Email marketing is probably my favourite form of marketing.
There is less noise.
You’re not at the mercy of algorithms.
You have more freedom to connect with your customers.
If like me you’re more of a wordsmith than video or photo then it is in a sense a bit easier too.
What are the benefits of email marketing for business?
An organic post on Facebook gets shown to something like 2-3% of your followers.
An organic post on Instagram gets shown to like 10-15%.
And engagement with them will of course only be a percent of the people who see it.
Email open rates however for good emails gets a typical 20-50% open rate.
As well as that these people have put in more effort to connect with you via email because they gave you their personal data.
It wasn’t just a case of staying on a platform and liking or following you.
They’ve already had to put trust in you.
And if that still isn’t enough, it’s also worth remembering that with email, you own the user data.
If your social media page got shut down overnight and you were relying on it to build your business, you’ll be in trouble because you’d lose your entire audience.
With email, that doesn’t happen.
Within reason as long as you’re doing things the legal way, your email list is secure.
And what is a lead magnet?
In the simplest possible way of explaining it, it’s something you give away for free in return for an email address so you can build your email marketing list.
That’s basically it.
So what makes a good lead magnet?
- One of the best acronyms for your lead magnet is SAGE – Short, Actionable, Goal Orientated, Easy.
- Someone should be able to consume it quickly, definitely in under 10 minutes.
- Whatever you do, don’t call it an e-book.
- Aim it at a pain point.
- In the fitness industry for example a lot of trainers will use a free workout or recipe book as their lead magnet.
- It doesn’t solve a pain point as it doesn’t get to why someone isn’t getting results.
- Something like a checklist to improve sleep quality however DOES hit a specific pain point so would work better.
- Don’t over-think it – you’re not trying to turn someone’s life around, you’re just giving them the first step and showing you know what you’re doing.
- Try to avoid PDFs that are over 5-6 pages long. It probably won’t get read or consumed.
Some easy lead magnet ideas for you to try out
- 5 daily habits to improve your sleep quality
- 3 exercises to loosen tight hamstrings
- 7 mistakes that are hurting your deadlift
- Daily self care checklist
- Case study: How [client] [achieved X% improvement in performance of XYZ goal]
- An email marketing platform might use a free guide to writing better email subject lines.
- A vintage Etsy store might do a checklist on how to create specific looks.
- Someone selling scented candles (for some reason I always seem to jump to scented candles as an ecommerce example but oh well…) might do a guide on getting rid of specific smells.
There’s a BUT though…
2 buts actually.
First of all you might need to try a few different variations to figure out which one is right for you and your business that your customers will want to consume.
And second thing, which is probably more important.
You HAVE TO be emailing your list regularly.
Otherwise it’s not going to be worth.
And don’t just email sales pitches and discount codes or your audience will just expect to be sold to or wait for discounts to buy.
Deliver value and build connections.
It’s called nurturing your list for a reason.
Any questions on email marketing or lead magnets?
You can find me in all the usual places.