Written by: Kate Greunke, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
The only thing my clients dislike more than writing is marketing. Either they don’t know what to say in their marketing to achieve a specific goal, or they know what they want to say but it just “never sounds right” and doesn’t get done.
Fortunately, my clients don’t have to be degree-holding copywriters with sonic-speed typing skills and a penchant for content strategy in order to communicate effectively with their potential clients. They, like you, just need to harness the power of the 400 word email.
Email Marketing Myths and Statistics
You’ve likely heard a bit about the effectiveness of email marketing, including that it exceeds even that of social media, for service-based businesses. And you’ve also probably heard a few myths about email marketing, too:
“No one reads emails anymore because they’re sick of spam. Quit wasting your time.”
“If you don’t have social media, you don’t have a business. Email is outdated.”
If you’re up to date on the latest email marketing statistics, you can call out these myths for the misleading statements they truly are. If you aren’t familiar with how well email marketing works in 2023, here’s a quick summary from my recent podcast episode on this topic:
Email marketing provides the biggest return on investment compared to all other digital marketing channels, generating $36 for every $1 spent and making it twice as effective as social media marketing. Over 80% of small-to-medium-sized businesses say that email marketing is the main way they both attract and retain clients (both B2B and B2C).
What exactly is Email Marketing?
First, let’s talk about what email marketing isn’t. Email marketing is not any of the following:
A promotional message regarding a sale
A summary of and / or link to recent blog posts
A random assortment of business updates
Quite contrary to the spam-laden landscape, email marketing is more people-pain-problem-solution focused. Email marketing communicates a clear message and one, relevant call-to-action.
Email marketing is defined as…
An email from one person to another (even if you are marketing to another business)
A singular topic (not a conglomeration of every cool thing you or your business did that month)
A specific call-to-action (“book a call” is a popular one)
The goal of email marketing isn’t to pitch an offer every time or to directly sell; rather, the goal is to be so in-tune with your potential client and so helpful to them that they can’t keep themselves from hiring you.
What is the 400 Word Email Newsletter?
The 400 word newsletter is a bit of a misnomer; it might be 300 or 500 words, and that is perfectly fine.
When my clients started sending, or having us send, 400ish word newsletters for them, they started getting results like these…
“I just sent my first newsletter today and received an inquiry within an hour.”
“My newsletter was sent four hours ago and I just got a call from a repeat customer who read it!”
“I have put into practice the monthly newsletter and have received great comments and several new clients from just the first one.”
If my often non-techy and writing-averse clients can get results from email marketing, so can you.
Here’s an outline of the ideal email newsletter:
Headline and subheadline - Introduce your topic; it should be specific.
Intro paragraph - Expand on the pain points of your topic.
Body paragraphs - In 1 to 3 paragraphs, expound on 3 solutions/steps to solving that problem with the help of one of your services.
Call to action - This should be a button, not just hyperlinked text. Tell your reader what to do next, such as “book a discovery call” or “sign up now” for your services.
Email newsletter examples for service-based businesses:
Keep these email newsletter best practices in mind:
Always include your logo, headshot, and a short bio somewhere in the newsletter.
Always use your brand colors; select fonts that most closely match your brand, as your exact brand fonts might not display properly in emails. That’s normal.
Include 1-5 images (including your headshot) to illustrate the pain points and services
Send a newsletter every 2-4 weeks; no more and no less.
If you must make a sales pitch, do so sparingly and sandwich that pitch between purely helpful newsletters.
Fight the urge to add extra topics, buttons, links, ideas, or updates to your newsletter. The more you add, the less effective your newsletter becomes.
Email marketing can benefit every brand or business, especially those that sell services. If this describes you, consider following The Kate Show Podcast anywhere you get your podcasts. In each episode, I break down sensible, data-proven ways to market your business without a heavy social media presence or large audience. See you there!
Kate Greunke, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Kate Greunke founded Socialite in 2014 as a virtual agency of professional marketing specialists exclusively for the home industry. Kate hosts a marketing podcast, The Kate Show, which is ranked in the top 1.5% of all podcasts globally and available on all podcasting apps. In 2021, Kate was named 20 Under 40 by Window Fashion Vision Magazine. She currently resides in Wisconsin with her husband and two children while managing an international team and extensive client roster.
