You’ve probably heard experts online say something about how building an email list is essential for your marketing toolkit. But sending people emails probably sounds daunting, right? Especially when you work from your heart, it can feel confusing to figure out which marketing tactics you actually want to use. Luckily, soulful email marketing is absolutely possible and an important part of your marketing plan.

You’ve maybe looked at a couple different email marketing platforms (Mailchimp, ConvertKit, Flodesk, etc.) and gotten overwhelmed. When you think of all the competing marketing tasks you’re “supposed” to be doing, it’s easy to decide to just click away and worry about it later.

So how do you figure out the minimally necessary way to start building your email list without feeling so overwhelmed that you start looking at getting your old job back? 

My goal is to help you cut through the clutter of “shoulds” and get right to the heart of how you can harness this powerful business tool in the most soulful way.

Why Soulful Email Marketing Matters

Before we dive into the how, let’s talk about the why. Email newsletters evolved from the snail mail kind of the decades pre-internet. In the beginning, they pretty much looked like the print version - like a mini-newspaper. Busy and chaotic, and super stiff and formal.

Thankfully, the internet has provided a space to find out what people actually like and want to read. It’s created a more casual connection between the public and businesses. It’s opened up the world of solopreneurship in a way that just wasn’t available pre-internet. 

This has allowed us to evolve the old email newsletter into something that sounds a lot more relationship-building and from the heart.

EMAIL MARKETING OR… SOCIAL MEDIA?

Alongside all of this, social media has evolved as well, creating even more intimate peeks into people’s lives, feelings, and the ways they do their work. People have a love/hate relationship with social media and how it has shaped marketing and the attention economy.

Some people wonder if email marketing is dead (spoiler: it’s not), especially with how wildly popular social media has become. But the truth is this: social media just cannot ever replace the personal experience and quietude that is opening up an email from someone you really admire.

Emails are personal. Uncluttered (when done right). They don’t send you on a distracted scrolling binge, left wondering where an hour went. Emails create warmth, connection, trust. They’re the closest thing to sending someone a heart written letter in the mail. They feel more real.

When someone follows you on Instagram, it sometimes feels like a game. Should you follow them back? If you don’t, what message will that send? When they unfollow you, you wonder what you did wrong. 

When someone subscribes to your email list and stays subscribed, it’s a much bigger commitment. It’s a much bigger YES. They’ve read your words and loved them. They’re ready to learn from YOU.

KEEP YOUR AUDIENCE

Once of the biggest downfalls of social media is that you’re generating income for *someone else*. Someone who doesn’t always have good intentions and doesn’t mind crossing ethical boundaries in order to increase profit. Someone who offers you the experience of building an audience, but doesn’t allow you to “take” that audience off platform. 

There is no “export list” feature on social media. If you’re not consistently pushing folks toward your email list, and for some reason you lose access to your social media account (it happens for many reasons), you’ve completely lost your audience. 

Building an email list allows you to have more control over how you reach your audience of raving fans.

Additionally, people are far more likely to buy from you if they are an email subscriber. That’s because they’ve taken the time to connect with you and have built a level of trust with you. Email marketing still outperforms sales through social media, and there’s a reason for that.

Getting Started Before You’re Ready to Write

I highly encourage you to set up a form on your website now and start collecting emails. If you have something heartfelt you’d like to offer folks as a thank you for subscribing to your newsletter list, that can be very effective. But at least start with a form and some lovely words to encourage people to sign up.

Why do this if you’re not ready to write emails? Because someday in the future you will be. And you’ll be oh-so-grateful that you have 120 people to write to instead of starting from scratch then.

Your future self will thank your past self. So take the time to get started, even if it’s super minimal.

General Email Marketing Best Practices

There are a TON of best practices out there and they are constantly evolving, because humans are constantly evolving their behavior when interacting with technology. It’s really easy to get hung up on rules and I don’t recommend it. But it’s impossible to break the rules when you’re not familiar with them yet. ;)

I’m a minimalist when it comes to marketing. Simple or I’m not doing it. So I’ve pulled out some of the best practices that are actually useful. You can hunt online for more, but they might not apply neatly to solopreneurs. If you love this rabbit hole, feel free to run down it!

1) WHITESPACE EMAILS ARE MORE SUCCESSFUL THAN “PRETTY” EMAILS.

Several studies have found that email users respond more favorably to emails from their favorite people that just look like a plain ol’ regular email. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t add a photo or two. But it does mean that less is better.

Why is this the case? Generally, we associate emails with lots of images and colors with big corporations that are trying to get a sale. So when small businesses copy these design styles, they’re just blending in. Our brains just tune them out. 

Our brains do stay attuned to emails that look like they’re from a friend. So we are more inclined to pay attention to business emails that look like friend emails. And if you’re sending heart-felt words, it’s even more effective in feeling like a real email (because it almost is).

2) PICK A SCHEDULE THAT FITS YOU AND YOUR AUDIENCE.

There’s one thing that really moves the needle when you’re building a business, and that’s consistency and dependability. That doesn’t mean that you have to send out your emails on the exact days that you say you’re going to and ONLY those days.

If you’re sick, rest and send it later. If you’ve got something special to announce and you’ve already sent out your email for the month, announce it! People don’t want perfection, but they do like to see that you have a routine they understand how to fit into.

Play with your frequency. Some entrepreneurs send out a weekly email. Some send out a monthly email (plus announcements). Anything more frequently than that and you risk being plain ol’ annoying (just saying). You can try weekly (if you actually have great content to share on a weekly basis), or switch to monthly. Find your groove and keep it rollin’.

And that’s it, folks. Those are the only best practices that I’m sharing, because they’re the only ones that truly matter. You can take a copywriting course and learn all kinds of hacks for getting people to buy through your emails. But if you’re more interested in sharing your heart, there’s not really a list of rules on how you should do that because everyone is unique.

How to Make Email Marketing Soulful

Now that we’ve established the general guidelines for minimalist newsletter writing, let’s move onto the part you’re really interested in: writing soulfully.

There really isn’t a quick hack or shortcut to figuring this one out. You simply have to just start writing. Your emails might be pretty awkward at first. They might miss the mark with your audience. You might have a couple unsubscribes. Don’t get lost in imposter syndrome and give up. Keep going.

Writing is only something you can get good at with practice. Practicing with real people is how to get good quickly. Taking risks and getting feedback is how you grow and gain confidence.

There are so many ways you can imbue your soul into your writing. It all starts with figuring out *why* you’re writing to your people. Yes, it’s to promote your work and grow your business. But beyond that, what is the WHY you’re sharing in your words? What soulful knowledge do you have that these folks are dying to hear about?

You can write short, catchy emails that feel like personal check-ins. Or you can write longer essays about life and your work. You can curate resources and cool links for people to check out, contained nicely with your thoughts about them. 

If your work is more technical, find the bridge that can support people’s access to those services carried by your why-anchored words. Just because you do something more linear or left-brained, it doesn’t mean that you have to write boring How-Tos or un-engaging lists. You too can talk about your mission and the vision behind why you do what you do.

Anchor your emails to real life. Give them personality. Give them depth and a rawness, so that people can see your humanness. Make yourself relatable, not inaccessible. 

Perfectionism is a curse common to solopreneurs. Don’t be afraid to be human and focus on how to connect with others, over showcasing your work from an intimidating polished stance.

Above all, find the courage to simply BE YOU.

Finding Your Rhythm, Listening to Your Audience, & Adapting

Writing newsletters is an evolving process. You start somewhere and then you check in to find out how you can improve. You check out your open rates in your email marketing platforms analytics. You pay attention to how often someone responds directly to one of your emails. You notice when a particular email gets a lot of interaction and feedback (and then you ponder what about that was so appealing and how you can replicate it again). 

Running a business is half art and half science. It requires some left-brained data contemplation. And it requires the courage to break rules and create a space that only you can create.

Get inspiration from others’ very good emails. Find cool frequency patterns or thematic anchoring you love. Don’t be afraid to do your emails differently from anyone else. But also don’t get too distracted by shiny object syndrome, constantly changing things and never landing somewhere for very long.

Give your experiments a chance to prove to you whether they’ll work or not, then move on when they’re not quite right.

And, as always, keep showing up. Your audience needs some of the wisdom you’re dying to share. So share it already, perfect or not. :)