Why Email Marketing No Longer Fits My Business

Why Email Marketing No Longer Fits My Business

By Amanda Hughes | The Small Business Community

Follow along: Instagram  |  Facebook This blog was proudly written by a human and not a robot

Hey, I'm Amanda Hughes, Small Business Owner of 12years + and founder of The Small Business Community and today, I'm stepping away from email marketing (*crowd gasps) I know. Sounds like a big deal doesn't it. Here's the back story. My first business that I started way back in 2014 was a wedding and event floristry business. Like most small business owners I learned as I went along. I started reading blogs from advanced business owners and entrepreneurs like Jenna Kutcher who gave great advice, and one piece of advice was that you HAVE to have an email list. They told us an email list was something you owned, not rented space like Instagram, Facebook etc is. Made sense and so, I set one up. I got my freebie (aka lead magnet) organised - think it was a seasonal guide to choosing your wedding flowers - and set out to add subscribers to my list.

Me as a wedding and event florist back in the day!

I continued this when my business evolved into brand photography, social media mentorship and online small business community membership too. I have emailed my subscriber list faithfully and religiously every week for 12 years. I've listened to countless podcasts on email marketing. I've paid for quite a few courses on the subject. I've read the blogs, the Instagram posts and of course, the emails hammering home that your email list is vital to your business success. Here's what I learned. Email marketing is awesome, for some businesses, but not for me. Ooft does that feel good to say that out loud. A few months ago I started to get real bored with email marketing to the point I took a break from sending them altogether in May.

Not just writing business emails but reading them too. I dug into some of the training I did before, thinking I just needed a reminder and some fresh inspiration but nope. It was just the same old stuff, the same old strategies that I was fed up using and writing. It was also the same sort of emails landing in my inbox too and I found myself unsubscribing to business emails more than ever.

And in terms of ROI (return on investment) because email marketing costs time and money friend, it was pitiful to non existent. In fact... May ended up being one of my strongest months for new members joining The Small Business Community, and I didn't send one single email about it. Now, let me assure you this isn't me saying email marketing is dead. Can you imagine the backlash?! 🤣

Email marketing for small business owners is very much alive and kicking. In fact I am working one to one with one of the members of The Small Business Community just now and I am recommending that she totally up her email marketing game because there is such (proven) potential there for her. Lots of businesses out there tell us that email marketing brings in a huge chunk of their sales and all power to them I say but.. Email marketing isn't for me. After 12 years I am hanging up my hat.

What I'd love for you to take from this dearest small business owner reader, is that it's ok to step away from what everyone says you HAVE to be doing for your business. Surely one of the perks of self employment should be that we actually enjoy it? Else, what's the point? Something I'm going to be doing more of is blogging. I'm probably going to be blogging weekly, maybe more, maybe less. They will be proudly written by me and not AI and will be about ALL things small business. In between blogs you can of course still find me in my favourite places like Instagram, Facebook, Threads, Pinterest (and probably a few more I've forgotten about) and please do come over there and say Hi! And if you'd like to check out my other blogs from over the years before you decide whether to stick around or sign up, you can find them here.

Speak soon, Amanda

FAQ: Why Email Marketing No Longer Fits My Business

Does this mean email marketing is "dead"?

Not at all. Email still works brilliantly for lots of businesses. This is what marketing outputs I enjoy as a business owner and what my audience wants too.

What wasn’t working for me with email marketing?

I felt email marketing, for me, had been overdone. I was sending the same stuff out and the same stuff was landing in my inbox from other businesses too. Truth be told I was bored with email marketing. It was time consuming, expensive and getting very little return on investment.

What am I doing instead of email marketing?

I’m focusing on community-led marketing that I enjoy and that I get a return on. For me that's Instagram, Facebook, blogging, Pinterest and investing in my website SEO etc. I'm interested in having real conversations. How did you come to the conclusion that email markerting wasn't working for your business anymore? I paused, zoomed out and did a full audit of my marketing... read more about that in part two of this blog here!