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Today’s guest is the industry expert when it comes to email marketing and list building. After more than a decade working in the hospitality industry, Nicole Barrett decided to leave her role as Regional Director of Sales to launch the Travelpreneur Academy, which teaches travel and tourism professionals how to grow and harness their email list. In this episode, she covers email marketing from A-Z, starting with why email marketing is so effective, what her top tips are for creating a powerful lead magnet, and how to design the perfect email sequence that will get you more sales with your ideal clients.
Email Marketing Vs. Selling On Social Media
Nicole is a firm believer than email marketing is the most effective way to reach your ideal customers. Though social media has become an increasingly popular way to sell today, she still thinks that email is the most powerful tool for marketers.
Nicole explains, “studies have shown that people prefer to be marketed to via email than on social media, because a lot of people go to social media to be entertained.”
Furthermore, with email you have more space to structure your story and connect with clients. “You can go very deep in a conversation and talk to a person via email about a subject that you may not have the time or word space to do that on Twitter, on Instagram or anywhere else.”
Creating Powerful Lead Magnets
The best way to capture someone’s email address is through a lead magnet — also known as a freebie or opt-in. These could be anything from “a PDF, video, quiz, a set of emails”, etc. However, Nicole explains that the best types of lead magnets are those that cater specifically to your niche audience and that establish 3 things – “who you are, why you do what you do, and why are great at it.”
For example, one of her students in the Travelpreneur Academy created a free guide on how to better convince your family and friends to attend your destination wedding. As Nicole explains, this lead magnet is ideal because “you’re giving the consumer a quick win by helping them overcome an obstacle or challenge that they’re going through. And number two, it helps your bottom line because the most people, but the more, the more people you can convince to come to. A destination wedding, the more money the travel agent makes.”
Designing the Perfect Email Sequence
Once you capture someone’s email address, it is important that you put them through an automated email funnel that includes both a welcome sequence and a nuture sequence. The
The welcome sequence is 3-5 emails and should be the time in which you introduce yourself, your business, and your expertise in the field. It is NOT the time to sell. Rather, you should be warm, welcoming, and helpful.
Next, you introduce the nuture sequence. As Nicole explain, in this stage “you’re showing care and love and joy, and you’re going a little bit deeper to form that connection.” Again this stage should be 3-5 emails long and not salesy.
Once these sequences are complete, Nicole suggests funneling these clients into your normal weekly newsletter.
More from this episode
Want to know a bit more about Nicole’s background and the programme she credits with much of her success today? What type of information she shares in her weekly emails? What tools she uses to create lead magnets and to manage her email sequence? Where are how she promotes her freebies? Tune in to learn more from Nicole Barrett!
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