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Lesson Info

Priority #1: Email List

we're gonna talk about our very first priority, which is your email list. I don't care what you're doing or who you are or what you sell or who you're selling it to. You have to have an email list. This is non negotiable. So remember, we're talking about this idea that what really drives your business forward is simply your craft and your audience, right? Something to sell somebody to sell it to. And the best way to connect your craft to your audience is through email, even though everyone always gonna be like emails, dead emails, dead emails, dead. It is super important. Part of the reason that is so important is because people have to give you permission, right? They have to say, I want to be on your email list. That means that they are inviting you into their inbox, and that makes them the most valuable customers you have. And it's also really important because, as we know, every social media platform on the planet likes to tinker with how things show up right. But your email list r...

eally is the most powerful tool you have for connecting with your audience, and it's essential No matter what your audience. What audience growth strategy, your using. So whether you're using social media, whether you're using search or whether you're selling to stores, you have to have an email list. So your email list is how you nurture relationships with audience members who aren't ready to buy yet who sells products where the bulk of your products are, say, over $100. Caitlyn's like me now, Um, right. So for most people, not an impulse buy right, they have to think about it. When they're on your email list, you can nurture and help them think about it. Of course, even if your products are less expensive, sometimes people's aren't ready to buy right away, right? We're in a nurture. That relationship. Your email list is also how you turn one time customers into repeat customers. So this is especially true if people are finding you say, through search or through press. They're coming your site. They've bought a thing, and now they are not on your email list. They've moved on with their life, but it's so much easier to sell to someone who has already bought from you. Your email list is also the one collection of your audience members that you actually own. You do not own your social media followers. If Facebook, who now owns Instagram, decided tomorrow that instagram was a horrible use of their time and money, they could just turn it off. I'm sure there's a master switch, right? Cancel Instagram. They could. They really could. Facebook could block you where they could all do crazy things, right? I'm gonna switch to some algorithm where your audience sees your post once every 12 weeks. You don't know they could do that. They could decide it's fun. You don't own those followers Your email list, you dio Because even though you're gonna use an email service provider, I could go into male chimp. And every morning I can download all those emails. So that means if male chimp is like, Hey, guys, piece outward on, I can take my whole list and I could go to a Weber or I can go to convert Kit, or I can go wherever right you own that list of customers. It is the only one you own, which makes it significantly more valuable. So for those of you who are in the very very, very beginning stages. Your first priority should be your email list and those of you who are further along and do not have an email list. Your first priority is getting one set up. But I want to simplify the process of starting your email list because I think that one of the reasons that people don't do it is there. You have this analysis paralysis decision making. I don't know, right? I mean, I just need, like, four email providers. And then you're going Well, which one should I pick? I'm gonna tell you guys what to do for a minute. Okay? I'm gonna ask that you trust me, and I'm gonna save you some headache. I'm going to save you some decision making of I must pick something. OK, so here's where you're gonna dio, you're gonna get a male chimp. You're going to do this because it's free under a certain number of subscribers. And while there are other services that are really better for info marketers, male champ is great for product people. They have amazing Shopify integration. So if you're using Shopify or thinking about using Shopify for your store, it's perfect because they integrate seamlessly and again did I mention it's free? It's like free under certain number of subscribers, it's friendly. It's easy to use. There's a happy little monkey that shows up. Just do it if you don't. If you hate it, you can always download your list and go somewhere else later. Not a big deal. Just do it. All right then, what you're gonna dio after that is you're gonna start where you are. So you're gonna email your friends and family and ask them if they'd like to join your new list. You're not gonna just put them on your list because that's illegal. Okay, Basically, the moral of the story is you cannot put people on your list. They have to say they want it. So you're gonna go to mail chimp, you gonna set up that list and then you're just going to email your friends and family, You say, Hey, guys, in case you don't know I have this business, they might not know, right? I have this business. I set up an email list. If you're interested in finding out please sign up. Here is the link, right? My only get you a couple people, but guess what? Hey, that's a couple people on your email list. Then you're gonna go to your personal Facebook page. Did you have a business one urine. Ignore it for right now, the one that you actually used to interact with friends, family and those people. You went to high school with that? You don't really talk, Teoh. But suddenly, when they realize you're running a business, they might think you're kind of cool, right? Even though they were poor than you in high school, not talking from experience or anything here. Okay, so you're gonna go to your personal Facebook page and you're going to say, Hey, guys, I just set up an email list for my business. If you already have an email list, you'll be like, Hey, did you know that I have an email us for my business? You're gonna sign up, please. And then if you don't have a website, you're gonna add a link to sign up in your social media profile. A little place where you get to put a link, put the sign up, and then put a little text that says, please join me email list. OK, if you have a website and your social media profile links to that. You're gonna put a really obvious email sign up on your website. Literally something pretty substantial. And we could talk about how to do that. They don't have specific questions, but literally, You're going to do this. This is where you're gonna start. And it may. You may have three people on. After this happens, you may have 20 people on. Maybe you're super popular. And Facebook and Apple like 100 people on your list. Whatever it is. Awesome. Now you've got a list. Yea. So now let's answer the second part of this. I started my list. What am I supposed to do with it? So I'm gonna make you guys make a little commitment right now. So we're guard lis of the size of your list. You should email them every week or two. Ideally, you should email them once a week, but I know that feels scary for some of you. So we're gonna baby step in with every other week, Okay? But right now I want you to pick a day of the week. Guess what? It doesn't matter. I mean, in the grand scheme of things that might matter a little, but it doesn't matter enough to obsess over it. So pick a day of the week. Right now, I would skip Monday People's inboxes air really full on Monday mornings, right? So I would skip Monday. But any other day of the week, Cool and commit to it. Right now, each email should contain one idea and one called action. And that is it. Denise. What idea? Like one called accident and you asked the question. That is it. There's a really famous statement from someone that I can't remember now, which is that a confused mind always says no. So if your email is like, Hey, guess what? This is a new thing. And also, let me tell you about this funny thing that my kids did on also two weeks from now releasing new product and oh yeah, Then there's this other thing. Then you're like, Why did no one click over and by the thing that I told them about, because by the time they got to the end of the email, they forgot what the other thing waas. So one idea, one called action. The call to action supports the idea. Right? So the idea is not Hey, let me tell you about a new necklace and then the call to action is like Please go shop it at a store if it's not at a store or something like that, right? The called action is related to the idea, but this is how always be releasing works, right? We can always be releasing by always sending out to our list. So I'm gonna give you guys. I think there's four topics that you consent to your list and you could just keep recycling these over and over and over again. So the 1st 1 is, Here's something new I want to share. You might do something like Here's a round up of products you might be interested in. So again, it was literally a paragraph, a picture, a paragraph called action. So if you're not sure and you don't have anything new, just remind people of something that exists. This is really important as your product line gets bigger, right? As you add new things, people are gonna forget about the old ones. But this is one of my best selling necklaces, so why not highlight it you could always send something out again. Here's something you might want to know about what I make. So we assume that, like our customers paying so much attention that they know everything they're not, they don't. So another example is, here's where you can buy my work and I get these examples here. These are separate emails. So it might be I have an upcoming craft show. I think I did that with this one. Like, Hey, if you're gonna be in D. C this weekend, I'm gonna be in D. C. Come shot me a crafty bastards. Um, but it might also be I sell wholesale, but I also have this list of customers. Hey, guys, I just sent off a new box of work to this store. Here it is. And this is the beauty of male chimp. You can actually select people by location, and this is a great way to use your list if you're not actively selling online. So if you don't have a website or you're not good at updating your website because you're doing a lot of craft shows, you're mostly sending two stores. This is a perfect way to use your list. It went to the store. Hey, guys, to check this out or visit me at this craft show, it's a really good way to use it. Oh, and there is 1/5 way. You could also say I'm having a sale, but this is not your default. Let's give you four other things that you can dio that will make up the bulk of your emails. But occasionally you might have a sale. There's a lot of reasons to have a sale, you know, little cash flow. You've got some excess inventory. It's your birthday, whatever it ISS right. And so then it's really simple. Hey, guys, here's the code having a sale. Now there is one more type of email that we didn't really talk about, which is that you can actually tease out some of these things. So if you're planning on launching something new next Thursday and this Thursday, you don't know what to send. Hey, guys. Next Thursday at 11 a.m. I'm dropping something new. You're gonna get an email to remind you, but I just thought you might want a heads up. People appreciate that, especially if you're price points air higher because he will want to plan their spending. The key with all of this is simple and consistent. One idea one called action. Do it often. Now. I'm gonna warn you, people are going to unsubscribe. It's just gonna happen. It does not mean that you are not awesome. Does not mean that you are failing at business. It's just that people get a lot of email and sometimes they're going to get an email and remember like, Okay, I'm not really into this thing anymore, and that's fine. They're gonna unsubscribe If you haven't emailed your list in a while that first email back, you're going to get a lot of on subscribes. It's just the nature of the game. It's fine. It's okay. They're not your customer moving on. But I want to forewarn you so you don't freak out. All right,