In this post...
Discover two formulas I use for the care and feeding of my email list. Plus, get a copy of my email planning template, spruced up and polished just for you. The email planning template is good for planning a full year's worth of email messages, a quarter at a time. It includes a sample for one quarter, PLUS a link to a walkthrough video I created to help you use the template. Enjoy!
Remember how it used to be?
"I gotta grow my list! I gotta grow my list!"
Then you grew your list.
It hit 100 ... 500 ... 1,000 ... remember hitting that thousand mark?
I remember once hearing that each group of 1,000 people on your list equates to $100K in revenue.
So when you hit that thousand ... Ah!
The possibilities really opened up!
Your business suddenly took off, accelerating like a race car leaving the pit.
Your list, on the other hand, grew stiff and weary, like my grandma making her way from the chair to the door.
"Need some help, grandma?"
"No, honey; I've got it; be right there."
Three loooong minutes later: "Need some help, grandma?"
(Much love to all grandmas, everywhere!)
All is not lost though.
Even if your list is stiff, you can lube it up by sending valuable content.
(Hey, what do you know? Motion is lotion is true for email marketing, too!)
My recommendation is to send AT LEAST one email per week, preferably two.
What do you say when you write?
There are a lot of ways to figure it out.
Here are two formulas I like to use:
1. The 80/20 rule
This rule says that 80 percent of the emails you send should be pure value. The other 20 percent can be promotions, either for your products and services or for affiliate offers.
So out of every 10 emails, two are promotional, eight are not.
I actually prefer the 90/10 rule instead, which means that of every nine emails you send, one is promotional, nine are not.
2. Q4 x M3 x W4 x D7 ... also known as the Quarterly Email Plunge
This method is more aptly called the Quarterly Email Plunge method. And yes, I totally made up that name.
How it works is that you lay out your business goals or promotions for each quarter, and then create an email map to help you reach those destinations.
So, for example, if you plan to launch a new service in Q1 M3 (March), you might consider sending emails with valuable related content in February.
Here's where the formula nomenclature comes from:
- Quarter 1 (Q1 x four Qs each year)
- Month 1 (M1 x three Ms each Q)
- Week 1 (W1 x 4 Ws each M)
- Day 1 (D1 x 7 Ds each W)
Laying it out all in a line gives you this:
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 --> M1 M2 M3 --> W1 W2 W3 W4 --> D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7
(Doesn't that look cool? Yeah, I'm a former accountant, and a geek in that way.)
To help you to actually be able to USE this the Quarterly Email Plunge method, I created an Excel template you can use to map out your own email content:
The Quarterly Email Plunge Template
The template includes an example of one quarter's mapping, and a video walkthrough where I show you how you might use the template yourself.
This way, you'll have everything you need right in one document when you're ready to go, even if it's not today.
And if you happen to have NOT yet reached 1,000 subscribers?
No worries.
You can use this method to keep the list you do have happy, well-nurtured, and converting like crazy, as well as to plan for events designed to grow your list more.
The bottom line with email?
- Be real and conversational.
- Tip the scales way, way, way down in favor of value over promotion.
- Remember that your "list" is made up of real people, just like you.
- To serve those people in the highest way, do unto them as you would have done unto you.
