11 Reasons Why You Need Email Marketing

PLUS: Get your email marketing started in less than 60 minutes!

Author

Betsy Roach
September 11, 2023

If you’re terrified by email marketing then you, my friend, are in the right place.

Before I started email marketing in corporate/getting email marketing certifications, I struggled with seeing how an email marketing strategy could help me SPECIFICALLY.

I don’t even like opening my email inbox, I thought. I don’t have time to crank out a NEWSLETTER. Who would want to hear from me?

But on the other hand, every creator and their MOM was like, “zomg, you need email marketing in your business! Promise, bestie!”

Then, I started sending out emails to tens of thousands of people at work, and I saw just what it can do. These people weren’t wrong. This tool is powerful, and it’s not as confusing as you might think.

When I started talking about email marketing to my circle, I realized how many of y’all were just as confused as I was, and I knew it was time to start helping folks wield this powerful tool for their small businesses.

Why should big corporations have all the fun?

Instead of getting frustrated, I enjoy reaping the benefits of email marketing for my inbound marketing.

If you want to talk about whatever you’d like with your audience, make back more money with your marketing budget, and save time- email marketing can help you, too.

Here are 11 reasons why your small business needs email marketing.

Reason #1: Your List Belongs to YOU

I didn’t understand the gravity of this one until Elon Musk took over at Twitter.

What would happen if you had this great relationship with your followers on a social media platform, and some trillionaire clown purchased that platform and WRECKED IT?

This sounds so hyper, I realize, but it’s literally what happened to Twitter…er, I mean X.

When you have an email list, that thing belongs to you. Nobody can wreck it with their weird and terrible ideas. Not Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, or Al Gore (<---remember this interview? Haha, god, I love being a millennial!)

When your business uses email marketing, no #InstagramDown day or Facebook update can keep you from talking to your customers. In fact, it’ll make a great thing to talk about since they’ll be bored and checking their emails without social media.

Reason #2: Direct Line of Contact

Ah, the Instagram algorithm. It’s one of the things I hear small business owners complaining about the most, and I genuinely get it.

Why should you compete so hard to talk to those who follow you? It can be so frustrating. With email marketing- that doesn’t happen.

When you email your list (assuming you have been acting cool and not like a Spam Clown TM 🤡 ), your message goes RIGHT to them. Sure, sometimes you have a bunch of emails in your inbox right now that you’re ignoring.

But your emails aren’t going to be like that. No way. Your emails will be so fun and so valuable that your audience will look for them like they look for their Tax Return update emails.

Reason #3: High ROI (wtf is ROI? Good question)

Make more moolah back on your investment when you use email marketing.

If you don’t already know this term yet, pocket it away! It’s a good one.

Return on Investment (ROI)

Return on Investment (ROI) = measurement of the profits you get from a business investment. Picture running a lemonade stand where you realize people prefer sugary lemonade. So, you invest in sugar to make better lemonade. It costs you, but it boosts your earnings way more than the sugar’s cost.

What does email marketing have to do with this?

Email marketing has a HIGH RETURN ON INVESTMENT. The average ROI for email marketing in 2023 is $36 for every $1 spent.

For instance, if you spend $19 monthly on email marketing (like my fave, Flodesk), your potential return could be $684. I know it’s basic math, but it shows email marketing is a smart way to spend on your business.

Reason #4: Easy to Batch

Batch(ing content), this context: sitting down and writing several emails in one sitting so you don’t have to keep making content each week. You’ll spread the content created in one session over an entire month.

I’m doing that right now. While I’m in the flow and my kids are occupied (help, it’s too quiet), I’m writing several blog posts about email marketing. Today, I’ll write 4 (or 1.5); you’ll get those emails throughout the upcoming month.

Many solid, foundational emails you can have prewritten in your business drip out over time. You can use these to batch out work for email, and you’re set.

Reason #5: It’s Inexpensive

Email marketing is one of those things that you can sink a lot of money into. Remember point #3? It stands to reason that the more intentional money you spend on email marketing, the more money you’ll make back. So, eventually, you’ll WANT to invest in it.

BUT! Starting out is really inexpensive- if not free. Many email marketing provider services have a free starter plan.

You can get started for the time it takes to set up an account, gather a few email addresses, and write a few emails. This is an excellent option for a broke business owner getting started- you can make a significant marketing impact for basically free.

Reason #6: Can Make it Super Personal

I mean this in a few different ways.

Definition 1:

You can gather information like first names for your newsletter and then use a little tag in your email software to insert everyone’s names into their emails.

Personalization has sooo many benefits, ranging from a 26% higher open rate (open rate = the number of emails opened from the batch you sent out) to helping some companies show a 760% increase in revenue. *

I always wonder how low their revenue was to achieve this, however. ;)

So, there is a super strong case for using personalization in your email marketing.

Definition 2:

These emails can be super honest and spawn real, heart-to-heart conversations with your followers. Only a few platforms offer the ability to be open about the genuine, raw, honest parts of your niche in a way that will deeply connect with your audience.

I often invite my followers to email me back, and I try my very best to respond to each and every person.

This isn’t just about putting money in your pocket, right? I know you want to make a massive difference in some real lives.

Reason #7: It’s Not Going Anywhere

You’ve Got Mail! Remember the novelty of that?

While receiving an email is usually nowhere near as exciting as it used to be, the communication method has withstood the test of time.

People still need to use email all of the time. For work, for resetting their passwords, and for information from their doctor.

Communication methods are coming in and out of the scene all of the time, and as I mentioned before, social media platforms can change instantly and become irrelevant. Remember how fast MySpace disappeared?

While we likely won’t have email as it is now FOREVER, email is so entwined in our day-to-day lives, and it’s so slow to change that you can bank on this one sticking around for a long time.

Reason #8: You’re the Boss

You can talk about whatever you want.

You can send emails whenever you want.

You can design them exactly how you’d like and then completely overhaul them for the following email.

You can promote any product you’d like!

You can split your list up any way your mind can imagine. If you’re a JUICE company and you want to send an apple cider recipe out to folks who buy apple juice from you

BUT

Do you want people who buy orange juice to get a unique coupon?

You can do that.

Reason #9: You can offer your BEST to customers who already LOVE you ❤️ 

When someone joins your list, they trust you to offer them value. Sometimes, that’s just a fantastic freebie you made, and they plan to unsubscribe. But sometimes, they really want to hang in there. Here are your very best tips.

Now, these people have some skin in the game. They aren’t just lurking on your social media.

And you’re gonna knock ’em dead by:

  • Sending them exclusive tips that will make their lives easier

  • Entertaining them in your own unique way

  • I’m continuing to show up with this good stuff again and again.

Soon, you’ve developed a great relationship with customers who want to consume all the things you write while they buy all of the items you sell.

Reason #10: Easy to Automate.

Please don’t be scared- I’m about to talk about a little bit of a next-level email marketing thing here but hang in there with me.

One thing you can do with your email marketing strategy is use it to create and send automated sequences.

For example:

Let’s say you want to send a nice, warm welcome email to everyone subscribing to your list. That’s a GREAT idea!

But what if you could give them some “onboarding” + fun information over the next few days or weeks?

It’s super easy! You can easily create something called a Welcome Sequence or Onboarding sequence. It could look like:

-Warm welcome email

-An email hyping them up about the thing they just signed up for (and why you made it)

-A quick introduction to who you are, share a resource

-An email inviting them to respond and tell you who they are

-Cap it off with a complimentary gift and tell them what to expect

It’s easy to create this kind of sequence, set it up, and let it do the nurturing for you for every person who joins your list.

Reason #11: It’s super freaking fun, honestly!

I realize that this one is 100% subjective, and it’s probably hard to imagine how cranking out an email with heaps of value would be fun all of the time.

But once you start to get the hang of it, you’ll probably start to see information in your business in a new way.

You’ll remember a lesson you learned when you first started your business and think, “Who could use this today?” or “How can I turn this into a super hilarious, relatable email?”

You’ll get to see your results in real-time. How many people opened your email?? This is fun. You’ll see who clicked through to see the thing you’re selling or something you’ve made. You’ll feel validated as you hone this skill and create email relationships.

Yes. There are people out there who really give a shit about what you do, and they live for the days that your name shows up in their inboxes.

Download Your FREE Guide - Email Marketing in 60 Minutes (or less)

Ready to start taking advantage of all of the benefits that email marketing offers? Awesome, I created a guide just for you. It truly will take you less than an hour (probably like 20 minutes but I wanted to be super generous) and your email list will be up and running with a customized welcome email from you to your new subscribers.