An email list is the most valuable tool you have in your business when it comes to marketing. I can’t stress this enough.
More important even than the number of followers you have on social media!
The reason for this is two-fold:
- there’s no algorithm to fight to get seen. Your emails land in inboxes in the order they’re sent.
- the people on your list chose to be there. They signed up and asked to see more of you.
This means that when you send an email, generally, they want to receive it. I say generally because we all have days where we don’t want to read emails from anyone and that’s fine.
Email lists are easy enough to set up. I recommend starting with one like MailerLite which is free until you need certain features or hit 1000 subscribers. I like them because they verify the accounts so the odds of your emails ending up in spam folders goes down.
Then decide how frequently you’re going to send an email out. Once a week is a good frequency, every other week also works. Space them too far apart and people forget they’re on the list!
Make it clear what to expect when they sign up. Remember that signing up for an email list is a transaction. Someone gives you an email address in exchange for value.
As an artist, your emails could be about your upcoming shows, art you’re making, any sales or events you’re having. Make sure you let people know what the list is about. Something like, “Come and join me in the studio and be prepared to be inspired.”
Keep the emails short and sweet – 400 words or so – and stick to one topic where possible. You can add in a second topic, ever so briefly in the PS or towards the end. I’ll show you an example of that in this email.
The first few times you send, you will be nervous and that’s ok! Just send them.
I’ve sold a ton of art through my art email list and it’s the easiest way to sell once you get comfortable with the medium.