This is the 4th part of the series – How can a Creator get started with Email Marketing?

 

A couple of questions –

What is the one thing that most successful storytellers don’t tell you about stories that work?

What is the main ingredient that creates a ‘great’ story and changes people?

While this answer to this question might seem complex or intimidating, in reality, it’s quite simple.

But yes, the answer is also empowering. The answer personally helped me believe that I am capable of weaving together beautiful stories.

The power of storytelling is not just for a select few, it is actually available to all…

I want you to think deeply about this…

While you ponder on this question, let me get continue exploring the topic of “Email Marketing for Creators”. This is perhaps the last episode in this series.

 

A quick summary of what we have spoken so far –

  1. The first episode in this series was all about “starting where you are”. In this episode, I argued that you need to start your email marketing right now. Not tomorrow, but right now. You have all the skills that you need.
  2. In the second episode we explored the right and the wrong reasons to do email marketing. We then touched upon the characteristics of an ideal email list.
  3. In the third episode, we ventured into ‘audience research’. We discussed the need to know your audience and a few tactics that can be used to do the same.

In today’s episode, I want to talk about ‘frequency’.

Your email marketing effort will consist of a few moving parts. All of these parts operate at a different frequency. When these moving parts come together, they create a world-class email experience.

What are these ‘moving parts’?

I will elaborate on them in just a bit.

Firstly, let us note this part of Email Marketing is more art than science. 

Each Creator is different. His reasons behind building a brand are different… and so are his expectations of Email marketing.

The answer is far from black and white. You decide your own Email Marketing mix.

Okay, so here are the moving parts that I referred to – 

  1. The lead magnet
  2. The automated email series
  3. Weekly frequency of emails
  4. One-off broadcast

Can there be more than these?

Perhaps.

But these suffice.

 

The lead magnet

The lead magnet’s function is to capture the email id of the visitor. The lead magnet consists of a valuable content piece (such as a video, an e-book, a free course, etc.) that the user can get access to, only when he submits his name and email id.

As you can see, the lead magnet’s job is simple – Attracting new people in your ‘sphere of influence’

How often should you create these lead magnets?

I don’t know. That’s the unsexy answer.

It totally depends. 

One lead magnet might work for you for months and months. The other lead magnet might not work at all and you might need to retire it. What you can do is simply set a bare minimum frequency and then experiments.

One or two lead magnets per month, is a good frequency. 

 

The automated email sequence

A lead magnet will always have an automated email sequence behind it. Whenever someone subscribes to the lead magnet, he will start getting this automated email sequence at a certain frequency. The number of emails in this sequence can be as low as 3, and as high as 10. No need to get caught in the ideal number though – your email series is an extension of your lead magnet. In your lead magnet you make a promise – just make sure that you fulfill this promise through your automated email sequence.

 

The weekly emailer

Although I used the word ‘weekly’, the truth is that different brands adopt a different frequency for this type of communication.

Think of this communication, as your touch-point with the subscriber. On most occasions you are not trying to sell anything or get them to do anything specific. What you are simply doing is dropping in your subscriber’s inbox, saying hi to them, and providing them value. That’s it.

Yes, in some cases you can also share a few updates from your end. On a broader level, think of this communication as a strategy to remain in your subscriber’s mind.

Tim Ferriss’s 5 bullet Friday email is an excellent example of this.

 

The one-off broadcast

The one-off broadcast is an email that is usually sent to your entire email list. This is not a planned blast; it is something that the situation needs. For example, if you want to tell your list about a new course that you are coming up with, you might use this broadcast. Also, in many cases, the one-off broadcasts are used by brands that don’t maintain consistent email communication. Try to avoid the over-usage of this type of broadcast. 

 

Okay, before we sign off, we still have not addressed the question about storytelling.

What separates good storytellers from the bad ones?

How can you tell stories that work? What is the foundational piece here?

Ready?

Telling enough bad stories.

That’s it. That’s the key.

We are attached to perfection. We want our first story to work. We want our first story to go ‘viral’.

But smart storytellers don’t think this way.

Smart storytellers are humble enough to know that they don’t know enough. They know they can’t predict the future. They don’t wait till the perfect story pops up in their head.

What they can do is just try. And so they do.

They start telling bad stories.

Some work. Most of them don’t. But each story makes the storyteller wiser. 

This is the thing. This right here is the magic formula.

Tell enough bad stories. Through whatever channel you feel. That is how you become a kickass storyteller, son.

Keep this in mind and then decide the frequency of all the content pieces that we spoke about right now. Create a large amount of content. Hubspot did that. So did Seth Godin. So did Gary Vaynerchuck.

Create a lot of lead magnets. Write a lot of emails. Each step will make you wiser.

Intro music credits: Dan O songs.

This is the 4th part of the series – How can a Creator get started with Email Marketing?

 

A couple of questions –

What is the one thing that most successful storytellers don’t tell you about stories that work?

What is the main ingredient that creates a ‘great’ story and changes people?

While this answer to this question might seem complex or intimidating, in reality, it’s quite simple.

But yes, the answer is also empowering. The answer personally helped me believe that I am capable of weaving together beautiful stories.

The power of storytelling is not just for a select few, it is actually available to all…

I want you to think deeply about this…

While you ponder on this question, let me get continue exploring the topic of “Email Marketing for Creators”. This is perhaps the last episode in this series.

 

A quick summary of what we have spoken so far –

  1. The first episode in this series was all about “starting where you are”. In this episode, I argued that you need to start your email marketing right now. Not tomorrow, but right now. You have all the skills that you need.
  2. In the second episode we explored the right and the wrong reasons to do email marketing. We then touched upon the characteristics of an ideal email list.
  3. In the third episode, we ventured into ‘audience research’. We discussed the need to know your audience and a few tactics that can be used to do the same.

In today’s episode, I want to talk about ‘frequency’.

Your email marketing effort will consist of a few moving parts. All of these parts operate at a different frequency. When these moving parts come together, they create a world-class email experience.

What are these ‘moving parts’?

I will elaborate on them in just a bit.

Firstly, let us note this part of Email Marketing is more art than science. 

Each Creator is different. His reasons behind building a brand are different… and so are his expectations of Email marketing.

The answer is far from black and white. You decide your own Email Marketing mix.

Okay, so here are the moving parts that I referred to – 

  1. The lead magnet
  2. The automated email series
  3. Weekly frequency of emails
  4. One-off broadcast

Can there be more than these?

Perhaps.

But these suffice.

 

The lead magnet

The lead magnet’s function is to capture the email id of the visitor. The lead magnet consists of a valuable content piece (such as a video, an e-book, a free course, etc.) that the user can get access to, only when he submits his name and email id.

As you can see, the lead magnet’s job is simple – Attracting new people in your ‘sphere of influence’

How often should you create these lead magnets?

I don’t know. That’s the unsexy answer.

It totally depends. 

One lead magnet might work for you for months and months. The other lead magnet might not work at all and you might need to retire it. What you can do is simply set a bare minimum frequency and then experiments.

One or two lead magnets per month, is a good frequency. 

 

The automated email sequence

A lead magnet will always have an automated email sequence behind it. Whenever someone subscribes to the lead magnet, he will start getting this automated email sequence at a certain frequency. The number of emails in this sequence can be as low as 3, and as high as 10. No need to get caught in the ideal number though – your email series is an extension of your lead magnet. In your lead magnet you make a promise – just make sure that you fulfill this promise through your automated email sequence.

 

The weekly emailer

Although I used the word ‘weekly’, the truth is that different brands adopt a different frequency for this type of communication.

Think of this communication, as your touch-point with the subscriber. On most occasions you are not trying to sell anything or get them to do anything specific. What you are simply doing is dropping in your subscriber’s inbox, saying hi to them, and providing them value. That’s it.

Yes, in some cases you can also share a few updates from your end. On a broader level, think of this communication as a strategy to remain in your subscriber’s mind.

Tim Ferriss’s 5 bullet Friday email is an excellent example of this.

 

The one-off broadcast

The one-off broadcast is an email that is usually sent to your entire email list. This is not a planned blast; it is something that the situation needs. For example, if you want to tell your list about a new course that you are coming up with, you might use this broadcast. Also, in many cases, the one-off broadcasts are used by brands that don’t maintain consistent email communication. Try to avoid the over-usage of this type of broadcast. 

 

Okay, before we sign off, we still have not addressed the question about storytelling.

What separates good storytellers from the bad ones?

How can you tell stories that work? What is the foundational piece here?

Ready?

Telling enough bad stories.

That’s it. That’s the key.

We are attached to perfection. We want our first story to work. We want our first story to go ‘viral’.

But smart storytellers don’t think this way.

Smart storytellers are humble enough to know that they don’t know enough. They know they can’t predict the future. They don’t wait till the perfect story pops up in their head.

What they can do is just try. And so they do.

They start telling bad stories.

Some work. Most of them don’t. But each story makes the storyteller wiser. 

This is the thing. This right here is the magic formula.

Tell enough bad stories. Through whatever channel you feel. That is how you become a kickass storyteller, son.

Keep this in mind and then decide the frequency of all the content pieces that we spoke about right now. Create a large amount of content. Hubspot did that. So did Seth Godin. So did Gary Vaynerchuck.

Create a lot of lead magnets. Write a lot of emails. Each step will make you wiser.

Intro music credits: Dan O songs.