How are you making use of your email list? Sending out a monthly newsletter is fine, however, if that’s all you’re sending out, you may be missing out on a lot of sales. While your usage on social media is awesome, your email list is still the most powerful tool you have for marketing because of a captive audience.
What gives your mailing list more potential power than, say, a paid Facebook ad? The answer is that if people are receiving your emails, it means they signed up for and want to read your list. That’s essentially them raising their hand and saying “Yes, I like your stuff and I need to hear from you on a regular basis!” Social media ads can be a powerful tool, but there is a lot of guesswork and refining involved in getting it to be as effective as possible. Your email list is a perfectly curated list of people who have already expressed their interest in your work and the desire to hear from you again. So if you can figure out the most effective way to communicate with those people, you have a seriously great opportunity on your hands to forge good relationships with them and ultimately sell more art which is the only reason to do this step anyway.
You may object to this- “but I DO send out emails to my list! I send a bi-monthly newsletter with pictures of what I’m working on and a list of events where people can see my art!”
This is great! But let’s step back and imagine receiving this information via snail mail. When you receive a newsletter from an organization, what do you do with it? You may scan it for interesting info and look at the pictures. But then? Into the recycling, it goes. This is likely so even if the newsletter has a place at the back for your to order a product, send in a donation, or sign up for an event. There is just no appeal. You don’t feel a real need or a sense of urgency to take action.
This is great! But let’s step back and imagine receiving this information via snail mail. When you receive a newsletter from an organization, what do you do with it? You may scan it for interesting info and look at the pictures. But then? Into the recycling, it goes. This is likely so even if the newsletter has a place at the back for your to order a product, send in a donation, or sign up for an event. There is just no appeal. You don’t feel a real need or a sense of urgency to take action.
An email marketing campaign is different from a newsletter: it’s typically sent in a series of emails over intervals of days or weeks, and these emails are usually linked together by a common theme- often the marketer will choose to tell a continuing story that doesn’t conclude until the last email. The key elements you need in order to get started crafting your own campaign?
Research effective tactics by signing up for email lists: Sign up for some email lists (they don’t have to be other artists’ lists, but if you know of some artists doing well selling their art online it doesn’t hurt to take a peek at what they’re doing!) and take notes on the emails you receive. Note the frequency, the intervals between emails, and the way they write. You’ll probably notice that they normally write in a very conversational tone- more conversational than a standard blog post. They may leave you with a cliffhanger, or really “buddy-up” to you in these emails and make it feel like they’re sharing intimate secrets. Take note of how this makes you feel because they’re doing it on purpose!
Final thoughts
The email and other means of communication is not to be underestimated. You can build your list and keep your readers engaged with a little effort. Now go for it!
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