Whew, I just wrote a bunch of posts on email marketing. With all this marketing talk, let’s step back and remember what we’re doing here and where marketing fits in. Remember that I have zilch training or expertise in marketing (hence my ignorance and naivete).

Building a Community

We’re trying to build a community for artists and crafters to share their work and find inspiration in each other. This means getting a lot of people together who like to share and who value other people’s ideas. That’s hard work. How do you find so many people? And how do you keep them engaged?

Enter Marketing

Marketing, strictly speaking, is the promotion of goods or services. There are many different desired outcomes to marketing: sales, branding, building relationships. Our desired outcome is to bring people into our community and keep them engaged. Marketing is simply one small tool in our toolbox. Hopefully it works.

Finding our Users

We’re not doing much marketing yet to find users. We’ve tried a few Facebook ads and Google ads but we’re mostly just using word-of-mouth at this early stage. We’re still in our early alpha release so we’re concentrating on building the site to meet the needs and desires of the users we already have.

We’ve started the Seed Giveaway promotion recently to help bring in new users, as well as reward our current users. Time will tell if it works but we’re excited to see so many new projects being posted.

Engaging our Users

We just started using marketing, specifically newsletters, as one way to engage our users. We remind them we’re alive, that we have interesting stuff going on, and ask them to be involved and give us feedback. Pretty simple. That’s what the slew of email marketing posts were about: how to use email and still be a human being.

I also consider blogs, Twitter and Facebook to be “marketing channels,” in a loose sense. This might seem cold-hearted, manipulative or short-sighted. Don’t get me wrong: the social web is a revolution and way more important than just being a marketing tool. But they are mediums for expressing ourselves, finding friends and building relationships. That’s “marketing” when your goal is to actually build a community.

Bottom Line

I think that’s where the marketing misconception comes in. Just because we have something to promote doesn’t mean we’re being disingenuous in forming relationships with people. We’re Miranda and Dave, two people sitting at the dining room table hammering out a website. There’s no trickery here. We just want to build something cool that people will use.

You’re good, your product is good, your users are good. But something is missing: love. No hugs, no kisses, not even hand-holding. Believe it or not, email marketing is the start of a loving relationship. It’s a way to converse with someone you care about. So do you need that?

Yes

Notice I don’t care about your business. Because whatever business you’re in, you need email marketing, a way to talk to your users and start a conversation. If you don’t have an email list of users/customers/clients/friends, you’re at zero, you’re effectively mute. No offense, but get in your DeLorean, power up the flux capacitor and drive your ass to the twenty-first century. Start getting a list together now.

Things are Changing

True, things are changing. Social media provide new marketing channels. People can follow you on Twitter, fan you on Facebook, subscribe to your blog. All exceptional ways to engage with your customers, everyone already knows that. I’d write about them but we’re talking about email here. It’s still useful and effective, just not as cool or in vogue.

Use the Force

Email is the most widely adopted communication system at your disposal. Everyone has email and if they want to talk to you, they’ll trust you with their email address and give you permission to contact them. So do it. Start the conversation by:

• Being you: You’re a nice, funny and passionate person. Be that, talk straight.
• Giving them value: Ideas, advice, coupons, whatever you have to offer that they want.
• Asking for feedback: Ideas, complaints, stories, anything. They’re interesting people with valuable perspectives.

That’s the starting point and email marketing is your first channel. Don’t be scared or overwhelmed, just talk to your people about cool stuff and let the love affair begin.

You have objections to email marketing. Let’s address them and remove your mental blockage.

First, free your mind of your preconceptions of “marketing” and the marketing drones you’ve met. You’re probably thinking of an old dude tricking teenagers into buying ringtones. That ain’t you.

But Marketing is Douchey

Marketing is only douchey in the hands of douchebags. It’s a tool, a way to communicate with your users, engaging them in a relationship that benefits both of you. It’s a way to express your personality and demonstrate your humanity when all you’ve got is a computer screen of text.

You email your friends and family. Why? To tell them something that benefits them: makes them laugh or think, lets them see your kids making mud pies. To ask them to do something: send their address, donate to a cause, help you move. Email marketing, in your capable hands, informs and benefits people who want to be in a relationship with you, just like a good conversation.

But Spam is Evil

So don’t spam people. Email marketing is not spam unless you abuse email to send unsolicited crap to unsuspecting people. Spam is telling a million strangers they have erectile dysfunction and need your pills. You don’t do that. You talk to people you know about things you both care about. You have an existing relationship and a common interest.

But Quality Speaks for Itself

You have a high-quality product. People fall in love with quality, right? Wrong. They admire quality like they admire beauty. You can be mechanically perfect but that’s no substitute for a loving relationship. Imagine you’re married to the ideal man or woman, perfect in every way except they don’t talk to you. What is that? A formal relationship with no meaning, no personality. You have quality but you have no love, no soul.

Still Blocked?

Let me know what’s stopping you. I’d be interested to hear your objections and discuss your ideas. Don’t just dismiss it, let’s dig deeper.

How do you start email marketing? First: concepts. Then: action.

Talk

You start first. Take some initiative. When a user signs up, ask them if you can talk to them sometimes. Always ask for permission. Some people don’t want to be bothered, so don’t bother them. They’re fine with a loveless relationship, they just want you for your body. So be it, sex is good, better than nothing.

But most users want a little love, a little snuggling. They want to find out about you and what you’re like and what you can do for them. Give them that chance: express yourself and give them something good.

Listen

You love your users and they’re awesome people, so listen. Encourage them to talk back, to chat about themselves and what they need and desire. This is a conversation, after all. You’re a provider and they’re a user. Form a natural relationship where you care about their needs and think about ways to make them happy.

Start with a Newsletter

It’s a known, structured format that everyone understands. You talk about the latest news. You can add extras like tips, featured content, links to interesting things, etc. They’re easy to write if you just let yourself talk. They’re hard to master but you’ll get there. Just make it valuable and interesting. Aspects to consider:

• Benefit your user: They should find value in what you say because it’s useful, funny, interesting, etc. Offer something in return for their attention. Don’t beg for spare change.
• Express your humanity: Your newsletter is an extension of your personality, your personal brand. Be yourself: a personable funny interesting expert.
• Start a conversation: Make human contact and ask for feedback. Honest humanity lowers the barrier for a user to email you back. Would you rather chit-chat with General Electric Corporation or Dave, the goofy dude who emailed you about his website?

Send it to those who want it. If you get no response, keep plugging away and getting better. Not all conversations end in love but you gotta keep trying.

Remember: email marketing is not the end-all be-all method of establishing a caring relationship between you and your users. It’s simply one of the easiest ways to take initiative and get started.

Branch Out

As you probably know, other channels include Twitter, Facebook and blogs. Each of these can further your relationship with your email buddies, plus you can appeal to a wider audience that either don’t want your emails or don’t use your product. Get involved with your users in as many ways as you can afford time. The future is about human connection and you need to be there.

Dig Deep

The important idea of email marketing, and using these other channels, is that they should be used to express yourself and offer value. If you’re just begging for spare change or trying to blast the world with your message, it’s never going to work and you’re just a jerk. Marketing channels need to be extensions of you. So dig deep, find yourself and figure out why you’re valuable. It’ll not only help your relationships with your users, it’ll help you be you.