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The Ultimate Email Marketing Guide for Content Creators
1.2 - Why email marketing is the best way to sell intangible products / services
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1.2 - Why email marketing is the best way to sell intangible products / services

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Here's why:
  1. First, I say intangible because as content creators, most likely the offers you sell are intangible — knowledge, information, courses, software, consulting, coaching, done-for-you, etc.
  2. Second, email marketing is not about sending unsolicited emails. That’s cold email outreach and is a different beast altogether. What we’re referring to when we say email marketing is sending personalized, targeted emails to people who have raised their hands and want to receive emails from us. This is also known as permission-based email marketing.
  3. Third, you might be wondering why you need email marketing. Why not just sell products or services right on your website or social media?

    4. The answer is:

    • Humans need multiple touch points before they buy from you. This is even more true when you’re not selling physical products.
    • You leverage technology (in this case email automation) to do the heavy lifting for you. Most people in a niche have the same major problems, why manually repeat yourself all the time? This is why you write the emails once and tens to hundreds of thousands of subscribers can benefit.

Physical products are easier to sell than:

  • Digital / intangible products (content, online courses, membership / community sites)
  • Services (coaching, consulting, done for you)

With physical products, it’s very clear what the customer is getting — laptops, cars, headphones, pens, TVs, gadgets, food, furniture, etc.

With digital / intangible products and services (which is what we’re selling) it’s not that obvious.  You have to convince people you know what you’re talking about when it comes to solving their problems. i.e. you have experience and skills that can help them. You’ve done this before and you’re able to help them solve their problems.

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They are not going to purchase your offer right off the bat on the first contact for this very reason — they don’t know if you really legit or not. They don’t trust you. Maybe you’re just another scammer. Perhaps you’re one of those “pushy salesmen” who only want to sell all the time. That’s where email marketing comes in. Email marketing, when done right, allows you to build and foster relationships with your target audience (who don’t know you yet). These relationships lead to belief (they believe you have the expertise and experience and can solve their problems) and trust (they trust you’ll take care of them even after they’ve handed their money to you). From there, you make sales.

Sales are made based on this relationship you’ve built with them, not made right off the bat.

All of this is a process that takes time. You’re building a meaningful and trusting relationship with other humans, after all. There is no shortcut. There is no overnight success. You have to put in the effort and time.

The good news is that you can leverage software to automatically send emails like clockwork, regardless of where you are or what you’re doing. You could be on vacation with your family or taking a shower or sleeping… and emails will still be sent without your direct involvement.