by Deb Coman | Jul 31, 2021 | Content Conversion, Email Marketing, Lead Generation
Email Marketing and Content Conversion
Email marketing is a key component of content conversion strategy.
And business owners who use email marketing to establish connection and nurture relationships get more sales. But this isn’t the case for everyone and it doesn’t always happen with ease. And, more importantly, when it doesn’t go well, it’s easy to lose hope.
Without results and revenue, frustration sets in and many business owners burn out and give up. They think that no one needs another email in their inbox so why should they bother.
This is where they go wrong. It’s not the quantity of emails that gives email marketing a bad name, it’s the lack of quality.
Email marketing that helps your audience connect with you and get value each time you email leads to them opening more of your emails. And the more emails they open, the more opportunity to connect with you and your solution.
Before We Get Into Email Marketing
The customer journey has a few steps before we get to email marketing.
Generating more sales begins with clarity. As a business owner, you need to get clear on your core message and your ideal audience. From this you can start the process of capturing leads and building your email list with an effective lead magnet or opt-in.
Then you create offers, packages, service listings, and figure out your pricing. It seems like you have everything lined up and in place … but the sales don’t come.
What could be the problem?
Lead Generation Starts the Customer Journey
The customer journey that leads to sales begins with the right people finding you and being nurtured until they decide to buy.
Lead generation begins with a compelling free gift that invites your specific ideal prospects into your world and on to your email list. Then there are a series of critical steps that invite these prospects to become paying clients.
Are all of these statements true about your free gift or lead magnet?
- Highly desirable content topic.
- Easily consumable format and delivery.
- Establishes your expertise and credibility.
- And initiates meaningful connection with your audience.
If you can’t confidently say, “Yes!” to each of these, address what’s missing because you need this foundation before focusing on email marketing.
Email Marketing: Nurture Sequences
Having an email nurture sequence is a standard way to follow up your opt-in with a series of emails that helps subscribers put your free gift into use. This series, typically called an autoresponder sequence, is filled with opportunity that many business owners fail to optimize.
Email marketing is the fuel to ignite sales or the firehose that reduces them to soggy debris. And the process begins with this first email marketing sequence of autoresponders.
It’s not enough just to have these emails in place and loaded up for delivery. With the right strategy, the way you communicate during this early stage in the relationship can set the stage for connection that leads to sales. Yet, many small business owners don’t recognize the hidden potential here.
Following up with new leads by initiating and nurturing relationships is the foundation for generating more sales.
Your Practice for New Leads
Review your current practice for new leads. As they join your email list, what comes next?
Assess Your Email Nurture Sequence
Assess your nurture series of email autoresponders against this criteria:
- Are you acknowledging new subscribers with a timely, warm welcome?
- Are you delivering high-value, actionable content?
- Have you introduced yourself and highlighted your relevant experience?
- Do your emails invite conversation and engagement?
- Are you sharing outcome-based results your solution delivers?
- Do you address the cost of not solving the problem?
- Are they saying “yes” to your next step offer?
How well do you cover these? Are there holes in your process? This is your opportunity to create a foundation that leads to more sales.
Better Email Marketing
After assessing your current email marketing practice and your nurture sequence, make a commitment to address the shortcomings you discover.
Use the criteria to make improvements. Revise emails that can be more impactful, add ones that are missing, and remove content that doesn’t contribute to establishing a meaningful relationship with your new leads.
When you use email marketing to set a system in place to create this connection, more sales follows. Help new leads see you as their best option so more of your ideal clients purchase from you and recommend you to others.
Connection that Leads to Sales
Connection is one of the pillars of my 4 C Method for content that leads to more leads, clients, sales, and referrals. Learn more about how to use this strategy to serve more people and generate more revenue with immediate access to an on-demand masterclass here.
by Deb Coman | Dec 12, 2019 | Content Cycle, Content Marketing Strategy, Email Marketing, Social Media
If you don’t know where your next client is coming from, your content cycle needs some tweaking.
What is your current practice for creating and sharing your content? Are there certain steps you follow? Are you consistent?
Without a clear plan and regular action, results suffer … or are non-existent. But no need to despair, there is a way out.
The Content Cycle
An effective content cycle includes creating a new piece of content and following these next steps:
- Post new content to your website blog.
- Email your subscriber list.
- And share the new blog on social media.
Three fairly simple and straightforward steps. And yet, many business owners only do this part of the way, or occasionally, or even not at all.
Why All 3?
When you fall short of creating valuable new content and sharing it on your blog, in email marketing, and on social media, you are leaving money on the table. A comprehensive content marketing strategy checks all three boxes. That’s what makes it thorough, aligned, and well, … comprehensive!
The Blog
The blog on your website is truly your real estate online. You design the layout and the messaging and the customer journey once people are there. As I’ve done here in this blog, you can direct people to a related topic in another blog like this one on Content Strategy and the Customer Journey. You decide the pathway and create the steps.
Another strategy is to position your opt-in in the sidebar, at the end of the blog, or as a call to action. For example, as we talk about the content cycle, here’s some help for you to avoid these 3 Common Content Mistakes.
This way when new people find you and come to your blog they have even more opportunity to learn about you, explore more of the website, assess your expertise and credibility, and to stay more connected by becoming a subscriber.
Your Email List
Your email list of subscribers … so often neglected or bombarded with promotion. And these are the people most likely to buy from us.
The sweet spot in email marketing is regular, engaging conversational emails to share valuable content that sparks discussion and a desire to learn more. When you create new content on the blog this is a prime piece of content to share with your audience of subscribers.
And rather than just plop it into the email, give people an introduction and some context to build an interest in reading what you have to share on the blog and then drive them to the blog post with a link.
Social Media
Social media posting is not just for cat videos and your latest vacation spots. It’s an ideal way to connect with potential clients, referral sources, collaborators, and other online business owners who can enrich your online business journey.
And yet many business owners view this as a nicety, an after-thought. Social media is an integral part of a comprehensive content cycle. That newly created piece of valuable content on your blog needs to be shared on social media … and not just once. Circulate and repurpose your content over time.
Encourage and prompt conversation on the topic. Listen to what people are saying. Continue the conversation and when appropriate, offer to take it further into a private message or a call. This is how we move from social media to potential sales conversations that lead to enrollment.
And it all starts with your content.
Here’s a quick video about making the content cycle work for you in your business.
Click the image below to watch it now.
Your Turn
I hope this gives you some ideas about how to improve your own content cycle. I’d love to hear your thoughts and questions.
by Deb Coman | Nov 24, 2019 | Content Conversion, Content Marketing Strategy
As business owners we need buyers.
But what does content strategy have to do with that?
Everything.
How Does It Work For You When You Buy?
Think back to the last time you bought something online … a product, a course, a program.
Who did you buy from?
Was your purchase interaction the first time you learned of the person you bought from?
Did they show up somewhere online and you consumed the first post/email/video of theirs and buy?
Probably not.
So, how did you decide to buy?
The Customer Journey
More than likely, you knew this person that you bought from in some capacity. Perhaps you:
- Opted in and became a subscriber to their content.
- Had a positive experience using their free gift when you opted in.
- Read their emails and connected with their message.
- Engaged with them during a live video on social media.
- Followed them on social media and felt they “got you” by what they shared and how they interacted.
- Experienced value from them even before your purchase.
Whatever the process, you consumed content. Their messaging spoke to you as if they knew what it was like to deal with the challenges in your path as a business owner.
You were bettered by their content.
Content Conversion Is In The Details
Their content worked for you.
The messaging was concise, compelling, and action-oriented.
They engaged with you when you hit reply and emailed them. There were responses to your comments on social media. You felt connected through their communication.
This is what good content strategy does for you as a buyer.
Are you doing this with the people you’re meant to serve?
How’s Your Current Content Marketing Doing?
Do you have a comprehensive and consistent content marketing plan that:
- Attracts the right people?
- Offers a compelling, aligned free gift they want?
- Builds a library of helpful content on your blog?
- Includes regular email communication people actually open?
- Brings you new connections and engagement on social media?
And the million dollar question …
Are you repurposing your content across all these channels to save you time, money, and effort, while reaching more of your best customers?
So many business owners are not checking all the boxes on their content marketing plan. And I get it. It can feel like a lot. And it’s only part of what you need to do as a business owner.
I talk about some of the common pitfalls when it comes to content marketing here if you’d like to see where you land.
But listen up, content marketing strategy is your most important part of your business if you want consistent lead generation and more sales.
What’s Next If I Need More Clients?
My business is about getting you more business. I want to help you get you more clients. My number one (and only) way is through your content strategy marketing plan. And there are several ways I can help you do that … from one time strategy sessions, to customized private strategy, to a group program.
All of it is single focused: Plan, create, share, and repurpose a comprehensive, streamlined content strategy that attracts and converts more qualified people into your best (and raving!) clients.
Isn’t it time you streamline your content process so you can get more (and better) clients?
YES! I Want To Hear More
If you’d like to check your business against some of the most common content mistakes, grab my guide 3 Costly Content Mistakes.
by Deb Coman | Apr 20, 2019 | Content Conversion, Content Marketing Strategy
Better content makes for better clients and more revenue. Still, content creation and then what to do with that new content continues to challenge business owners. In my guest expert interview on Melanie Benson’s Amplify Your Success Podcast, I share strategies for content that converts; the same strategies I use to help clients get more of their best paying customers.
Even better? It doesn’t have to be as difficult as we sometimes make it out to be!
Listen In by clicking the image
Content Strategy Is Powerful
Using content conversion strategy before creating results in more powerful messaging. When you map out your language with a focus on what you intend it to do, you’re more likely to attract the people you’re meant to serve. And by using the words your ideal clients use themselves, the recognize you as someone who understands their challenges. It’s critical to take the time to clarify the language and to choose your words and craft your message with care.
Why Content Doesn’t Convert
If your website copy isn’t bringing new leads into your world, something is likely “off.” And lead magnets that don’t regularly attract quality prospects are useless, even damaging to your brand. Just like writing blogs or creating videos no one seems to read or watch, it’s futile. And there are many reasons why this isn’t building your business. Some include:
- You don’t have a clear core message.
- Your content doesn’t align with your core message.
- Blogs and emails are written without intention and strategy.
- And your overall content conversion process (creating, sharing, and repurposing) doesn’t map out a customer journey.
What Works
Often, business owners are aware that their content is not converting, or at least not at the rate they need to have a sustainable, thriving revenue stream. Yet investing in a process and the support to assess and improve doesn’t rise to the top of the To Do list. Why is that?
Because when we are so close to our own content, we can’t see the holes in it. We know in our hearts what we mean to convey and when we review our own content in our minds we fill in the gaps. However, that’s not how it shows up to our prospects, our subscribers, even our clients. They notice the gaps and that causes pause and a lack of confidence in your solution.
Instead of continuing to create without a plan, it’s critical to make time for content conversion planning:
- Clarify your core message.
- Create language to convey it in a way that is meaningful to your ideal clients.
- Use this foundation to create all your content (opt-in, website copy, emails, blogs, social media, EVERYTHING).
- And pay attention to its impact …
- Are the right prospects consuming the content?
- Is there engagement and feedback as you share?
- Is the content helping ideal prospects to convert to paying ideal customers?
This is our goal for content that converts.
Listen in to the podcast here and let me know what it means for you and your content conversion. Drop me a comment below. Or reach out for a discovery call here.
Join the Content Conversion Lab
by Deb Coman | Feb 24, 2019 | Content Conversion, Email Marketing, Relationship Marketing
Email marketing is a core component of effective content conversion strategy. And yet, many business owners aren’t using it to attract and convert more of their best paying customers. Dispel some of the myths and assumptions about your email practice to nurture the relationship with subscribers.
How Often Should I Email?
The first place many people stumble is when it comes to the frequency of emails to their subscriber list.
Some almost never email, believing they don’t want to “bother” people on their list or promote their business too frequently. (More on Email Marketing Assumptions here.)
And some bombard subscribers with emails, using almost not discretion about what is valuable enough to warrant an email.
Neither practice works for most of us. Rather, it’s important to find a cadence and a schedule to guide your email marketing practice in a way that delivers value, engages, and builds relationships.
What Gets in the Way of Emailing?
There are endless reasons why business owners don’t use email marketing to effectively nurture subscribers. Let’s get some of them out in the open here. Some of the ones I hear most frequently include … I don’t:
- … have that much time.
- … know where to begin or what to write about.
- … want to sound overly promotional.
- … think it’s long enough since my last email.
- … want to email when I haven’t done it in months.
And even more challenging are the ongoing mindsets we cling to about email marketing:
- I’m not good at it.
- I’ve always hated writing.
- They don’t want to hear from me.
And the list goes on. One of the most common thoughts about emailing is “I only want to email when I have something of high value.”
Defining High Value
By telling ourselves we only want to email high value content, we allow a boulder of an obstacle to get in our way. After all, high value is relative. And we many entrepreneurs don’t give themselves enough credit for what they know. So this becomes an easy way to cop out of sending an email.
Yet, if we take a moment to examine this we would recognize that the very content, tips, and strategies we use daily ARE high value to our subscribers. In fact, what comes easily to us is often the very reason people subscribed in the first place. They want, even need, for us to share our knowledge and skills in the area that they find challenging. And when we don’t email consistently with this value, we’re not holding up our share of the arrangement.
How to Choose Your Topics
There’s an endless supply of email and content topics unique to you and your business. They are so close to us, we often don’t recognize them. And when we do, we then fall back into thinking they’re not high value enough. Let’s dispel that right now. Here are a few of the ways we come up with content topics in The Content Conversion Lab.
- List the components of your core service or program.
- For each component, identify the related challenges, solutions, and first action steps.
- Decide on a short series of content from just one of these lists and begin creating the content.
- Come back to the other lists and either do a next series or mix and match between lists for even more variety.
Your Next Steps
Today I’d love you to your imagine your ideal customer out there in the world struggling with the challenge you solve. What one piece of content can you share with them right now to make a difference?
Write that down. Then email it to that person and all the rest of your email subscribers.
Create.
Show up.
Be the solution.
And each time you do this you’re nurturing the relationship with that person who is getting closer to a decision about hiring or referring someone to you.
Make it so. ♥
Send Me the 3 Costly Content Mistakes How To Guide!
