Email Marketing Ideas to Grow Your Business

Email is a powerful marketing component—when done right—and keeps your pipeline of qualified leads flowing. So why is email marketing often overlooked? Too many small businesses perceive email marketing as low value, when really the culprit is the lack of email marketing ideas or the execution itself that needs to be adjusted to garner higher effectiveness.

Here are just a few reasons why email marketing works:

• Email provides great ROI. Email generates $38 for every $1 spent! (Litmus)
• Email inexpensive. You can start with MailChimp’s Free plan; it doesn’t get any cheaper than that! I use ConvertKit (affiliate link) which is $29 a month for email + list-building tools.
• Email is an excellent tool to stay in front of prospects and past customers. Even if your readers aren’t opening every email, they are seeing your name on a consistent basis.
• Email is informative, inviting and inspiring when done in a non-sales-y way.
• Email builds know, like and trust … something incredibly valuable in today’s society.

If you are stuck, here are 8 email marketing ideas to grow your business.

1. Present a project you recently completed. This approach ensures your newsletter remains informative – not sales-y. Project spotlights provide inspiration as to how you can transform the “tired old” home into some wonderful, exciting, functional and jaw-dropping.
2. Highlight a service or program you offer, such as handyman repair or exterior inspections. These are often highly profitable products for your company, yet they are the ones most forgotten. For instance, a customer may know you as a remodeling company and forget that you also offer energy inspection services, too. Furthermore, for prospects, these services usually are a low-cost entry point for “testing you out.” They may start out spending only a few hundred dollars with you, but then you’ve opened the door to establish trust and credibility—while still making some bucks.
3. Introduce new services. Similar to the point above, your company most-likely has expanded its services over the years, so your email newsletter is an excellent way to introduce those new services to your subscribers.
4. Tie into social media by recommending that they “like” your Facebook Page or “Follow” you on Instagram. People like to interact and communicate with businesses on their terms, so it is important to be present in more than one area online.
5. Encourage viewing of past blog articles or your website photo gallery. This is a way to build a stronger bond with your subscribers because when they click onto your website, they are digging deeper into your company – thus getting to know you better (i.e. building know, like and trust).
6. Promote community events. If you participated in the United Way’s “Day of Caring” or have contributed to a Habitat for Humanity project, highlight that activity (it’s free PR). Keep in mind that the community event doesn’t just have to be industry related. Perhaps you sponsored a carwash for a traveling sports team or donated food to the local animal shelter. SHARE IT!

The great thing about community-related events is that it localizes your business while reminding your readers that you, too, are actively involved in their community. Go ahead and mention the barrel races at the county fair or the production your wife is directing at the community theatre. It also adds a bit of fun to your newsletter.

7. Add a bit of DIY content with Home Tips. Most newsletters I write and manage for my clients have a “Home Tips” section, including the Done-For-You Newsletter Program for Remodelers. Point out simple tasks homeowners can safely do around the house to ensure that it stays functional and sound. This section is typically seasonally based and shows that your company is a helpful one.
8. Tell your stories. Make your newsletters more personal by sharing brief stories about what you’ve been up to since the last issues, or what’s on-deck for the weeks ahead. Most of you have read bits and pieces of my life over years through my newsletter, Jottings, and as a result, you’ve come to know me.

You know I am an avid hockey fan and love hiking and being outdoors. If you’ve been reading my newsletter regularly, you know I was an Army wife (my husband retired after 24 years of service), and we’ve moved across the country twice so my husband could earn his college degree and begin a second career (from Harrisburg, PA to Tucson, AZ to Richmond, VA).

Those little tidbits into our personal lives really do matter! I’ve had several new clients comment on my hockey team preference (Penn State and Washington Capitals) or want to learn more about my hiking adventures. This is why they want to work with me—because they feel like they already know me (and they do).

ARE YOU READY TO START YOUR EMAIL MARKETING PROGRAM OR RE-COMMIT TO IT? HERE ARE THREE WAYS I CAN HELP.

1. Before the Content: How to Start an Email Newsletter—You understand the value of an email newsletter, but you struggle with where to begin. This article answers the questions you have about setting up an email newsletter.
2. Newsletter Planning Session—If you want to develop a solid newsletter plan that’s tailored to your business (and your needs), I can help. During this 90-minute Zoom session, we will create a concrete plan that will include:
   • Length of newsletter
   • Email v. Print v. Both
   • Number of articles
   • Types of articles
   • Where that content will come from
3. Done-For-You Newsletter Program for Remodelers—This is ideal if you already have a strategy and are looking for an easier, more simplified way to get your newsletter out the door—while still having the flexibility to customize your content (and editorial calendar).