Three Steps to Building Your Email List

Sasha: 0:00

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Kendra: 3:37

Thank you so much for having me. I'm so excited to be here.

Sasha: 3:40

I'm so excited to talk about email marketing, because I feel like it's such an overlooked aspect of people's businesses and yet something that people struggle with.

Kendra: 3:50

Yes, absolutely. Yes. bringing awareness to email marketing. I love it.

Sasha: 3:56

Yeah. So why don't you just start off by telling us a little bit more about your Girl Means Business brand and why you made the switch from doing photography into that.

Kendra: 4:06

Yeah, I love, still love photography. It is something that I've always been really like passionate about. It's my it's my creative outlet. And I once I left my teaching job, I had all of these other women who were photographers, and even like my hairstylist, anybody I was talking to that was like, tell me what you did, because I want to do this full time or I want to do this more as like a business, not just a hobby. And so I started offering you know, coaching sessions and little workshops locally where I live and a couple like even virtually before that was even a thing and was like I really like doing this because I was missing.. You know, I spent 13 years in the classroom like I miss teaching people how to do things I miss like helping people in that way. And so starting the Girl Means Business brand allowed me to take what I have I learned and all those trial and error through my photography, business and like put it into sort of an educational type thing. And I was like, oh, now I get to combine all the things I really love, which is business and education, with my teaching skills and like really help women. Because a lot of times women start businesses because they love, like, what they do, whether it's the creative aspect of our product, they're really passionate about the business usually come second. And for me, that's the really fun part. So I help other women think it's fun too hopefully.

Sasha: 5:33

Also because you're a teacher. So you're probably really good at explaining things in a way that's helpful. I've always wanted to be a teacher, and never, my career path never took me down that way. But that it probably makes it so much easier for you to kind of be able to explain and help women in a way because you have that background.

Kendra: 5:54

Yeah, it's interesting you say that, because it took me a while to kind of accept that that was my gift. I was always looking for, you know, it's hard for us to see what is that saying... it's like you can't read the label from inside the jar. Like, it's hard for me to see like what my gifts are. I was like, well, I just know that like I can simplify things. I'm good at simplifying things. And it took people kind of pointing out like no, like, you're really good at like breaking things down into a very easy to digest system. Yeah. And I mean, I taught second and third graders for the majority of my teaching career and like, you have to be able to simplify things and make it on their level. I'm not saying that, you know, the adults I'm working with are like, I'm not, I'm not doing like the second grade tricks with them. But it's the same concept, being able to take like something that's very abstract and bills difficult and make it feel easy and attainable.

Sasha: 6:46

So hopefully I can make, you know, marketing seem easy and attainable. So one of the first things that I want to kind of go over, because I actually did an episode that talked about these two very things. Do you think that email marketing is better or more important than social media? I have my own opinion, but I'll let you answer first.

Unknown: 7:12

So that's that is the loaded question. Okay. So I'll give. So I have a lot, I love social media, I let me preface this by saying I love social media, I think that we are very fortunate to live in a time when we have this free platform that can reach people globally. Social media is very frustrating.

Sasha: 7:38

Every time Instagram changes, something, I get so annoyed, it's like I can't get anyone to see my post. I can't, I can't Yeah, it's just so frustrating.

Unknown: 7:48

It really, really is. So the way that helped me sort of be able to use social media and do email marketing and not feel like one, I guess you could say one was better than the other, they work in tandem, in my opinion. So the way I like to describe it is social media is like the cocktail party. So that's where everybody gets dressed up, they're showing off their best selves, you're having small talk, you're going into a cocktail party with the idea of I'm gonna meet people, I'm gonna kind of maybe network a little bit, I'm gonna have some, like, you know, a little cocktail, and I'm gonna have a, you know, a quick conversation and move on to the next person. It's not somewhere where you go, and you expect to have like a deep meaningful conversation with somebody. So the cocktail party, that is social media is where you meet the people, and you kind of get them into your network. And then you funnel them into your email list. And your email list is like the coffee date where you get to go and sit in a quiet environment. Yeah, it's cozy. It's more intimate. It's deeper conversation. And to me, you, you, you need both you need the cocktail party that is social media, where it's just kind of busy and bustling, and everybody looks so shiny and pretty. But then you need to bring them over into that coffee conversation where you can, you know, have a cup of coffee in your sweatpants and have a real honest conversation. And that's where you make the sale. So for me, you need both. So one isn't better than the other? But for me, everything ultimately is leading to my email list.

Sasha: 9:18

Yeah, I I do think that I think it's more of you need social media. Yes. Because that's how people can get to see you. You can be fun, have fun on social media. But we don't own social media. We have no control over social media at all about we just can't control it. And so the email list your email list is yours. You are free to do with your email list. What you want with it, you can talk directly to your people and these are people who have decided they want to hear from you. They like what you're talking about. And so I think that makes that makes so much sense to I like the coffee shop analogy. Yeah, that's cute. So

Unknown: 10:02

Well and it's like when you go on social media, it's like you're walking on the street with a megaphone, just like shouting at people. You know, like, people know that when you post something on social media, it is for the masses, it is meant to reach a large number of people. Whereas when you send an email and it lands in someone's inbox, it feels more like it was sent directly to them. It's more, like I said, more intimate, more personalized. And so to me, that makes a really big difference. Because, again, it's not like you're shouting at everybody. It's like, you've pulled one person aside, you're like, hey, let's have a talk. And you're more likely to take that person and turn them into a client than you are the person that you're just shouting at with a megaphone on the street.

Sasha: 10:44

That's very much with social media feels like

Kendra: 10:49

it really does,

Sasha: 10:51

Yelling into a void somewhere and hoping someone hears us.

Unknown: 10:56

I feel like that guy on the street with the signs is like, the end is coming. And I'm like, Just someone listen to me. You know.

Sasha: 11:03

I like that analogy, too. It's so accurate. Social media can be it's a wild place sometimes. So if, if people don't have an email list, though, and I think this is where a lot of people get stuck, you know, how do I get people to sign up for my email list? What do I do with my email list? So if you had to give suggestions on what steps you should take when you are trying to build an email marketing system, what, what does that look like?

Unknown: 11:28

So I always say that there's three steps. So the first one is you have to build it. So you have to build it so they can come. So you have to have like an email marketing platform, you can't just use your Gmail account. So that's the first question you'll have to ask me was, can I just take a spreadsheet of all of my like, clients or whatever? And no, you have to have a platform? I personally use Flodesk. I've used Yeah, okay, good. That's a great one. I've used ConvertKit, I've used MailChimp, I've used several of them. But Flodesk is because my favorite. So that's the build phase, you have to kind of get it into a place where you can have people coming in. So you're collecting those emails, it's all legal, they have the unsubscribe, feature, all those things. And then you have to create a, you know, build an opt in form for them. So this is the most basic level. And you do this on side of the email platform as you build a form basically what you see where people are like, put in your name, put in your email, and that's what gets them into email list. The problem I see a lot people doing is they will put up and I see, honestly, a lot of photographers do this, because they just don't have the energy to do anything else at the time. They're like, I'm gonna throw something up on my website that says join my newsletter. And people are gonna join my newsletter. Exactly. It is 2022, almost 2023. Nobody wants to join your newsletter. And I know that sounds mean, you may have the greatest newsletter in the world. But there's nothing in it for them. And unfortunately, we live in a world where like, people want something like what's in it for me?

Sasha: 13:01

Yep.

Kendra: 13:01

So the second part of build phase is to create a lead magnet. So this is something you're offering for free, that get people on the list. We've all done this, when you go shopping on a website and the box pops up, enter your information for free shipping or 10% off. We've all done that.

Sasha: 13:17

Yes.

Kendra: 13:18

So getting a lead magnet, I could go down a whole rabbit hole on lead magnets, but basically it needs to be something that provides value is something you know your audience wants, and can help them get a quick win.

Sasha: 13:31

Yeah

Kendra: 13:32

And to help them do something that gets them on their list, then you have the growth phase. So you've built it now you gotta make them come. So the growth phase is getting people to to opt into your lead magnet. So that's marketing, it's putting out on social media, it's talking about it, but in a way that feels authentic. Like don't just go and like sprayed all over the internet. So it's doing things like hey, like if someone is in a Facebook group, and they're like, your lead magnet is, I don't know, 12 ways to grow an email list. Okay, that's so you're in a very meta, you're in a Facebook group and someone's like, Guys, I'm having trouble getting people onto my email list. What do I do? You can pop it and say, Hey, I got this really cool free guide I created cuz I know something people struggle with. If you want the link to you're not selling them anything. That's the beauty of a lead magnet is people love free they're not being sold to. They're like yeah, I want that free guide that you have and now you got someone on your email list. Or if you wanna get really mad at coming on a podcast like this talking about email marketing, I have a free lead magnet all about email marketing. So it's it's doing it in a way that you're you're not selling to your audience. The build phase, I mean, yeah, the growth phase sorry, build grow. So grow is getting people onto your list. And then the third phase is connecting so once they're on your list, you want them to feel like they are your VIPs. Because you want them to feel like they're, they're staying connected with you. The worst thing you can do, in my opinion, is have someone opt in to your email list, and they don't hear from you for six months, because you've just kind of pushed it off to the side, you haven't done anything. So I love automation. So setting up an automated, like welcome series where it's four or five emails that they automatically get when they sign up, not, you know, four in one day, but for over the course of like a couple of weeks. And that makes them feel like you want them to be there, they get excited, they learn more about you and what you offer and what to expect. And now it's like, okay, this is someone who you're staying front of mind, you're building connection, and then staying consistent with putting out consistent emails, whether that is one a month, one a week, whatever works for you, but sharing content consistently. So it's you have to build it, then you have to grow it, and then you have to stay connected with it.

Sasha: 15:58

I like that. I have a I call it it's my welcome nurture sequence is what I call an on flow desk. And it's exactly what you said, it's if they opt in with, I have, I think two lead magnets, but they opt in, and then they get a nice little hey, thanks so much for being here. This is more about me. And then the like two days later, it's like, oh, I'm so glad you're still here. This is why I started my business and why my business is important to me. And then two days after that, it's oh, you're still here. Thank you so much for that this is how I can help you. And then I funnel from that into them, they become my regular newsletter list. And I purposefully exclude my newsletters for anyone who's in my welcome sequence, because I want them to feel like I want them to go through that process of that connection that you mentioned, feeling like oh, this is what she's about this is what can I can expect from her before they start getting the emails that might be a little bit more salesy, or you know, not, not all of them are value driven. And I guess is what it's not, let's be real guys, we will have businesses, some of them you have to sell in like you have to sell in some of your emails. But I do kind of make sure that they are nurtured slowly into the email list before they start getting all of the emails.

Unknown: 17:17

Well, and that welcome sequence, it's so great, because one, it's, it's set it and forget it like you don't have to be in there, sending those emails, you create it and it does the work for you, which is beautiful. And the other thing I love about it is it's a great way to kind of train your audience before they start getting your consistent email. So what I do very similar first email is like, hey, so glad you're here, can't wait to get to know you better, blah, blah, blah. And then the second email, I am sharing something. So a lot of times like, again, a lot of them opt in through my email marketing starter kit. And so they get that they're interested in marketing. So my next one is, hey, here's a couple of podcast episodes where I've talked about email marketing, and I send them links to those. And then I send a third email. And this is where it is really helpful. And that third email is literally just it's titled checking in. And it's like, hey, last week, I sent you some resources for email marketing, if you're interested. And I want to make sure you got those, just hit reply and let me know you got them, like send me a thumbs up emoji or something. And what that does is when they hit reply to that email, it now tells Flodesk like, oh, this is someone that's really, yeah, they're active or involved, they want her stuff, I'm not going to end up in their spam folder, I'm going to end up in their inbox. So that's a nice like little check in. Yeah, and I do that often, like every once in a while I do that with my list, in general. I'm like, hey, just checking in earlier this week, I sent you an email about X, Y, or Z. Let me make, I want to make sure you're getting those emails. So reply and let me know you've got it. The other thing I do...

Sasha: 18:51

That's so smart because it also helps them on the email provider side like it lets like Gmail know that, hey, I want to hear from this person, because I replied to them, so make sure they don't go to spam.

Unknown: 19:02

Exactly. Yeah. So you're setting yourself up for success. The other thing is, is I love for people for that reason to reply to my email. So I tell them multiple times in my welcome sequence, hey, I want this to be a conversation not just me talking at you, I want us to talk with each other. So my inbox is always open, please feel free to hit reply. At any time, ask me a question get more, you know, clarity on something I've sent or if you need a resource for something, let me know. And so I set that up multiple times my welcome sequence and I kind of ended my welcome sequence, letting them know like you're going to hear from me this often, which is usually weekly. I'm going to be sharing tips, my podcast episodes anything else I have coming up. If you ever have questions, I want you to hit reply and feel like you and I can have a conversation. We're friends now like I use that a lot. The whole idea that we're friends, and I will then like not in every email but I will in probably two out of four emails I send a month I, I end it with a question for them to answer in reply. So it might be something like, have you ever tried this in your business? Let me know. I'd love to know what you know what you tried, that's worked or didn't work. And I even say like, sometimes I may use these as examples when I'm telling stories in my own podcasts or emails, or whatever. And so, it's usually the same kind of group of people that respond. I mean, still, it's creating community creating that connection. And now, when they see my email, because we've had a conversation, through email, they're more likely to open my you know, my email is going forward.

Sasha: 20:37

I think that I really liked that. Because I think a lot of people think you have to always have to have a button that's like going to your website, or going to a blog post or something like that, or to a podcast episode or something like that. But engagement on email sometimes can just be like, hey, reply, and let me know because the point of email marketing is to build those relationships and to build that connection. Because those people who are replying to those calls of action, when your email run, you know that they're reading your email. And they've actually found value enough in what you're talking about to hit reply and actually give you a response. Because most people know that they're on email lists, it's not like they don't realize that this is an email that's being sent to however many people on your list, but they still feel connected enough with you to I'm going to reply back as if I'm the only person she sent this email to.

Kendra: 21:34

Exactly.

Sasha: 21:35

That's what leads to like actual sales and your business and really good clients who tend to probably stick around when they're getting on your list like that.

Kendra: 21:43

Yeah, I mean, you hit the nail on the head. It's like, you want people to feel like they're the only person that you're emailing that you're sending this email to. And that's, again, the week going back to our talk about the difference between social media and email marketing is on social media, like I literally can post the exact same thing that I put in my email I did today. And like my open rate was in the 50 percentile of this email. But my engagement rate was terrible.

Sasha: 22:10

Yeah.

Kendra: 22:11

And I use that as part of my example, in the post I did. I was like, I guarantee I'm not gonna get nearly as much engagement on this post as I did in my email. But the difference is, when I post that on that carousel on Instagram, people know it's made for the masses, whereas the people who are getting that email, it's personalized, it has their name and the you know, hey, Sasha, hey, Kendra, whatever. And they'll they'll talk back to me. So it's, it's so different. It's you want people to be like this was made for me, and it was sent directly to me,

Sasha: 22:43

I also just want to point out, that's a really good tip on how to reuse content that you can take your email content and put it on social media or vice versa. That was reinventing the wheel trying to come up with separate topics for both. So really quick, before we kind of wrap up the show, you talked a little bit about lead magnets and kind of what that look like. So what are your suggestions for creating very strong magnets things that people are going to opt in on? I know that I think one of the things you talked about is, what is someone going to get out of it right. And for me, I constantly stress on a lot of my shows that you have to give value to people, especially nowadays, when it comes to having someone hand over an email address because they don't want all this stuff in their inbox.What are some strong lead magnets where people would be more enticed to actually give up their email address?

Kendra: 23:42

So this is a great question. This is actually like a primer on the top questions I get about email marketing. And that's it's important is you have to have a good lead magnet. And I think a lot of people want me to say like, oh, create a PDF guide, that's the best way or do a quiz? Well, the way that you deliver your lead magnet doesn't matter so much as what's in it. And so you have to know who your client really, really is, and what are their pain points. And like I've been doing this for several years. I've had probably a dozen different lead magnets until I found the one that really has like, been my signature lead magnet. And I still have like, I have my signature lead magnet. And then I have other little side ones that I'll give, you know, like I do have a quiz that people can take but it's not one that I like am actively promoting all the time because it hasn't had the best, you know, in as far as like rate of getting people on my list.

Sasha: 24:37

Yeah.

Kendra: 24:37

You can have multiple. Experiment with multiple kinds really figured out like again, what is it like think about? What questions are people always asking you? So when your clients are coming to you, what questions do they have? What do you find yourself repeating over and over again, that you can put into a quick... Canva isawesome. Here's a perfect example. So the other day I was working on a YouTube script for like a little YouTube video ad, and I was like, I mean, I'm really struggling with like the idea of how to lay out the script for this ad. I literally got served an ad for, like a 60 second scipt. It was one page with like, six boxes on it. And each box had like a talking point, it was the most, it was helpful, but it was like you could tell it was not a ton of time on. But I guarantee you that person is growing their emails like crazy because they know that people like me want that. So it all comes down to what is it your audience wants? And then how can you deliver it, whether that's a quick little like PDF you create in Canva, it could be an email series, it could be like, hey, I'm gonna send you five emails, and each email is gonna have like step one to to complete this step two, step three, so on, it can be a quick little video training, it could be a quiz, it could be a discount code, it could be like a link for a free product they can order it can be any of those things is no like, like secret sauce, when it comes to this is the lead magnet thing, it all comes down to what is the topic? What is the content? And is it going to help get your clients a win, so that they want to come back and be like, well, she gave me that for free what's gonna happen if I work with her,

Sasha: 26:26

I also think it comes down to sometimes how you promote your lead magnet. And this is a good way if you have a lead magnet, and you want to run like ads on it to test kind of what that should be. For example, on my lead magnet. Everybody here knows what it is. It's an organized business checklists, you can sign up for my email list. And you'll get a nice little checklist that tells you all things that you have to do in your business, quarterly and monthly, yearly. So that way you don't forget, I ran an ad for it on Facebook. And I used two different images. And then two different sets of copy on each of the ads. And there was one that clearly more people resonated with and that one got pushed more. And that tells you right there to like how to help promote your lead magnet, what kind of language are you using to put your lead magnet out there and to get people interested into signing up for it in a way that doesn't feel salesy, but feels like they are going to get benefit out of it. And so I think that's also something important to think about as well.

Kendra: 27:28

Yeah, I mean, it's all about like, knowing what's yeah, use the language like for me, like I mentioned before, one of my lead magnets is that email starter kit, and I have marketed it in multiple different ways. And just recently, when Instagram went through all these algorithm changes, people are so frustrated with Instagram. So I started marketing it more or less about like, I mean, it's still the email piece of it, but like, hey, if you're looking for a way to like, really not spending all your time on social media on the hamster wheel that is Instagram, I've got a solution for you. And I mean, just just wording it and and don't be afraid to make changes. And don't think that because you create a lead magnet and it doesn't get you hundreds of people on your list that it's a bad lead magnet. Like you said it could be the way you market it the way you worded it, the terminology you were using. It could be so many different things. So just think of it like a big science experiment or a puzzle to solve because then you're like, okay, I know I have the good content. How can I tweak the other thing so that people are like, Yes, I need that,

Sasha: 28:34

Yes, I can't say it any more perfectly the net. So I appreciate you coming on the show today and talking about all good things that are email marketing. Kendra was mentioned several times that she does, she has a lead magnet that will help you grow your email list. So if you're brand new to email and you want to get started on email marketing, then she has the email starter kit which will walk you through the four steps that she talked about to get started along with templates for creating your first lead magnet and a welcome series. And you can find that at girlmeansbusiness.com/emailkit. I will leave that link in the show notes as well for you guys to see that. But Kendra, thank you so much for being on the show.

Kendra: 29:15

This was so fun, I loved it. Thank you so much for having me.

Sasha: 29:19

Thank you. Are you ready to uplevel your business? Join the five day be your own CEO challenge. All the details are available on the website at www.by-sasha.com. If you liked what you heard, make sure you rate and review. It really helps other people find the show. And of course, following subscribe on your favorite podcast platforms. Want to follow me on social? I'm on Instagram and Facebook at Strategy By Sasha. Make sure you tune in next Tuesday for more business tips. Part of the Boundless Audio Podcast Network