To grow your business you have to have an email marketing program – write an email newsletter, a blog, and publish articles, right?

It seems as though these days this advice is a given, a must to successfully market a service business, build visibility, and get more leads.

Is this the truth or a giant myth?

Email marketing can be an outstanding way to help you grow your business; it can also lead you down a big black hole. Tweet this!

When I decided to grow my business through online marketing, I had so much to learn about writing for online readers, and how to leverage all of this content into leads and new business.

Email Marketing Tips: A Help Or A Hindrance?

There were all these experts  giving me email marketing tips – telling me to send e-zines, to blog, and then use video, and podcasts. I found my head swimming.

Ultimately, I’ve built a readership from 50 into the several thousands, and I have consistently leveraged email marketing into dozens of ideal clients.

So here’s The Business Fox’s skinny on email marketing and what I’ve found works best, grabs my readers and keeps them wanting more:

• Know your niche market and speak directly to that market.  In my business, I actually speak to two different niche markets – entrepreneurs with service based businesses such as consultants, authors, and speakers, and professionals who have service-based practices such as lawyers, accountants, and other trusted advisors to business owners. I have to speak differently to each market.
• While each method serves a different function for your business, the objective is always the same: whichever method you choose, provide insanely good value for your readers and audience.
• Keep it simple. Don’t overwrite or speak in language that you think makes you look smart. You want to engage your readers with the practical things they can use right away with ease.
• Make a commitment to write regularly – whether blogging or newsletters. Consistency is king.
• Email marketing takes time. If you expect overnight list growth and lots of new clients just because you are blogging, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Stay the course for years.
• Choose your ‘pen poison’ carefully: Start with the medium that best fits your personality and writing style. Newsletters are a push out mechanism; blogs are a pull in technique.

What’s your biggest tip or advice on email marketing and blogging? What’s worked best for your business, and what results has it helped you produce?