Why Copy Matters Most in Email Marketing
In the list of concerns that you may have about getting started on an email marketing program, or even cleaning up the one that you have, design might rise up as something that you worry about. I want to talk a little bit about why that should not sideline your email marketing efforts.
Whether you're just getting started or you’re further developing an existing email marketing program, keep in mind that copy will do most, if not all of the heavy lifting. The more design you put into your emails as a small gym owner, the less personal your emails will seem. The more corporate, they will seem.
Let’s talk about something that might help give this conversation a little context and help tease apart design fromcopy. If you talk to somebody who specializes in email design, you might find yourself a little bit confused, defining the differences between those design elements and the copy. To a designer, everything that goes into an email is ultimately part of the design.
So in the case of an email that is a text-based email — which is the sort of email that you'll tend to send as a fitness business — the copy, or the words on the page are really the only design element. For the purposes of this video, let's design the organization of the colors, shapes and images of the non-textual elements of email. In simple terms, everything that's not words
Even if you do have a very image based brand there's still a good reason to slow down in those initial emails. You can always get to those design aspects later. Even if you decide to pepper them in a little bit, you still have a largely text-based introduction. You're still trying to connect with people with words, with what matters to you.
So those design elements take at least a backseat, if they're even in the car at all. Take, for example, a lead nurture sequence. This is where we take the lead and move them down the funnel from, I don't know the first thing about your gym to: Yes. Sign me up. These are going to be mostly text-based emails.
There may be an occasion where you decide — say in email #2 — I want to introduce this prospect to what it might be like their first day at the gym. So you've got a video on YouTube or Vimeo or some such location. And you want to share that with your prospect to give them an idea of what it might be like...
You can do that with a simple text-based link within the body copy.
If you want to get super fancy, you can take a screenshot of that video link or add the link into that screenshot that it doesn't require a ton of design skill to set that up.
No matter how crazy you get with your emails, they're always going to be built on a foundation built on the message that you're communicating. And that message is going to be carried mostly by the words that you choose to use.
Don't get stuck on design.
Don't feel like you need to suddenly be a design person to get started on your email marketing. Start with:
- Who am I talking to? And...
- What do I want to say to them.
At the heart of what an email marketer does, that's it. It’s those two bullet points.
Alright, so let's agree. Design is no longer going to be the reason that you stall on creating an effective email marketing strategy.
You can start by typing it out or writing it out. If you're a pen and paper sort of person. Maybe you're a chalk and chalkboard person?
Take what you want to say. Think about your audience and sketch it out someplace.
You'll probably find the words come pretty easily. You're used to talking about your business, especially with prospects. That's your starting point. That's the information that you're going to use to build your first email sequence.
I'm pretty sure you can do that.
-Damon