yet.
That's why you start by testing. Try different send times, subject lines, and email lengths. The list of things you can test in emails is endless, so you need to pick the ones that align best with your goal. For example, if you want to drive sales, you'll probably want to optimize your subject line and CTA.
Don’t test them all at once, though. Pick one element for a month and focus on improving it. Then comes the second, just as important part. Readjusting your strategy.
Testing and adjusting your emails is a science, but it gets results. If you want to learn more about it, read this post from Mailjet.
Your email list is one of your most valuable sales tools. Don't waste it by not creating an email marketing plan.
Are you looking for someone to help you write emails, create campaigns, and design automations for your list? I’d love to chat! Click the button below to get in touch with me today.
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