Marketing is not one-size-fits-all. The reality for entrepreneurs is that we all have different personalities and are better suited for varying combinations of marketing channels. You may love the thrill of TikTok or prefer the slow, reliable build of SEO. Many people skip right over email marketing for small business because they’re not sure how to approach it. We discuss the reasons we love email marketing and why you might consider adding this valuable channel to your marketing strategy.

Why Do Email Marketing for Small Business

There are so many reasons to try email marketing for small business. One of the biggest is that it’s a place to build trust, intimacy, and loyalty with your audience. There’s only so much nuance and humanity you can express in short-form video. Emails allow you more space to fully realize your brand’s identity. It can feel like a breath of fresh air for entrepreneurs feeling social media burn out.

With regular emails, whether they’re weekly or monthly, your audience gets to feel like they know you. Since 59% of people prefer to buy from brands they’re familiar with, building trust is a big deal. One can only imagine that percentage goes up for people hiring service providers for high stakes events like weddings.

From a sales perspective, email marketing for small business keeps your audience warm. That can be critical for entrepreneurs who do seasonal work or go through launch cycles a few times a year. People who open all of your emails are already more invested in your pitch than strangers on Instagram.

4 Ways to Build Your Email List

Ok, maybe you’re sold on email marketing for small business. But how do you build your email list in the first place? Here are four ways you can collect email addresses:

• Email marketing integration on your website: Add a field for people to join your list in your footer. You can put it on as many pages as you want. We incorporated ours onto our Shop page, framing our weekly email as a free resource. (That’s not an exaggeration either.)
• Social media CTAs: Hop on Instagram and Pinterest, and invite people to join your email list. Take advantage of the links feature on Instagram stories to make it as simple as possible to opt in.
• Blog CTAs: Not every blog post has to direct people to your inquiry form. Invite people to keep learning from you via your emails.
• Opt in at onboarding: Onboarding questionnaires are an easy spot to let people opt in just by checking a box. Just because someone hires you once doesn’t mean they won’t want to do it again – or be reminded to recommend you to someone else. 

All of these ways to build an email list minimize direct asks through automation. Even your social media CTA can be solely text. This makes it easier for some people who struggle with asking for things.

What to Do with Your Email List

Now you have your email list. So what do you do with it? All of your emails are content marketing on some level, but you can generally put email marketing for small business into two buckets.

1 Connecting with your audience.

Your audience wants to get to know you. That’s why they gave you their fiercely-guarded email addresses. Take time to share things you enjoy with them. Just be mindful that it’s on-brand. It would be weird, for example, if we sent our email list our favorite recipe for patatas bravas. You could even do a round up. Everyone loves those because they’re easy to skim and react to.

If you’re a service provider or creative entrepreneur, odds are you pursue education or experiment with your craft from time to time. Tell your audience about it! Are you a photographer who is exploring film photography for the first time? The folks on your email list will love to take that journey with you.

2 Promoting your products and services.

With your email list feeling so warm and connected, don’t be afraid to explicitly promote your products and services. You can use this space to highlight new collections or tell the story behind developing your packages. At Brandcendent, we like to celebrate launches with deals just for people on our email list. It

Ideally, your emails will build community while selling your services, but you really don’t have to do both all of the time. You might wear your audience out if you do. Remember that your emails are a space where you can take a deep breath and embrace a little more nuance than in your other marketing channels.  

Did this introduction to email marketing for small business help you? In Brandcendent’s newsletter, we share human-centered business strategy straight to your inbox. Join our mailing list!