Note from Jana: This is a guest blog – with tips for how to make money with email marketing – is from my biz friend and fellow course creator Jono Petrohilos from the Course Creator Community!
Jono is an accomplished fitness pro, 6-figure course creator, a best-selling author, and a mentor to many of my online course creator friends. So I was pretty thrilled to have an opportunity to feature his advice here.
Read on for six of Jono’s best tips for improving the results you’re getting with your email marketing!
Take it away, Jono!
Most entrepreneurs, coaches and course creators understand the importance of email list.
It’s been drummed into us, right?
“The money is in the list!”
“You don’t own Social Media; but you do own your email list!”
… etc, etc… And honestly speaking, I’d say list building is actually done quite well in the online courses space!
What’s not always done well however, is actually monetising that email list. That’s why I’m here, to give you my Top 6 Tips for doing just that – How to make money with email marketing!
So, if things aren’t working as well as you’d like, try some of these six tips…
Email Marketing Tip 1: Send regular emails!
The first thing you need to do is commit to sending ‘regular’ emails.
Now I purposely haven’t mentioned a number here (e.g. 1 x week, 3 x week, 10 x week) because what’s more important than frequency is consistency.
You’re better off committing to one email a week for the rest of your life… Then three emails this week… 0 emails next week, two emails the week after… It just doesn’t work when you’re not consistent!
If you’re worried about ‘what to send’ – don’t worry… I’ll cover that below. For now, what I want you to do is make a commitment that you are going to send (x) emails per week to your list! Also pick regular day(s) and time(s). For example, commit to the plan that your emails are going to go out every Monday and Thursday at 8am PST.
Email Marketing Tip 2:
Start every email with a ‘personal paragraph.’
One of the biggest advantages you have as an entrepreneur / small business is that your business messages can be so much more personal than the “corporate” stuff in their in boxes.
You want to really show that personality in your emails! You don’t need to give your life story… but mention something ‘personal-ish’ in each email.
It could be as simple as whether your sporting team won / lost on the weekend… what your kids did to drive you crazy… or if you’re single with no life like me, 🤣 what Netflix show you just binged (I personally just finished Sons of Anarchy… for the 6th time)…
See what I did there? I’m making myself more of a ‘person’ – which automatically makes me more relatable…. And any Sons of Anarchy fans will be more likely to buy from me, because they’re thinking “This guys a Jax Teller fan… how bad can he be???”. 🤷🏾♂️
Email Marketing Tip 3:
Give ONE tip in every email you send.
You don’t need to be a crazy amazing copywriter… and you don’t need to give a crazy amount of value in each email. Oh, and your email shouldn’t be a chapter in a book or even a whole blog.
People’s attention span is so short these days. (Need proof? Stories.. Reels… These things are like 15-60 secs max because that’s how long the average person’s attention span is!)
Use this blog as an example – it includes “6 Tips” for how to make money with email marketing… so I would NEVER send this all in an email! No one’s got time to read 6 tips in an email! I would just give ONE of these tips… and if I’m sending one email a week – this blog would give me SIX WEEKS of content!
Boom!
Email Marketing Tip 4: Sell in EVERY email.
There is absolutely no reason NOT TO SELL in every email (if done properly).
Now don’t get me wrong – I’m not saying every email is a hard sell… with the sole focus to make a sale. What I’m saying is if you send an email giving your audience a tip – there is NO DISADVANTAGE in having a little sell down the bottom. For example, I might write…
PS: If you likes this tip – I actually have a full course on how to make money with email marketing… and it’s currently on special – CLICK HERE to check it out!
The subscriber is not going to think “Oh wow – that was a good tip… but now he’s trying to sell me something, so I’m going to unsubscribe!” If they don’t like your tips / emails, then yeah they will unsubscribe but it’s got nothing to do with whether you put a little “PS sell” down the bottom of your email!
If anything – you’re doing your subscribers a DISSERVICE by not adding a little sell down the bottom. Because after your tip you may have “sold them” on how important your topic is – and they may now want to hire a coach / take a course / invest in the next step. But if you haven’t added a link to your program – they’ll just go and google someone else who isn’t as good as you!
Email Marketing Tip 5:
The ‘sell’ isn’t always monetary.
Now when I say ‘sell’ at the end of every email, it doesn’t always have to be monetary. Monetary is my FAVOURITE type of sell… but there are other options. The “sell” could be…
- Read my latest blog
- Listen to my latest podcast episode
- Join my Facebook Group
- Watch this free training (which has a sell at the end of it)
- Attend my free webinar (Yup, that also has a sell at the end of it! 🤓 )
- Watch my latest YouTube video
- Check out this software (that you’re an affiliate for)
(And of course, there are a thousand different options…)
And there are a few benefits of doing this. Firstly, you’re growing your social media – which has its own advantages. Secondly, you’re also ‘training’ your subscribers to ‘click on your link,’ so when it’s time to sell something with monetary value – your audience is used to clicking on something valuable.
Email Marketing Tip 6: Put effort into your subject line.
– When it comes to actually making money with email marketing, your subject line is just as important as your actual email. If your subject line sucks, no one will open your email and read that awesome email you spent all that time putting together!
YouTubers will tell you something similar – they spend just as much time on the thumbnail as they do the actual video. Copywriters will also tell you the headline is the most important part of your copy. Same with subject lines!
Now coming up with a good subject line is a blog on it’s own… which I’ve also written – (7 Tips to Craft Email Subject Lines That Get Opened – click here to check it out!) But for now, I just want you to commit to putting real effort into it.
So there you go! They are my 6 Tips for How to Make Money with Email Marketing! Give them a crack and let me know what you think! In the meantime I would love to connect with you on Social Media – you can find my links below.
Oh, and thanks to Jana O. for featuring my tips, too!
– Jono Petrohilos, Founder and Director at the Course Creator Community, found at: https://www.coursecreatorcommunity.net
If you’re an Online Course Creator, the Course Creator Community has one of the largest and most engaged groups on Facebook, so click here to join. I’d love to see you there.
