Are you someone who can't stop procrastinating when it comes to doing your email marketing? Well, you're not alone.

We're Kennedy and Carrie, and today we're sharing some useful strategies to help you stop putting your email marketing off so you can get it done. Right now!

Ready?

Let's go.

SOME EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS: 

(0:34) Want to carry on with the conversation? Join our FREE Facebook group. 
(2:01) Check out our sponsor - Zerobounce! 
(3:06) Just get started (or jump back in). 
(5:15) Stack habits together or schedule appointments in your diary. 
(8:50) Make things easier for yourself and remove any friction. 
(15:45) Alternate between longer and shorter emails. 
(17:53) Follow the 'Rule of One'. 
(21:14) Create campaigns one email at the time.
(25:20) Don't let the fear of 'being bad' hold you back. 
(29:29) Create a system, process, or formula that works for you. 
(32:19) Subject line of the week.

Just get started (or jump back in)

Email marketing is not something we procrastinate over. We see it as the one activity that takes less time than anything else. If you’re putting off your email marketing, it’s probably because you’re resisting some part of it. Maybe you’re worried about what people will think or fear they will unsubscribe. Perhaps you think you’re not good at email marketing, or you’re conscious you haven’t emailed in a while. If any of these things are true, just send the email! The best way to jump back into a relationship with someone is to reach out.

Inside our programme, we have a campaign called The Terrible Friend. It's designed for people who haven't emailed their list for a while. You want to remind people of who you are and how they got into your world. It re-sets the relationship while allowing you to hold your hands up and admit you haven't been a great friend lately, but you're now ready to get back in touch.

Stack habits together or schedule appointments in your diary

One of the ways to make sure you don’t need motivation to do your email marketing is to turn it into a habit. It needs to become a part of what you do daily and to do this, you can use a trick called habit stacking. You do this already – brushing your teeth before bed or applying deodorant after a shower are just a couple of examples. That's habit stacking – doing one thing reminds you to do the next one because the actions are linked together. And you'll know from experience that if you break the chain and interrupt the pattern, you may forget to do something! It's a powerful strategy, so link the habit of writing your emails to something else you do daily.

Emailing once a day will also help, as habits that are not as frequent are easier to forget. Kennedy, for example, always writes his daily email in the morning while he’s waiting for his kettle to boil for his cup of tea. He doesn’t forget to send his emails because it's something he does every day – the habits are stacked together.

If habit stacking isn't for you, you can schedule an appointment and put it in your diary or your task management system. Or simply set an alarm on your phone, and when it goes off you write your email. If something's important, it deserves an appointment. If getting customers and building relationships is important to you, schedule an appointment.

Make things easier for yourself and remove any friction

One of the reasons why we put anything off is that we perceive it to be difficult or long. So find ways to simplify the process for yourself and make things easier – remove friction!

For example, have a template ready with your signature, unsubscribe button, and any other links at the bottom of your emails. That way, when you sit down to write an email, you know you don't have to start from scratch. Have a simple template you can click through so you can type your email and send it as quickly as possible. What can you do in terms of templates, preparation, or systems to make things easier for yourself?

If coming up with ideas is challenging for you, find a method that allows you to save your ideas and the things that happen to you daily, so you can use them for your emails. You can create a Google Doc or a note on your phone. Or you could use the prompts from inside our programme to come up with ideas. Whatever you do, have processes that make things easier and remove friction. The last thing you want is to add bumps to the road.

Take imperfect action and ‘check in' regularly

You may be someone who tends to over-engineer and overthink things. So to avoid falling into that trap, aim to get the minimum viable version out – just get it done! Take imperfect action rather than no action at all because an imperfect email you send is always better than one you never sent! You can polish progress but you can’t predict perfection, so get the first iteration out, and then improve it over time.

When you're emailing your list, you're building relationships with other humans. If you don't send anything out, they'll feel ignored, so it's best to acknowledge they're there and touch base with them regularly (even if it's briefly) than to never send anything at all. Even if you can’t put your best efforts in right now or give email marketing your full attention, just pop in! We all have a lot going on, but your audience shouldn’t feel like they’re not important. So create a little schedule and make a point to check in.

This also gives you some ‘in-built' urgency where you can say that you only have a few minutes but want to send a quick something (like an offer, a gift, or something of value) to remind people that they're important to you. Nobody will be offended – they'll be pleased because you paid attention and acknowledged they were there, so they don't feel forgotten about. Your email list is like a room full of people who want to hear from you. So stop waiting until you're polished and perfect before you send something out.

You may worry you’re annoying people by sending out emails. But let’s not forget that your subscribers are on your list because they signed up for it. They raised their hand and asked you to talk to them about a particular topic. If they feel bothered, they'll leave, and that's fine.

Alternate between longer and shorter emails 

Remember you are valuable – you are a resource, and you're human! Email marketing establishes a relationship with other humans on your list. They are people who gathered in a room waiting to hear what you have to say. So don't leave them unattended. Let them see you frequently, even if it's brief and with imperfect emails that need to be polished. No artist starts at the level where they are right now – they started at the beginning of their journey, and you need to do the same.

A lot of the time, when you sit down to do your email marketing, it can feel like a huge piece of work. And while you see some people send huge emails, your emails don’t always have to be long. Some could be as short as you touching base and sending a quick reminder or a little nugget about something. And other days you can do the opposite – if you feel you need to take the time to teach something, you can send a longer email. Don’t let the length or depth of your emails be a reason to hold back. Some of your shorter emails can be more effective than the longer ones.

Follow the ‘Rule of One'

Inside our programme, we teach the Rule of One. Every email should do one thing and one thing only. It should trigger one primary emotion and make one point. Otherwise, things get convoluted and people get lost in it. The reason why some emails are too long is that you’re probably trying to do too much in at once. You’re trying to do scarcity, urgency, and social proof in one email instead of having separate emails dedicated to each thing. You don't need to cram everything in one email!

What’s the primary emotion you want to trigger in this email you’re writing? Is it inspiration? Hope? Humour? What is the email trying to do? Are you trying to introduce the offer? Or a certain benefit? Allow your emails to only do one thing, and you’ll be automatically less overwhelmed with what you can do in your emails. 

Simplify things, dial back, and talk about one thing. The beauty of having your own email list is that you can get in touch whenever you want – you don't just get one chance. You get to email again tomorrow or any time you choose to sit at the keyboard and do your email marketing.

There’s also something to be said about sending long emails that are so valuable that people want to save them for later. But don’t do that all the time. If you were asked to say all you want to say in the time it takes to snap your fingers, what would it be? What’s the idea? Don’t overthink it. Take imperfect action, apply the finger snap idea to your emails, and see it take pressure off.

Create automated campaigns one email at the time

We see a lot of people procrastinate about creating automated campaigns because they feel they need to write all the emails from start to finish in one sitting. That’s not the case! If Stephen King never wrote a novel until he could sit down and write it all, we wouldn't have his body of work! You can create your campaigns incrementally.

Our campaigns have anything between 6 and 35-40 different emails in them. But we don't expect anyone to write 40 emails in one go! You could do one a day, for example. And you'll find that when you sit down to write your emails, you get into flow and come up with more ideas to write more. So capture those ideas and come back to them the next day. Your work will feel easier, and you'll be able to review your work again and again with a fresh pair of eyes. You can then launch the campaign when it's completed.

Writing your automations in this way also allows you to choose the times when you're at your best – at your most creative. Email marketing doesn’t need to take up your entire day. You can do a bit every day or a bit once a week – it’s up to you. Add one brick at a time and do the bit that works for you at the moment.

Don’t let the fear of ‘being bad’ hold you back

If you’re just getting started, don’t get stuck on the idea of ‘being bad at something’. Embrace this feeling. If you’re scared of looking foolish or uncomfortable doing something new (i.e. email marketing), this will hold you back. So let go of that fear and send the emails.

You’ll get to a point where you’ll have a relationship with the people on your list. So you'll be able to send them something quick and relevant while you’re in between other things, just like you’d do with a friend. You don’t rehearse a phone call with a friend or your parents, do you? You just touch base. So think of your email marketing like that.

Create a system, process, or formula that works for you

We’re all better at doing something when we have a recipe to follow. Our lack of confidence that something is going to be good can put us off doing email marketing in the first place. We worry about what people will think and we have beliefs that affect our confidence.

But if you have a proven formula or system and are using the templates and frameworks we teach inside our programme, your confidence increases automatically because the campaigns are proven and tested. Rather than following bits of advice from different sources and places, make sure you follow a simple and single formula.

Join The Email Hero Blueprint

We’re all about giving you the tactics to make your email marketing better. But the first and best thing you can do to improve your email marketing is to get it done! Once you do, every time you add a new campaign or start a new promotion, you have baseline numbers. And you’ll know how the campaigns are performing and converting and whether you're moving in the right direction.

If you want to access our resources, go check out the video from Kennedy here. It shows you how our proven system gives you the confidence, the systems, and the methodology to get your email marketing done and speed up your results.

Subject line of the week

This week’s subject line is “Speaking invitation”. Is Kennedy giving someone a speaking invitation? Of course, we never want people to feel like the subject line is about one thing and the email is about something completely different. You don’t want people to open your email and feel disappointed.

This one was about a promotion to help experts speak in front of other people's audiences and convert those opportunities into sales. Speaking isn't something that Kennedy teaches. But his audience is made of experts who are interested in these types of opportunities. So with this subject line, he tapped into that psychology. Try it out!

Useful Episode Resources

Related episodes

Time-saving tips for email marketing – how to eliminate distraction with Nir Eyal.

Supercharge Your Email Marketing Copywriting By Mastering The Rule Of One For Maximum Impact.

Lies You’ve Been Told That Are Stopping You From Making Money In Your Business.

FREE list to improve your email marketing

If you want to write better emails, come up with better content, and move your readers to click and buy, here's how. Here's a list of our Top 10 most highly recommended books that will improve all areas of your email marketing (including some underground treasures that we happened upon, which have been game-changing for us). Grab your FREE list here.

Join the FREE Facebook group

Do you want to chat about how you can maximise the value of your email list and make more money from every subscriber? There's a way! Every business is different, so come and hang out in our FREE Facebook group, the Email Marketing Show Community for Course Creators and Coaches. You'll find a lot of training and resources, and you can talk about what you're up to.

Try ResponseSuite for $1

This content is sponsored by ResponseSuite.com, the survey quiz and application form tool that we created specifically for small businesses like you to integrate with your marketing systems to segment your subscribers and make more sales. Try it out for 14 days for just $1.

Join The Email Hero Blueprint 

Want more? Let's say you're a course creator, membership site owner, coach, author, or expert and want to learn about the ethical psychology-based email marketing that turns 60-80% more of your newsletter subscribers into customers (within 60 days). If that's you, then The Email Hero Blueprint is for you.

This is hands down the most predictable, plug-and-play way to double your earnings per email subscriber. It allows you to generate a consistent sales flow without launching another product, service, or offer. Best news yet? You won't have to rely on copywriting, slimy persuasion, NLP, or ‘better' subject lines.

Want to connect with Carrie?

You can find Carrie on her website or at Fully Leveraged Business. 

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Thanks so much for tuning into the podcast! If you enjoyed this episode (all about useful strategies to get your email marketing done if you're someone who can't stop procrastinating) and love the show, we'd appreciate you subscribing and leaving us a review of the show on your favourite podcast player.

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