Email Marketing without the Ick

You ever notice you join some people’s email lists and genuinely feel like part of a community and then you join others and you just feel like a mark? 

I’ve been noticing an influx of emails in my own inbox recently that have no regard for me as a person and seemingly no interest in me as a member of their community. 

We’ve all been there. 

We’re getting one, sometimes two, emails per day pushing … pushing … pushing. 

And the stories they share are out of this world. The advice they give is totally generic. And the way our heart rates rise or the shame gets triggered within. We’re practically having a panic attack. 

(No? Just me?)

It’s one of the biggest reasons new entrepreneurs avoid email marketing. After all, who the heck wants to feel like an email predator, alienating their subscribers, or pressuring them to buy now or unsubscribe? 

(Can you tell I’m fired up today?)

Let's talk about the difference between using your email list to build a community vs. using your email list to pressure people to buy and not seeing your subscribers as anything but a dollar sign.

Bonus Materials

• YouTube: How to Build Your Email List In 5 Super Simple Steps
• Workshop replay: Lead Magnet Love
• Blog: Stop Sweating Your Lead Magnet and Focus on THESE 3 THINGS Instead

About Lindsay
Lindsay Johnson, aka The Radical Connector, is an ick-free sales & marketing coach with over 20 years of experience teaching service-based entrepreneurs how to get their business in front of the people who are already looking for you (with money in hand) and make it clear and easy to buy from you! Their step-by-step sales & visibility formulas take you from burning out on busy work to making excellent money for your brilliance ... with way LESS work!

Free Sales Scripts
Get Lindsay's Ick-free Sales Scripts for 45 consent-based questions to help you get the sales conversation started!

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Transcript

Email Marketing without the Ick

When you think of using your email list as a way to build community, the nature of your email content will be slightly different than online businesses who are only using their email list to rush the sale and dump everyone on the list who's not a customer.

And we've all been there. We know the difference when we get an email from someone who's genuinely talking to us and building community versus push, push, push, sell, sell, sell. And then boom, get out of here. I don't want you here.

Welcome to the work, less play more podcasts for busy entrepreneurs who are ready to ditch the hustle. Stop burning on busy work and get back to having a life. My name's Lindsay Johnson, AKA The Radical Connector, and I teach first time entrepreneurs, how to get customers and make money.

Listen in, as I chat with other hustle, recovering business owners, as we share our top tips, for you guessed it working less and playing more. Let's do this. 

 All right, friends today, we were talking about email marketing that feels good. And I'm not even lying. It is coming from a place of total frustration with all of the emails that I've been getting lately that do not see me or you as anything other than a dollar sign. Let me tell you what I mean.

You ever noticed you join some people's email lists and genuinely feel like part of a community. And then you join others and you feel like more of a mark. As I said, I have been noticing an influx of emails in my own inbox recently that have no regard for me as a person and seemingly no interest in me as a member of their community, and we've all been there.

We're getting one, sometimes two, two emails per day pushing, pushing, pushing. And the stories that they're sharing are out of this world. Like, come on. The advice they give is totally generic. And the way that our heart rates rise, or that shame gets triggered within from the content of their email.

It's like, we're practically having a panic attack when we're reading it. No, just, just me. It is one of the biggest reasons that new entrepreneurs avoid email marketing, right? We don't do it ourselves. After all, who the heck wants to feel like an email predator alienating our subscribers? Oh, I just realized predator and alien.

What alienating our subscribers or pressuring them to buy now or unsubscribe, right? Either make a purchase or get out of here. And can you tell this is firing me up? I've been fired up all the weekend. We're going to be talking about the difference between using your email list to build a community versus using your email list to pressure people to buy and not seeing your subscribers as anything but a dollar sign.

As I was alluding to earlier, the biggest regret most entrepreneurs have is not taking email list building seriously or starting sooner. This is doubly true for entrepreneurs who one day want to sell online products, programs, or services.

When you think of using your email list as a way to build community, the nature of your email content will be slightly different than online businesses who are only using their email list to rush the sale and dump everyone on the list who's not a customer.

And we've all been there. We know the difference when we get an email from someone who's genuinely talking to us and building community versus push, push, push, sell, sell, sell. And then boom, get out of here. I don't want you here. It forces us to unsubscribe because we don't want to buy, the timing isn't right,

we're feeling pressured. Or worse, we do buy because we let ourselves get pressured into it.

In fact, I think that's a town hall that we should have sometime soon. How to recognize when you're being manipulated into making a purchase when it's maybe not right for you or the timing isn't right, but that pressure is being applied and how to take a beat, take a breath and make a rational decision, not an emotional one that a lot of these icky marketing and sales tactics employ. This week's challenge is about shifting your mindset from thinking you have to apply icky high pressure sales tactics to building a relationship with your subscribers and a community among them.

Building a community through your email list and a relationship with your subscribers can look like sharing updates about your life and letting folks get to know you, not just as a professional who's dang good at what you do, but as a well rounded human, who your subscribers might have a lot in common with.

Sharing helpful resources that you've created or curated that will help subscribers along their journey. Hosting a live gathering online like a workshop on Zoom, a YouTube live, a networking event, or social hour, etc. Highlighting success stories from folks within your community.

And even uplifting your subscribers. Life is hard, y'all! And reminding them how much they matter in the world. You may have noticed that I do all of these things as it's so important to me that the entrepreneurs in my community you feel supported, acknowledged and like you're part of a like minded group, regardless of whether or not folks ever work with me or make a purchase.

It's about letting go of the perception that relationships must be transactional, and instead of building a community of values-aligned, like-minded badass traveling our journeys together. So your plan for this week, I want you to send one community centered email to your email list. I want you to write your own email from the heart. No marketing lingo or pressure to make a purchase.

And it can be short and sweet. Some bonus materials for you. We have a YouTube video, how to build your email list and five super simple steps, a workshop replay in case you haven't seen it, this is an oldie, but a goodie Lead Magnet Love 

I take you through a process of how to figure out what kind of lead magnet you should make, and I live audit people's opt in pages so that you can see what makes a strong opt in page. And then a blog. You know I share this one a lot. Stop Sweating Your Lead Magnet and Focus on These Three Things Instead.

I'm just going to give you some more insight into the importance of your emails. I've just posted a bonus workshop happening October 30th, Goals Setting Diversity. This is based on our last YouTube live where I ran out of time to cover this and y'all said you wanted me to do a workshop.

So ask and you shall receive. It's happening. It's going to be happening on October 30th at 9:00 to 10:30 am pacific. I'm going to be talking about the different types of goal setting strategies and how to pick the best style based on your brain and your lifestyle.

What's going to work best for you. We're going to talk a little bit about goal setting for neurodiverse brains. What kinds of goals entrepreneurs specifically should be setting every month. How to set goals when it feels like you're just guessing or feeling your way in the dark. And you know, you're going to be creating your own goal setting roadmaps so that you can feel confident, clear, and freaking awesome by actually achieving your goals.

All right. That's it for me for this week. I want you to go ahead, get your seats saved for the upcoming workshops and lives here in October. And then get out there and send one of those emails. Remember that the emails you sent to your list don't have to be about 

high pressure sales, buy or get off the list. You are allowed to take your time, build community, build relationships,

and have fun with your email marketing. All right, get out there and be amazing

Friends, thank you so much for listening in. You'll find all the links to all the resources we discussed over on theradicalconnector.com/podcast.

Entrepreneurship is a tool for creating the life of your wildest dreams. It is not meant to take over your entire life.

If you are ready to work less and play more, get on my email list or contact me directly and let's talk about how we can get your business working for you so you can build the life of your wildest dreams and get out there and change the world. Happy connecting by for now.