My Email Manifesto
Email is dead. Long live email.
I used to hear about the demise of email all the time. Whenever a new social media platform blew up, or when texting/chat/bot/SMS-based communication became a thing, I’d see, “Email is dead!”
Yeah…nope.
It’s still around and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. We've just become more adept at using it for different communication purposes–both sending and receiving. Our attitudes have changed, and subsequently, the significance and utilization of email. We categorize, tag, filter, delete, and archive to help us choose which messages to give our attention to. And inboxes themselves have become more refined and sophisticated, making it easier to organize our email…hopefully.
Ideally.
Maybe kinda sort of…. ?
For the past decade, I’ve been involved with managing the email marketing channel for a variety of businesses. With one exception, all of them were startups in the business-to-business (B2B) space. The email databases I oversaw ranged from 100,000s in size to several million, from US-only to global.
Managing a large number of email addresses forces one to be more 1-way in communication, more transactional. Strategizing for engagement could not realistically scale beyond getting an email delivered, opened, or clicked. Even in large corporations with lots of resources, 'personalization' rarely went beyond the first name, "Hi Sally,".
What you can measure, you can manage. Taken to an extreme.
In the B2B space, it’s pretty much all they do…and it’s limiting, sterile, and cold.
So I left.
Emails for Humans
I believe email communications can be more.
Think about the emails you open every day. Chances are they're a handful of people, companies, or brands that you like to open almost all the time. Why?
Beyond newsy stuff, I think it’s because you enjoy the content from that sender. We like their tone, their information, teaching, tips, resources, humor, and surprises. You’re keen and curious to find out what they have to say or offer or ask. You derive value.
They have earned your trust and affinity, and maybe even loyalty.
Building Community, Not Just a List
I like to think that small business owners and entrepreneurs are not only building an email list (and there are several ways to do that successfully and ethically), but they're also building a community.
Think about it like that.
These folks are your tribe. There’s something about the way you approach what you do, or the way you say it, the way you offer or deliver your solutions, that resonates with these people. Yes, some of them more than others. But that’s natural, and okay.
The key is you stand for something they stand for. They share the same values, points of view, interests, struggles, goals, and humor.
"People like us, do things like this." is one of my favorite quotes by Seth Godin. I remind myself to come back to it when I feel that sting of rejection.
Aaah, the people who do find you, are attracted to your words, videos, social posts, newsletter, music, and art; these are the souls that require your attention. They are the ones you serve with your heart and creativity, with generosity and joy and determination.
They are part of a community revolving around you, some close and some farther out.
One thing's for sure...they are not just sales targets.
Empathy at the Core
One of my superpowers is empathy, the ability to intuit and understand what it might be like to be in someone else’s shoes.
There’s a really cool visual tool called an Empathy Map that I came across years ago that I love.
Originating from a design firm, the Empathy Map was developed as a framework for helping companies better understand their customers so they could provide better products and user experiences. It's also a first stop in DesignThinking.
When I was exposed to it, the exercise illustrated how a person communicates to others about a problem, expressing it differently depending on their relationship with the other person, and also to themselves–what they say inside their head.
If you're unhappy with a report or project from a colleague, you will express that dissatisfaction differently to your business partner, your best friend, a distant associate, a peer, your spouse, the colleague in question, and then inside your own head, ....“What the actual f**k is this?!”
Or maybe a hard-working entrepreneur has just started a launch. How would they vent their anxiety to their bestie, "Ugh, this launch is a dumpster fire"... to their coach, "I feel stuck—what’s my blind spot?'"... to their team, "Okay, let’s regroup and fix this"... to their partner, "Why did I think running a business was a good idea?"... and to themselves, 'Well, that’s just f**king great. Gold star for me!"
I keep empathy front and center when crafting email campaigns, from welcome sequences to longer keep-in-touch campaigns. What would I want to see, hear, read, and feel about the action I just took, the download I just received, or the fee I just paid?
An audience can be impacted, influenced, and even transformed through email messages that prioritize their experience.
Curiosity and Continuous Learning
I recently had a personal insight that I’ve often been operating within a fixed mindset rather than a growth mindset. *Gasp* Yeah, truthtelling over here. Not gonna lie.
I'm working on that…
But I do love learning. It’s one of the values I’ve built into my business. To keep it front and center and a reminder to bring a growth mindset to all of my projects and campaigns. All of marketing is an experiment. There are lots of opportunities to test things out. It's an ever-evolving activity. What worked great in the past may not work as well now. Think process rather than outcome. Learn quickly and make changes. Watch. Learn. Refine. Repeat.
And email is no exception. What worked last year doesn’t work this year. Ask any email professional a question about email marketing, and they’ll likely start with, “It depends….”
I’ve come to accept that what I might think is true may not be accurate anymore. So I can say I have strong opinions, but loosely held–open to further information, experiences, and testing.
Generosity and Value First
Attracting your ideal audience, building affinity, and earning their trust and loyalty takes time.
Play the long game. Provide value. Be generous. Be helpful.
It will come back to you.
A Playful, Authentic Approach
You may have noticed I can be a bit irreverent. This didn’t really play out well in corporate, TBH. Come to think about it, I got in a lot of trouble in school when I was younger for being mouthy. Fights ensued. Meetings were called with principals, teachers, and guidance counselors. Mom continually drilled into me, “Think before you speak, Cheryl!” It sorta stuck.
Maybe kinda sort of….
Anyway, I do enjoy the work I do and have worked with so many lovely people. I strive to bring a sense of play, warmth, and humor to my approach so that clients feel like their email campaigns are less like a chore and more like an opportunity to do something remarkable.
My Big Why
I help small business owners, entrepreneurs, consultants, coaches, trainers, authors, and self-employed professionals grow their businesses by growing and engaging with their ideal audience. These lovely people work hard to make an impact and a difference for others.
This can, and does, happen through email marketing...attracting and engaging with their audiences so connections and relationships are built, trust grows, and the right people become paying clients. Not all of them, but the ideal ones.
Email is still a very powerful and effective way to grow your business.
Long live email.
