How to improve your email marketing - the 8 unexpected skills you need.

We all want to do better at email marketing, don't we? But how? Well, the good news is that we all learn skills along the way - in previous jobs and careers, through courses, or even hobbies. And some of these skills can come in very handy when it comes to helping your email marketing efforts. So today we look at the 8 unexpected skills to improve your email marketing. 

Ready for it? 

SOME EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:

(2:07) Honestly, will #EmailMarketingWednesday ever catch on?!

(3:20) Why you need to study awesome storytelling.

(6:27) How to master offer creation.

(9:18) Why you need to structure your emails in campaigns.

(12:19) The reason why you need to learn how to write really compelling subject lines.

(14:11) Do you know what your audience's hot buttons are?

(16:42) Why you need to write as you talk (just like we do).

(18:32) The reason why you need to edit your emails.

(19:12) How to understand what strategies work in email marketing (and how to model them in your business).

(22:36) Subject line of the week.

So what are the 8 unexpected skills you need to improve your email marketing? 

When it comes to awesome email marketing, we think these are the 8 skills you're going to need to master: 

1. Storytelling.
2. Offer creation.
3. Creating email campaigns.
4. Writing compelling subject lines.
5. Understanding your audience's 'hot buttons'. 
6. Writing as you talk. 
7. Editing your emails. 
8. Understanding and modeling what others do consistently well. 

So let's break these down and dig a little deeper into each of these awesome skills. 

1. Storytelling in email marketing

Storytelling captures and keeps people's attention. It gets people to emotionally engage and has the power to transform people - it gets them to feel, think, and act differently. When all is said at done, at the end of a story, you've taken someone on a journey. A transformative journey. 

We think that, unfortunately, a lot of email marketing suffers from not going anywhere. But email marketing, just like storytelling, should move people from one place to another.

Instinctively, we all like stories. We like telling them and we like hearing them, so how can we weave them into our email marketing? Our tip is to spend time studying good storytelling (from movies, books, TV series, video games etc.). Start to notice what hooks us in, what keeps us engaged, and what makes us binge-watch/read/play. And once you cracked all that, you can use that in your own email marketing and make your subscribers want more and more. Sounds like fun, right?

2. Mastering offer creation

The second skill you're going to need to elevate your email marketing is offer creation. At the end of the day, the reason for emailing your subscribers is that you want to sell something - whatever that might be. But what if the thing you sell isn't particularly attractive or appealing to your audience? 

We think it's really important to study the psychology behind a good offer. What makes something an offer that your audience is going to want to snap your hand off for?

You see, your offer is a combination of what you're selling, what it does for your customers, the way it's packaged and delivered, the price, and the angle you use to offer it. All these things make your offer. So it needs to be captivating. It needs to stand out, it needs to be unique, and it needs to tell your customers how it's different from anything they might have tried in the past.

So spend some time and attention into figuring out how to create and frame an offer that people really want to buy from you. 

3. Creating email campaigns

The third skill you need for your email marketing is the ability to create email campaigns. You want to have a reason to email your subscribers more than once. There's no point in emailing your list every day or every week if you're going to repeat the same thing over and over! It's boring, and it gives people no reason to open your emails.

The thing is, those who buy from you on day one won't see your other emails. But the majority of your customers won't buy on day one - that's just how things are. So what are you going to give them on days two, three, four, etc. to help them make a decision to buy from you? You need to build your sale's argument, help them overcome objections, and give them more and more reasons to buy. 

That's why you need a structure. You need to put your emails into sequences (or campaigns) and say something fresh and interesting every time you send out a new email. We are obsessed with creating innovative email campaign structures that keep people interested. So have a think - what are the different ways you can grab your audience's attention? What content will you create for your email sequence that, email on email, goes above and beyond what you delivered in your previous email?

4. Writing compelling subject lines

Subject lines help you get your emails opened, so it's really important to write stuff that grabs people's attention and invokes curiosity. You want people to be curious enough to open your emails to find out what you have to say. Invoking curiosity means raising a question in someone's mind, even if this happens on such a subconscious level that they don't even know it's happening. 

So take a look at the subject lines you receive in your inbox. Keep a swipe file or folder of subject lines for emails you opened, and then start studying subject lines and the language they use. 

5. Understanding your audience's 'hot buttons'

What do your subscribers really care about? Do they want to make money? Save money? Save time? What is it that they're trying to do? Again, ask yourself the questions and start keeping a record of these things. Because once you understand your audience's hot buttons you can start putting a little bit of pressure in your emails by prodding these buttons.

Let your audience know that your product or service is the thing that will help them overcome their problems or achieve their dreams. And don't forget - hot buttons aren't just pain points. It could be anything that your audience wants to achieve or do, so they can be really positive too. 

You may even notice that certain activities are hot buttons for your subscribers. For example, every time you do a webinar or promote an affiliate course, you notice that your subscribers engage. If that's the case, you've identified a hot button that's specific to your subscribers. Now use it in your emails! 

6. Writing as you talk

Something else we think you need to master when it comes to skills to improve your email marketing, is writing as you talk. We do that a lot. And by all standards, you could say that our emails are poorly written. But people read our emails and 'hear our voices' in their heads. You want to build an audience of people who want to hear from you, so write as you talk. 

If you struggle with this, you can record yourself speaking and then use a transcription service to get the written version of what you said. Whatever you do, don't suddenly turn into someone else when you start typing your emails. Because no one wants that from you!

7. Editing your emails

Email marketing doesn't happen in real-time. We all know that. So why don't people edit their emails more?!  The beauty of email marketing is that you can type something out and then delete it or edit it later. And we really recommend that you learn how to master this skill.

In particular, edit the beginning of your emails. Sometimes people take too long to get to the point, and in doing that, they lose the readers' attention. So type it all out but then edit it down - get into the action as soon as you can.  

8. Understanding and modeling strategies that work in email marketing

The last skill we think is mega important when it comes to email marketing is noticing what works and modeling that in your business. Start to look at the approaches and strategies that you see other successful business owners apply in their business.  Because if you always try and invent the wheel yourself, you're going to end up making a lot of mistakes and try stuff that won't work.

So instead, pay attention to what others are doing well and consistently - you don't want to start doing something just because someone else you follow was testing something out. They might do it once, work out it doesn't work, and never do it again. So pay attention to what you see them do day in and day out and try and implement similar strategies in your own email marketing. 

Subject line of the week 

This week's subject line of the week is, "You've GOT to stop learning." This was sent out by Kennedy, and the key message of the email is that it's time to stop learning and start doing. 

But why did it work so well? 

Because it was an unexpected thing to write in an email, especially coming from someone who sells programmes, memberships, and courses where people do learn. All the time! That subject line was the opposite of what people expected Kennedy to say, and it made people open the email to see what it was all about.

You can try something similar by asking your subscribers to stop doing something that's key to your business or something that everybody does. If you sell gardening products, maybe you can say, "You've GOT to stop gardening." Or something like that - you get the idea. Why don't you try it out?

Useful Episode Resources

Related episodes

How To Use Email Subject Lines To Do More Than Get Your Emails Opened.

Writing Subject Lines Without Using Formulas.

How To Write Email Subject Lines For Sales Emails (That Actually Work).

FREE list of the top 10 books to improve your email marketing

Did you know that the 8 skills to improve your email marketing we talked about today come from books we've read and studied? If you want to write better emails, come up with better content, and move your readers to click and buy, here's how.

We put together this list of our Top 10 most highly recommended books that will improve all areas of your email marketing (including some underground treasures that we happened upon, which have been game-changing for us). Grab your FREE list here. 

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If you want to chat about how you can maximise the value of your email list and make more money from every subscriber, we can help! We know your business is different, so come and hang out in our FREE Facebook group, the Email Marketing Show Community for Course Creators and Coaches. We share a lot of training and resources, and you can talk about what you're up to.

Try ResponseSuite for $1

This week's episode is sponsored by ResponseSuite.com, the survey quiz and application form tool that we created specifically for small businesses like you to integrate with your marketing systems to segment your subscribers and make more sales. Try it out for 14 days for just $1.

Join The League Membership

Not sick of us yet? Every day we hang out in our amazing community of Email Marketing Heroes, where we get to share all of our training and campaigns and a whole bunch of other stuff. If you're looking to learn how to use psychology-driven marketing to level up your email campaigns, come and check out The League Membership. It's the number one place to hang out and grow your email marketing by applying everything we talk about in this show.

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