How to Strengthen Community through Authentic Email Marketing
Written by: Karley Parrish
Email marketing is one of the most powerful strategies to build trust and cultivate community with your audience. Think about it like this—you don’t share your email address with just anyone.
Introduction to Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the most powerful strategies to build trust and cultivate community with your audience. Think about it like this—you don’t share your email address with just anyone. You likely know the business, want to stay up-to-date on events and sales, or you simply enjoy hearing from them.
Email marketing provides a direct line to your ideal client—no trends or pesky algorithms to fight. Just you and your intentional words, landing right in front of your community.
As a marketing strategist and founder of Bud to Bloom Marketing, it’s my job to keep a pulse on the latest and greatest marketing trends and strategies. While I’ve seen Instagram, TikTok, and many other platforms (remember Clubhouse and Lemon8?) evolve over the years, email marketing has remained the TOP focus for me and my clients. And I have a feeling that won’t change any time soon.
How to Start Growing Your Email List
If you’re brand new to email marketing, no stress! Here are the 5 steps I recommend taking to begin growing an email list and developing a relationship with your subscribers.
1. Choose an email marketing provider.
The very first step is signing up for an email marketing platform. Over my 5+ years of experience in the online space, I’ve used nearly all the big-name platforms, and Flodesk is the one I highly recommend. Click here to try Flodesk for free and get 50% off your first year!
Within your email marketing provider, you’ll collect and segment subscribers, create opt-in forms, set up workflows and automations, and of course, email your community! Flodesk makes this process simple with beautifully designed templates, a user-friendly interface, and a support team that wants to see you succeed.
2. Create a freebie for your audience.
As we discussed, people don’t love handing over their email address for no reason. That’s why it’s helpful to provide something of value in exchange. This is where your freebie comes into play!
A freebie can be something as simple as a PDF download or as complex as a mini-course or quiz. Consider what your audience wants to learn and needs from you, and think about how you can turn that into a freebie. For more freebie inspiration, this blog post has lots of ideas!
3. Set up a landing page and delivery sequence for your freebie.
Now that you’ve created your freebie, it’s time to set up everything on the backend so your community receives it. First, you need a landing page. This is where someone fills out a form with their name and email. You can either build a full-page form on Flodesk for this, or you can build an in-line form in Flodesk and embed it onto your website.
Second, you need a delivery sequence. This is an automated email sequence of at least one email, sending someone your freebie upon filling out the form!
4. Promote your freebie to start growing your list.
Once you’ve tested your landing page and delivery sequence, it’s time to promote your freebie! Set a goal for yourself on where and how often you share your freebie.
Some places to promote your freebie are your social media, stories, within blog posts, and Pinterest.
5. Email your list consistently to foster community.
Is your email list now growing? That’s amazing! Don’t forget a final and key factor of email marketing—emailing your list consistently. This is where true trust is built and community is fostered.
How to Use Email Marketing to Strengthen Community
You have a killer freebie and an email list that grows every single week! Now, here are some tips for using your email marketing efforts to strengthen your community.
Share the real and raw—even when it’s hard.
The best way to connect with your subscribers is by being honest. You don’t have to share anything outside of your comfort zone, but vulnerable emails will remind them that you’re human and someone they can trust.
The emails that are the most “real” often get the highest open rates and replies for me. Try it out and see how your audience responds!
Ask for replies and feedback.
Receiving an email reply is the BEST thing ever, because you know someone actually read your words and took the time to share their thoughts. Not every email needs to have a salesy call-to-action. Sometimes, a simple “reply with your weekend plans” or “let me know what you thought about XYZ” goes a long way.
Give your email list the inside scoop, before social media.
Treat your email list like VIPs, because let’s face it—they are! Make them feel special and exclusive by sharing behind-the-scenes moments and things you’re working on before they’re launched to the public.
A bonus tip here: tease on social media that you shared something exclusive with your email list, and use that curiosity to grow your list as well!
Authentically share what’s on your mind, business-related or otherwise.
Email marketing is flexible. Low pressure. Unlike an Instagram post that lives on your feed forever, emails aren’t public for everyone to always see. This gives you the opportunity to switch up your email schedule and share what’s on your mind at the moment.
Sometimes I’ll see a trend that I do/don’t agree with or a recent world or pop culture event will happen that inspires a timely email with my thoughts. This gives you the space to share in a relaxed environment.
Treat your email list like you’re talking to a friend.
Your subscribers are your friends! Unless your brand voice is very professional, keep your emails casual. I love using emojis, slang, gifs, and fun photos to keep the mood light and friendly.
My emails are typically not super structured or formal, and that makes it more fun for me to write and my audience to read.
Share stories more than you sell.
If you take one email marketing tip from this entire post, let it be this: share stories more than you sell. Stories hook people in, drive connection, and help subscribers remember you and your values.
Email marketing is NOT a place to sell, sell, sell. We’ve all been there when someone only emails when they want to sell us something and it feels..off. If they spent most of their time connecting with you and sharing stories consistently, then you’d likely be more open to learning about their offers.
Conclusion
If your ultimate goals for your business are to grow sustainably, make an impact, build deep relationships, and put energy into strategies that work, consider making email marketing a priority. Sign up for Flodesk here to get started, and don’t be afraid to experiment and have fun!
Karley Parrish is a marketing strategist and the founder of Bud to Bloom Marketing. Inside her business, she's committed to crafting marketing strategies you're actually excited to create—because they feel like YOU. She believes you already have the power to manage your own marketing, but the right support and environment will help you thrive. When she's not working, you can find her hiking with her husband Nick and dogs Rico and Stryker or sipping something yummy at a local Maryland coffee shop.
Website: https://www.budtobloommarketing.com/
Social: https://www.instagram.com/budtobloommarketing/
10 Sales Email Templates: https://www.budtobloommarketing.com/shop/p/sales-email-templates
