How To Get Started With Email Marketing For Small Businesses

Email marketing can sometimes be the last thing on our list when it should really be top of mind in every campaign you run for your business. In this episode, I got to chat with Tonnisha, owner of TJE Communications, a Columbus Ohio, minority-owned marketing company that helps entrepreneurs get a handle on their digital marketing.

How Tonnisha started her business. 

Graduating from Ohio Dominican University, Tonnisha got her degree in public relations and communication but after graduating and despite having 10 internships, while being heavily involved on campus (including being homecoming queen, president of the Public Relations Society, and president of the Black Student Union), she could not find a job in marketing or pr post-graduation. 

So, in 2014, Tonnisha started the business while I also working at other companies, nonprofits, and corporations. In 2016, Tonnisha had Taegan, her daughter and that was the big shift. “It really just put everything into perspective for me and just gave me that push that I knew that I needed to do this business so that I could be able to control my life control my schedule, and I wasn't like tied down to having to be at a job from eight to five or beyond, and then having limited time with my daughter,” says Tonnisha. 

In April of 2019, Tonnisha finally quit her corporate job and has been working for herself for 19 months (as of the recording of this episode).

“THERE'S REALLY NOTHING IN LIFE THAT YOU ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO DO,” SAYS TONNISHA

She believes that you don’t have to go to a job that you're miserable in and that you don’t have to be around people that make you unhappy. “Now, I'm not saying it's going to be easy. But it is possible.”

Why is email marketing important?

“...email marketing has the largest return on investment than any other marketing platform out there,” says Tonnisha. She mentions that among commercials, mailers, and social media, email marketing takes the cake. Why? You're able to track that entire process. 

Although you can track on social, you still can’t really know what happens afterward. When sending out an email, you can track the number of times a person opened it, shared it, and clicked. Then, you’re able to tailor the content being sent to the person. Although Tonnisha still thinks social is great, she says it can’t really support the growth of your business like email can.

Take Black Friday as an example: every year, Tonnisha has noticed that social platforms sometimes have a period of time when they’re just not working. Everyone’s trying to get on there. Everyone’s trying to post. How will you get the word out about your sale? Email.

Email marketing can also support your ad campaigns. You know the people on your list are already interested in what you want, why not target those on your list to get them to purchase a bit more.

The best part is that people are now being more intentional about who they buy from. If you’re a local business, you can utilize email marketing to really push your sales during the holidays and capture that “shop local” feeling that consumers have.

How do you get started with Email Marketing?

GETTING STARTED? 

Tonnisha recommends Mailchimp as a platform. She recommends setting up your sign up forms and not just leaving them blank and plain. Make sure they’re well branded and link to them from everywhere - even your email signature. Out at a networking event? Email a “Thanks for chatting” follow up and ask if they’d like to be added to your email list.

Side note: Tonnisha and I both agree that you should NEVER add people you met at a networking event without their permission. Either you will be marked as spam (and it’ll come

Make sure that you have a lead magnet. Think of it as an even exchange for an email address. It could be 10% off an order, a white paper, or a list of 5 tips for something in your subject matter. 

PAST THE “GETTING STARTED” PHASE? 

Tonnisha is currently using Active Campaign. She admits that it’s a perfect tool for her because she really hates selling. The unique thing about this tool is that it works by sort of adding points to people depending on how they’re interacting with your emails. 

“So let's say you're on my mailing list, and you open an email that might earn you five points. If you click on an email, maybe it gives you 10 if you download something, maybe that's 30 points, once you get to like 75 points that could put you into an automation so that I know that you're interested in my products or services,” explains Tonnisha. She then focuses on growing the relationship and adding value.

One thing to keep in mind when choosing an email marketing platform is integration with your current website. Spats with Shopify and Mailchimp now require the use of a third party to integrate the two.

What’s a lead magnet and how does it fit into email marketing?

Lead magnets are you giving something away in exchange for an email, whether it’s a free download or 10% off. You also don’t want to just leave your sign up form as “Sign up for updates” or “Sign up for our newsletter” because no one wants more spam emails. Entice them to sign up and give them value.

Thinking about a downloadable item? Don’t worry about the content. “...more than likely, you probably already have this content out there from social media posts that you've made, email campaigns that you've already sent, you just got to go through everything that you've done,” says Tonnisha. She’s all about repurposing content, saving time, and getting something enticing up as a lead magnet.

So your email marketing platform is set up, now what?

Tonnisha suggests you think about your intention. Are you trying to sell more stuff, have them purchase a course or service? Then send out emails that focus on these goals.

“For me, my email primarily is to build my brand,” says Tonnisha. A tip of the month is what Tonnisha mainly focuses on. It’s something that’s predictable for her audience and still enticing. She includes a free download or articles she’s written. 

Knowing your intention means you can easily build an email plan around it. “The the easiest way to go about it is kind of think of like this content pyramid,” she says. You’ll have one theme of the month. Then you break it down into weeks and plot out what each sub-theme will be for the week. Plan out your social posts and use them as different talking points in the email.

EMAIL MARKETING BEST PRACTICE TIP: LINK TO YOUR WEBSITE.

Although you might be getting some emails that are just linking to websites other than those of the sender, that’s not the best way to go unless you’re just trying to get content out there. And even then, you could still link back to your website where you wrote a summary of what you read then link to the full article. You can also utilize a page on your site as “Resources” and link to that form your email.

How do we know if email marketing is working or not?

It’s all about the analytics. This is why it’s important to not just send mass emails out from your regular provider like Gmail while BCCing everyone. Having a platform will mean you can see exactly who clicked, when they opened, what they clicked, and if they opened your email multiple times. Some platforms also show how you’re performing according to industry benchmarks.

EMAIL MARKETING BEST PRACTICE TIP: HAVE A CALL TO ACTION.

This one is simple. If you don’t have anywhere to click, your reader won’t click on anything. You want to almost always give them a call to action that’s not hidden or too far down in the email. Sending a long email? Have the link in multiple places.

EMAIL MARKETING BEST PRACTICE TIP: MAKE THE IMAGES CLICKABLE.

This is a huge missed opportunity. People will instinctively click an image and you could be missing out if nothing happens. This will help increase your click rates.

How often should you send out emails to clients or customers?

The number of email sends depends on your goals. Trying to sell something? Tonnisha suggests weekly or at least bi-weekly. If it's more brand awareness, she says you can do monthly or even bi-weekly. But you also need to listen to your audience or give them the choice of how many emails they would like to get (this feature could depend on your platform).

You’ll then want to set up your resends. Typically, it’s about 24 to 48 hours from the original send. This is key to getting those that didn’t open the email to finally check it out. For those that did open it, you can either resend or tweak the content and then resend. Just make sure you’re changing the subject line.

In corporate, email is a huge thing, especially the contingencies and resends. Although the emails you get from one company might not be too many, you don’t know the number of resends, tweaks, and contingencies they have planned on the back end. Although, as a small business, you might not have that intense of a plan, still add some resends and tweaks to emails to get your sales up - especially with Black Friday.

Tonnisha is a full-time entrepreneur and Founder of TJE Communications. She offers digital marketing solutions to small business owners to help them level the playing field between themselves, and large corporations. Tonnisha has worked with non-profits, e-commerce and retail brands, health brands, hair care, food and restaurant, construction, and more.

Find Tonnisha on her website, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and check out the Respect The Hustle Conference next time it’s around!