Start With ONE Clear Goal

That’s it. One goal. This is where many stall because they’re trying to look at everything, but this part can be very simple. Ask yourself why would you email people in the first place?

As you know the email series you are reading now is purely educational, so my main goal is for people to simply read them! At some point you may say, “I want to talk to The Bureau about helping me now.” But first things first. Single goal — what is yours?

Do you want to share client wins and education, highlight products and promote offers, keep your brand top of mind, or maybe drive traffic back to your website. Just pick one. You can always expand later.

Create a Cadence

A small list that hears from you consistently is more valuable than a large list that never gets your emails. Commit to a realistic cadence. Most small businesses with limited resources choose once a month. You could start there.

Identify your writer and make this person your email voice. People want to hear from people not a generic unidentified person. Keep the format consistent so people get familiar with it.

Choose One Way to Collect Emails, Not Five

Provide a simple website signup and set it so it gives your site visitor some time to explore before it opens. An email pop up that opens immediately for first time visitors is not a good idea most of the time!

Provide a coupon code or an educational download.

Major Tip: Sign up for emails of your smart competitors to see how they keep their audiences engaged and drive site traffic.

Create and Send One Email

Don’t worry about a sequence, automation, segmentation or a sales pitch right now. Say who you are and let them know you will be providing interesting content in the future. Share something valuable, interesting or useful.

“One thing to think about this month,” is an example of a simple subject to get you started. Interview your experts is another approach.

Look At One Metric

Ignore dashboards and ROI for now. Look at one simple metric: open rate. If people are opening your email, you are on the right track.

By the way, all the big picture email strategy suggestions are on the site. There are probably 8 to 10 articles on email strategy from different goals and angles.

Publish Before You Adjust

Big mistake — optimizing too early. Send a few emails before deciding on new content, direction change, etc.

The Frame of Mind That Matters

Email marketing works only if you do it. A small list, one email per month and clear expectations will outperform a strategy that never reaches your audience. And like anything, once you get started, you’ll want to do more and create a plan for success.

Good luck.

At a Glance

Simplify email marketing by starting with one clear goal rather than trying to do everything at once. It recommends committing to a realistic sending cadence—such as once per month—and maintaining a consistent voice and format to build familiarity and trust. Instead of using multiple complicated tactics, businesses should focus on one simple method of collecting emails and send one valuable, straightforward message. Early on, the only metric that matters is open rate, since it shows whether people are paying attention. Most importantly, progress comes from publishing consistently before attempting to optimize or expand the strategy.

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