Email: 1, Social Media: 0. Why email is still the best marketing tool for entrepreneurs
Social media can be a fun and effective way to reach your audience - unless you’re me and you find it to be more of a burden than “fun” 😬 A story for another day…
There’s actually a better way to connect with the people in your community though, and you need to be doing it like, yesterday.
You NEED your own email list.
If just the thought of that freaks you out a little, I totally understand. It freaked me out when I first started too.
But I pinky-promise you, it’s not as difficult, scary, stressful, or any other negative feeling, as you might expect. PINKY-PROMISE!
Plus, think about this - email gives you a direct channel of communication with people who actually want to hear from you. How exciting is THAT?!
Before I really dig into why I love email so much, why you should be using it, and why it’s 10000% better than social media (not a true stat, don’t quote me on that)...
I want to talk numbers. Booooring? NO! Interesting? Absolutely.
Scouring the internet for hours looking for stats is actually boring though, so I found some great articles from HubSpot, as well as a few other random articles (and a podcast episode months ago that I can’t remember what it was) that I pulled these from.
The numbers don’t lie
First, let’s talk about reach. I know we all like to blame the horrid algorithm on platforms like Instagram for destroying this, especially for creatives. And actually, I’ve experienced this firsthand. I built up an account for my art years ago (before reels were a thing) and so many people saw my posts. Now? Not so much.
The deal is, putting a lot of energy into just increasing your reach on IG isn’t necessarily the best thing to focus on. Only about 12% of your IG followers will actually see your posts anyway. And your stories? It’s more like 2%. Not great odds for when you’re trying to share important info, right?
Email, on the other hand, has a deliverability rate of over 85%. Ah, that looks waaaaay better. Other than the few emails that bounce from time to time, and the random one that ends up in the spam folder, people are getting your content delivered directly to a place they look multiple times a day, and they WANT to see you pop up there.
And because I love seeing stats that have my back and confirm my love for email, here are a handful of really exciting ones. Why exciting? Because brands are understanding that email is STILL the best way to get their message out to their ideal audience. And if you’re in people’s inboxes with good GREAT emails, then you’re at a huge advantage for ultimately converting them.
-99% of email users check their inbox every day, with some checking 20 times a day. (OptinMonster, 2020) 84.3% of consumers say they check their emails at least once a day. (Pathwire, 2021)
-Compare that with around 20% of IG users that check their account daily (my math skills lol - 2.3B users, 500MM active daily many sources say)
-For every dollar invested in email, you get an average of $42 back
-77% of marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months. (Not Another State of Marketing, 2021)
-50% of people buy from marketing emails at least once per month. (Salecycle, 2022)
-59% of respondents say that marketing emails have influenced their purchases. (Salecycle, 2022)
-64% of small businesses use email marketing to reach customers. (Campaign Monitor, 2021)
-37% of brands are increasing their email budget, and just 1.3% are making cuts. (Litmus, 2021)
So what IS social media good for anyway?
I promise, this isn’t just a big ol’ social media bashing sesh. And while I’m personally struggling to heal my relationship with platforms like IG (more hate than love in this love-hate thing we’ve got going on), I do acknowledge that having a presence on social media CAN and DOES help entrepreneurs and their biz.
Also, I keep talking about “social media,” but really, a lot of this is heavy on the IG. So just keep that in mind 😉
It allows you to hone in on your target audience by attracting people to you through your content. As long as your message is clear and aligned with your goals, you’ll be gathering up a group of followers that are interested in what you do and want to learn more (or just stalk you for a while).
It’s a great place to “show up” and give people a peek into the knowledge you have around your area(s) of expertise and how you’re able to help others where they’re struggling.
You can create another touchpoint for people to learn more about you, what you do, who you serve, etc. People aren’t going to buy from someone they just met and often like to scope them out for a while. They’ll be checking your website, the content you create, and your social media accounts to try and get a feel for you.
Your account is also the perfect place to start building trust - show some general behind the scenes of your biz/life, highlight testimonials/reviews, share bits of your processes, give little snippets of useful info that’ll help people, etc.
It creates an opportunity to engage with people in your community and turn them into warm leads. By creating posts that encourage responses, you’re able to talk firsthand with people that are interested in you. By directing people to your DMs, you’re also able to personally address their questions or concerns, or lead them to where they can learn more (often a freebie that they’ll be giving you their email address for 😉), which leads to…
It’s the perfect place to build up your email list. By creating messaging in your posts and stories that stir up some curiosity, touch on a struggle or a pain point, or offer help in an area you know your target audience needs a little help in, you can guide people to a place in which you can help them. Freebies, webinars, workshops, guides, quizzes… you name it. You get their email, they get more help, and boom, the deep nurturing begins!
Why social media isn’t so great
While there are some great aspects to social media, there are a lot of frustrations that people face too. It’s sad too, because many of the people who “show up” on social media continue to do so because they feel like they HAVE to 😑
It can often feel like a show or a performance that people put on just to get likes/followers/attention. Like, 10 years ago did we ever think biz owners would be dancing and pointing into the air, just to edit it out later with little bits of text? WHY is this even a thing?!
Honestly there are many parts of social media that aren’t so SOCIAL anymore and just feel fake.
Trends are always changing and it can be stressful to try and remain “relevant.” You end you wasting a lot of time trying to fit your content into a theme or an idea just because other people have deemed it to be popular or the new “in” thing.
You’re constantly trying to target a cold audience, the HARDEST audience to convert. Think about this. There’s SO much emphasis on reach. Reach, reach, reach. What is reach good for? Getting your content in front of people who didn’t know about you in the first place. THOSE people are going to need to see a LOT of you before they’ll trust you enough to convert, if they ever do.
The people that are already following you and have been sticking around? They’re a bit warmer. They already know they like you and they want to learn more from you. By focusing on reach instead of nurturing your warm audiences, you’re literally ignoring people more likely to invest in themselves with you.
Oh email, how I love you so (because you da best!)
And now the moment you’ve been waiting for! Oh me, maybe just me, heh.
I want to dig into the WHY with email, because really, there is so much damn potential here.
Potential to create deep, meaningful connections with your audience.
Potential to give them exactly what they need, exactly when they need it.
Potential to share your stories and grow your biz! YES!
Personally, my email list is one of my favorite things. It’s like I get to write a little note to my friends each week that’s educational, entertaining, AND it’s literally an example for what I help do (which is story-driven emails, of course 😉).
Emails allow you to deliver personalized content straight to the people who need it most. You get to call them by name, speak directly to their struggles, wishes, desires, etc., offer solutions they NEED, you name it. And alsoooo….
You can (and should) segment your list which offers an even deeper level of personalization. This is especially useful if you’re running promos not everyone might be ready for, if you’ve got a couple target audiences and the content doesn’t always overlap, you build your email list through freebies that relate to different topics you touch on and want to keep track of who’s interested in what… I could go on. Doing this means you get to send people emails that touch on exactly what they came to you for in the first place.
Emails are not reliant on an algorithm! You don’t have to worry that all the blood, sweat, and tears you pour into your work will go unnoticed. Original content, exclusive email subscriber goodies, offers, affiliate links… whatever you’re ready to push out, you have your community right at your fingertips. And when you send that email, you can be damn sure they’re actually going to see it.
You OWN your list of email subscribers, not your social media followers. Think about it. When someone signs up for your emails, they’re explicitly giving you permission to send them stuff. Your social media followers, on the other hand, aren’t yours. If something happens to the platform tomorrow, they’re all gone. So many people have said things like, “don’t build your business on rented land.” and it’s for good reason. And while social media can crash, kick you out, destroy your hopes with their algorithm, etc., you can rest easy knowing you’ve got your community built through your email list. Phew!
Your email list is full of warm leads (or hot!), which is so important. Like I mentioned before, if you’re only focused on growth through reach on social media, you’re literally spending (wasting?) all your effort on gathering up cold leads. Your email list though? Well, assuming your messaging around what you do and who you serve is clear… It’s full of people who have already decided they like you, think that what you do resonates with them, and are starting to trust you. They WANT to be there. And these people will be more likely to convert in the future.
You get to have more intimate conversations in your emails. It’s like you’re creating an exclusive club and all your subscribers get to be in it! This is the place where you can share deeper stories about yourself, have real conversations with people who feel connected to you, and build a stronger sense of know, like, and trust by being more vulnerable than you may feel comfortable with doing in “public” like on social media.
Plus, it’s just fun (to me at least)! You get a special moment each week to dedicate to your email. You get to sit down, spill your thoughts, share your newest offer, and let people in on things you don’t tell just ANYone.
You get to share (and sell) through stories that help others and create connection, instead of making you feel like a grimey asshole marketer.
And pssst, if you’re still looking for some help with the whole story-email thing, I got you → Grab this freebie 😍)
So basically, email is like an honest moment between you and a friend that allows you to feel a little more relatable and maybe even a little more human. And people really crave that these days.
Now tell me, what are your thoughts on building up an email list? Do you have one? Are you terrified at the thought of it? Let’s start a convo in the comments 😊
