Simple email marketing — you got this!

“The health of your email list is a direct indication of the health of your business.”- Amanda McKinney

If you’ve listened to my podcast before, you know how much I believe in the power of email marketing. You’ve likely heard me say — the health of your email list is a direct indication of the health of your business.

Please notice I said HEALTH, not SIZE.

This is an important distinction because while we do want to grow our email lists in order to grow our businesses, it’s really about the connections, not just the numbers.

I know many yoga teachers don’t like to focus on numbers and the good news is that you don’t have to. We get to focus on what you care about: the people, not just the number.

But like a real-life relationship, you have to build trust and nurture the relationship through communication in order for it to actually work. You can’t just talk once a year and expect to grow a relationship. This takes time and energy.

And email is the best way to do this!

Yep, you heard it — not social media, but email.

But if writing emails makes you nervous or you just heard “but it’s so hard to know what to say!” in your head right now, I’ve got you covered!

By the way: If you’re looking for even more guidance with email marketing, then I created Confident Yoga Marketing just for you! It’s a course that’s chock full of fill-in-the-blank templates that will make writing and sending emails SO easy!

>>>> Click here to learn more about Confident Yoga Marketing <<<<

But even if Confident Yoga Marketing isn’t right for you today, this article will help guide you with your email marketing game.

The Intended Benefit of Email Marketing

When it comes to email marketing, we need to know the intended benefit.

The intended benefit of email is to nurture relationships with students (or potential students) and provide extra value.

It’s so easy to get caught up with “bells and whistles” with email design, thinking we need all of the fancy headers, formatting, and design. (Or on the other hand, maybe you’re just worried about emailing people too much.)

But if you keep the intended benefit in mind (nurturing your students), then everything becomes a lot simpler!

The Actions You Want People to Take Through Email

Once you know the intended benefit, then you need to think about the actions you want people to take through emails.

Good news! It’s not just buying things.

As a matter of fact, 80% of your emails should be about providing extra value to people, not selling!

Some actions you may want your readers to take:

• Watch a video
• Read an article or blog
• Hit reply to the email
• Journal on their own
• Buy something

What action do you want them to take after reading your email? If you can keep that in mind while you’re writing the email, then you’ll write in a more effective and direct way.

Types of Email You Need to Grow Your Business

There are several different types of emails you’ll need to think about as you’re growing your yoga business.

1. Welcome or Freebie Delivery Email

Most people grow their email list with a freebie. How it works: You say “Hey! I’ve got this great free thing for you.” They give you their email address, and then in return you send them the free thing.

2. Follow Up or Nurture Sequence

After the welcome email or freebie delivery, you want to follow up with them. “Hey, how are things going with that free thing?” This is where the nurturing really begins. When you have someone new on your list, check in with them after a day or so.

3. Ongoing Emails

Pick a consistency and frequency (weekly, every other week, or monthly) to send ongoing emails to provide extra value. Remember that you’re not just selling things here. You’re providing extra value to your students! You can think of these ongoing emails like you’re building a relationship with a new friend. You want to stay in touch with that new friend you have.

If this all feels overwhelming, like it’s SO much to write, I want to remind you that Confident Yoga Marketing has TONS of templates to help you with this.

You CAN do this on your own, by the way. I want you to feel empowered that you can. But I get questions all the time about templates for emails, so I created the templates inside of Confident Yoga Marketing to make your life easier.

The Best Email Platform for Yoga Teachers

The next question I typically get is “What email platform should I use?” On that note: Gmail is not an email service platform! If you are sending emails from Gmail and you’re talking about your yoga business, that’s technically not allowed. If there was an email police, you’d get a ticket for this. You really need a service. When you use a service, you get to learn so much about your students.

I actually have 2 suggestions for your email service based on what your needs are:

1. Offering Tree
Offering Tree is a website provider, email system, class scheduler, and payment system all in one place (for one small price).

You can get set up and be taking payment in less than an hour! There’s a quick tutorial on my website that you can watch for free to help you see if it’s right for you.

Even more than the ease of use with Offering Tree — they are a phenomenal company. I have a partnership with them because they are doing amazing things for yoga teachers.

Not only are costs incredibly low with Offering Tree — $11 a month! — but they are constantly providing education to yoga teachers.

I personally work with them to host workshops for anyone who uses Offering Tree because they don’t just want you to use their platform, they want you to succeed using their platform. And their customer service is incredible!

2. ConvertKit
If you are looking for a little more of a robust email service, I suggest ConvertKit. ConvertKit is your answer if you’re looking for more advanced features like email automations and sequences.

ConvertKit is easy to use, but not as easy as using Offering Tree. There’s a little more tech involved with ConvertKit. You need to build out some forms and connect your website.

YOU get to choose. Which is better for you?

• Do you need a super simple, easy-to-use service? Then Offering Tree is for you.
• Are you looking for more advanced features like email automations? Then ConvertKit is a great place to go.

Your next step

Commit to sending regular, ongoing emails and growing your email list with the right people. Remember to keep it simple and clear so you can welcome in more students (and the RIGHT students for you).

If you’re looking to save even more time and lots of energy, then definitely check out Confident Yoga Marketing, because all of the templates are there to help you!

You can do this.

Until next time, give yourself permission to send fun and valuable emails and grace along the way.

For more stories like this, listen to the Marketing Yoga with Confidence Podcast.

About Amanda McKinney (Marketing Coach for Yoga Teachers)

Amanda McKinney is a Marketing Coach with a passion for helping yoga teachers find the tools and the confidence within themselves to build the yoga business of their dreams. She does this through her podcast: Marketing Yoga With Confidence and online offerings. All of which focuses on building confidence and community with an extra dose of encouragement every step of the way.