Are you ready to take your side hustle to the next level? Email marketing is a powerful and affordable way to expand your customer base, keep customers coming back and grow your side hustle into a full-fledged business. Liberate yourself from the 9-to-5 doldrums and take one step closer to achieving your dreams with these tips for growing your side hustle with email marketing.

1. Create an attractive subscribe incentive

There’s a lot of spam out there, and the last thing anyone wants is to endure another inbox full of stuff they don’t want. That’s why the best way to encourage subscribers is to give them something they do want by creating an attractive opt-in incentive.

Ideas include:

• How-to eBooks and whitepapers
• Instant discount coupons or coupon codes
• Cheat sheets
• Case studies
• Online course access
• Freebies

Think about what drives your audience. What will they find so useful and valuable that they can’t resist subscribing to your email list? Create that, and they’ll be more than happy to opt in.

Of course, you’ll need to make sure your incentive is gated so it can’t be accessed by non-subscribers. An easy way to do that is with email automation that automatically sends the attachment or download link to every new subscriber.

2. Create a value statement

We’ve already covered the opt-in incentive, but you also need to deliver a value statement that creates desire. What benefits will your subscribers receive beyond your initial incentive?

For example, you might promise:

• Useful, free tips delivered to their inboxes daily
• Early access to special VIP discounts and sales
• Unique resources no one else gets
• Engagement with a community of like-minded, passionate people who help one another

It’s also a good idea (and legally sound) to mention that you do not spam and they can unsubscribe at any time — a strategy that lessens the risk of subscribing.

Consider giving your email list a name that implies the benefits of subscribing. For example, “Christie’s Creative Cooking Tips” is more attractive than “Christie’s Email List.”

3. Promote your list like crazy

Once you’ve laid the foundation for your email marketing — that is to say, the reasons people should subscribe and stay subscribed — you should promote it everywhere. After all, no one will subscribe if they don’t know about it!

You can promote your email newsletter via:

• Your website (sign-up forms are perfect and easy to implement)
• Social media such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
• Your YouTube channel
• Mobile marketing
• Print marketing (business cards, brochures, etc.)
• Word of mouth

Be sure to mention the initial incentive they’ll receive, plus the ongoing benefits of subscribing to motivate the best subscribe rate. Want more ideas? Check out these 40 easy ways to build your email list.

4. Deliver valuable content

You’ve identified the reasons why people should subscribe; now, you need to follow through by delivering on your promises. When you develop valuable content, you can truly engage your audience, foster long-term customer loyalty and influence sales that help grow your side hustle into a full-time business.

Again, think about your customers. What problems do they have? How can you make their lives easier and better? Now, how can you leverage email marketing to do that?

Email content ideas include:

• How-to tips and advice
• Solving problems and answering common questions
• Introducing new and useful resources
• Delivering news your customers are interested in
• Product comparisons
• Customer spotlights and case studies
• Freebies

As you create your content, strive to make it personal. Find a way to relate to your customers and create a sense of solidarity. Tell your story, speak to your audience and be a part of their shared community. Once you’ve developed compelling content that resonates with your customers, you can then promote offers and products that fuel profits:

• Exclusive discount offers
• Product showcases and catalogs
• Buy-one-get-one deals
• Early bird pricing

Email marketing isn’t just about marketing. Your emails shouldn’t be purely promotional. First, establish value. Then, you can leverage the trust you’ve built into happy customers who are thrilled to make their next purchase.

5. Motivate opens with strong subject lines

People receive 80 to 120 emails per day, so it’s easy to gloss over even the most valuable content if it doesn’t stand out in a sea of spam. That’s why you need compelling subject lines so your emails stand out and get opened.

Strong subject line ideas include:

• Pop culture references
• Hashtags
• Descriptive headlines
• Humor
• Benefit statements

It’s a good idea to A/B test your email subject lines, which means trying two different subject lines on a limited number of subscribers to see which performs best, then using the winning subject line for the rest of your list.

6. Send regularly

It’s no secret that repetition is crucial to marketing success. That’s why you need to email your list regularly to remain relevant and to increase the chances of getting in front of customers when they’re ready to buy.

Some marketers email daily; others, twice each week. Some only email weekly. Of course, you want to avoid being viewed as spam, so a good rule of thumb is to email as often as you have something valuable to share.

That doesn’t mean waiting months between emails. Create an email marketing calendar and stick to it. If you’re struggling to come up with compelling content on a regular basis, check out these 50 unique ideas for your next email.

7. Track your results

The more you know about how your emails perform, the easier it will be to create future emails that yield predictably positive results. At minimum, you should track open rates and clicks for every email you send. It’s also a good idea to cross-reference those email KPIs with website visits, incentive downloads, new leads and, of course, sales.

You can take advantage of advanced email reports to gain even deeper insights into your subscribers’ behavior, including:

• Which devices, email clients and browsers your subscribers use
• Geographic data – where your subscribers live
• Heat maps – where clicks occur in your emails
• Comparisons such as subject line word count vs. open rate and click rates by date and time

These are powerful insights that will help you replicate your best emails time and again.

Armed with these tips, you can create a large list of subscribers who are eager to read your next email and click through to take advantage of your next offer. Get the most out of your email marketing by crafting emails that are attractive, deliverable and comply with CAN-SPAM rules — and your side hustle will be booming in no time.

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© 2019, Brian Morris. All rights reserved.