3 Easy Breezy Email Marketing Tips to Nurture Your List This Summer
To everything, there is a season—and for many online business owners, summer is the season to slow. the. heck. down. Whether it’s because your kids are on holiday from school, or you just love the slower pace of a summer full of long afternoons, creating more space in your schedule this time of year is something I wholeheartedly support.
At the same time though—fall launch season will be here before we know it. And when September rolls around, the last thing you want (and the last thing I want for you!) is to snap out of that lovely summer daze and realize…
…Your list is NOWHERE near prepared for you to launch your program.
What Does “Nurturing Your Email List” or “Keeping Your List Warm” Actually Mean?
If you’re new around here, you might be wondering—what do you mean they aren’t “ready”? Isn’t it just as simple as writing some sales emails and sending a blast out to my contacts?
Well…sort of. But also no.
One of the biggest mistakes I see entrepreneurs make in their fall launches is failing to nurture their list adequately before opening enrollment for their fall program.
It’s an easy mistake to make—you don’t want to spend your summer writing emails, so you slack off a little bit on staying in touch with your people during your holiday break.
Then you hop back online feeling refreshed and ready to go in the fall… But after weeks (or even months) of not hearing from you, your list isn’t “warm enough” to want to buy from you.
The result? The launch flops. And this is where the trouble really starts—because even though most experienced business owners know better, it’s hard not to take a failed launch personally. You may start to wonder:
Did it fail because people don’t like your offer?
Did no one sign up because they aren’t connecting with your message anymore?
Was it because they aren’t connected to YOU anymore?
Oh god—did they finally realize you’re an imposter?
Or maybe your team is to blame? Maybe the copy/design weren’t good enough?
…And the spiral goes on. When in reality, the launch just flopped because your people needed more time. More connection. A slower burn. They needed to truly feel connected to your vision and your message, in a way that’s tough to achieve with a week-long sales sequence.
THIS is why it’s so important not to totally abandon your list over the summer, if you have any intentions of launching in Q3.
Ok, so… How do you keep your email list engaged, while still enjoying your lovely summer break?
Here are 3 ideas to supercharge your summer email game, without having to wrack your brains for new content every week.
1. Keep It Short, Sweet, & Personal.
One of the biggest misconceptions about email marketing—especially for entrepreneurs who love a story-centered approach—is that every email has to be a masterpiece. We pour our hearts and souls into sharing powerful messages, showing up as leaders, and trying to offer interesting, insightful, valuable content to inspire our readers.
That’s all wonderful. However, it’s also to create some short, sweet, light, and personal emails as well.
The beautiful thing about building a personal brand is that your people want to know YOU. Yes, your marketing should focus on how you can serve and support—but it should also give your audience an inside look at your life and who you are as a person.
This summer, a great first step to nurturing your email list consistently without getting overwhelmed by content creation is to give yourself permission to only write those long masterpiece emails when you feel like it.
The rest of the time? Feel free to…
Tell a quick personal story—humor and motivation are great ways to “give value” in an email!
Share a quick tip, a favorite product, or some other fast/valuable piece of information.
Share photos or experiences that give your contacts a behind-the-scenes look at your world. Talk about your family vacation. Share that sunny, smiling picture of you on the beach with your friends. Tie it back to your overall brand messaging as well as you can, and let it be.
Curate an email that takes amplifies others’ content. I love occasionally sending out a “Favorite Things Friday” roundup—a short resource pool of my current favorites programs, podcasts, educators, brands, and products. Sending occasional curation emails makes it easy to support your audience, without feeling the pressure of having to create original content every week.
2. Automate Your Summer Email Series.
Chances are, you have an automated welcome sequence and maybe even a handful of automated sales sequences to support funnels… So why not do the same for your summer emails?
Come up with a “summer series” that pertains to your brand—for example:
Inspirational quotes from your favorite summer reads
Favorite healthy summer recipes for busy parents
Canva design tips to help your readers show up on social this summer
Sit down and batch create one email per week for the rest of your summer. Keep each email concise and focused on sharing the information you want to share. Schedule each email to send at your preferred time every week… and congrats on not having to think about your emails again until fall.
3. Reduce, Reuse, & Recycle
Wait, are we still talking about email copy? Yep! During busy seasons, these three Rs are a great way to show up consistently without feeling overwhelmed.
REDUCE >> Are you used to sending 2-3 emails each week? Maybe it only needs to be one email a week for the duration of the summer. Or if one per week still feels like too much, maybe your emails could out every other week.
While weekly emails are an ideal minimum benchmark to keep your list engaged, there’s no hard and fast rule that says you MUST send an email every 7 days or more. It’s better to reduce your sending frequency and stay consistent than to over-commit and fall off the email marketing wagon entirely.
RE-USE >> Let’s say you’ve been in business for a year or more… What do you think the odds are that someone remembers all the emails you sent last summer? Basically zero. And that’s not even to mention all the NEW people you’ve added to your list since last year.
Look back at emails you’ve created in the past—say, 6 months ago or more. Which ones performed well?
Edit them slightly. Swap out the subject lines. Update any stories or seasonal references with something that feels a little fresher. Et voila! You have yourself a high-quality email with minimal effort.
RECYCLE >> What other channels do you use to market yourself? Chances are, you’ve created posts on Instagram, LinkedIn, and/or Facebook Pages. Maybe you’ve shared some pretty insightful stuff in one of your Facebook Groups or Slack channels. Maybe you’ve been on podcasts, created TikToks, or delivered free trainings/webinars in others’ groups.
It’s all up for recycling! Any content you’ve ever created can be refreshed and given new life as an email. All you have to do is change the formatting a little bit, and a post/blog/podcast script/etc can be email-ified in a matter of minutes.
PRO TIP: Really want to remove yourself from the email creation game? Ask a VA to repurpose your content for you. There are brilliant assistants who specialize in doing exactly this. Email me if you need recommendations!
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