The #1 Marketing Strategy Most Club Owners Overlook

When we started our kids crafting club a few years ago, we started from SCRATCH.

We had NO social media following.

We had NO email list.

We spent countless hours putting everything together, creating social media pages, planning crafts, taking photos, creating beautiful marketing material and posting everything on social media.

But after pouring so much energy and love into our launch, we heard this…

It was a HORRIBLE experience. 

Of course we started doubting ourselves...

Was there something WRONG with our product? 

Why didn't EVERYONE want to buy it? 

Was it us?? Why don’t they like us?! 😭😭

Long story short:

There was NOTHING wrong with our product.

The issue was with our MARKETING STRATEGY! 

There is one simple, proven marketing strategy that almost all club owners overlook.

In today’s episode, we talk about how you can use this strategy to build loyalty and trust in your business and grow your club.

We really wish someone gave us this advice when we started out.

We hope you can learn from our mistake, and use this strategy to grow your crafting club quickly!

Watch the video or read the written version below:

 Why Email Marketing? 

Today we’re going to talk about how to grow your creative club with email marketing.

You may be thinking:

"Why email marketing? Isn't a website or social media enough to promote my classes or kits?"

The short answer is NO.

When we first launched our arts & crafts club, we spent countless hours posting everything on social media.

But you know what happened? After ALL our effort and love poured into it, we got very little response...

Only our mom (yes, we’re sisters, did you know?) and only a few friends ended up liking our posts on social media and we only got a few sales.

It was a horrible experience.

Can you relate to this?

The thing is: there was NOTHING wrong with our product, the issue was with our marketing strategy. 

Here’s the big mistake we made:

We relied too heavily on social media for marketing.

We thought sending out emails was ‘old school’ and dead and that Facebook and Insta was the way to go. 

As creative entrepreneurs, most of us are addicted to shiny new marketing tools and social media tactics.

We love new strategies and often wind up making things waaay more complicated (and overwhelming) than we need to.

But here’s what we know now:

Emails have a higher conversion rate (meaning a higher % of people who read them end up buying your products) and a better engagement rate (more people actually clicking the links in your email) than social media posts.

So email marketing is THE number one marketing tactic you should set up for your creative club.

 What's an email list and why do I need one? 

So, what is an 'email list'?

As simple as it sounds, an email list is a collection of all the people who have opted in to receive emails from you. 

After opting in, you can then use email to send out anything from your latest promotions, to newsletters, to exclusive offers, and everything in between.

If you’re not convinced about email yet, let me give you some more fun facts:

1. Nearly EVERYONE has an email address. Anyone surfing the interwebs these days has an email address. That’s just how it is... 

2. People DO read emails. There are nearly 4 billion daily email users and

3. More than 50% of people check their personal email account more than 10 times a day.

Sure, people spend a lot of time on social media too. But did you know that only a very small percentage of your social media followers will actually end up seeing your posts?

That is, unless you put money behind it. That’s just how the social media algorithms work and how they make money.

If you’re just starting out, you don’t want to be paying for every single post, that’s just not good business sense.

While social media is a necessary part of marketing your club, by itself it’s just not enough.

1. Not everyone is on social media,

2. Social media platforms come and go and

3. According to studies, email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook.

Here's the thing about emails: everyone will receive the emails you send. They might read it, or they might not...

But everyone is a much higher number than the small percentage of social media followers that will see your posts.

So, if I can give you one piece of advice in your journey to creating and growing your creative club, it’s this:

Start building your email list TODAY!

 How do I build an email list? 

Building an email list is more than just collecting names, we’re talking about growing relationships with people who are interested in you and what you have to offer.

If you are looking for confidence in growing your business, focus on building your email list.

As our business grew locally, we knew we needed to reach people beyond our local area to scale the business, especially when we launched online classes and started to sell creative kits. The only way to broaden our reach was to start building an email list.

And here’s what happened: the moment we shifted our focus to building our email list, our business took off! 🚀

So, whether you are just starting out or if you are already running your club: start building your email list NOW.

Building an email list will help you gather an audience so that when you launch your kits or classes, you have a customer base and someone to launch and sell it to.

If you have an email list, you’ll be completely untouched by the decisions that social media platforms make that you have no control over.

You have complete control over your email list.

Build your list of ideal customers who are interested in what you do and use it to send out anything from your latest blog, promotions, new class schedules, new kit releases, newsletters, exclusive offers, and everything in between.

So how do you build an email list?

The single best (and easiest 😉) way to build an email list is by using an automated lead generator. 

A lead generator is a simple pop-up on your website that offers a freebie in exchange for a contact’s name, email address and contact number.

With an automated lead generator, your website will work hard, collecting valuable leads while you sleep.

Don't have a website yet? No problem! 

We created an all-in-one website solution called WebHub that provides you with the lead-generation system you need to grow your creative business quickly and effectively.

And with just a few clicks, you can start collecting those leads TODAY.

 How do I get WebHub? 

Follow these three easy steps:

1. Join the waitlist for our CCC Academy (Academy members get 50% off WebHub!)

2. When enrollment opens, join the membership and get WebHub at the discounted rate

3. Share your freebie far and wide to build your contact list and GROW your club

 Let's do a quick recap! 

So, to wrap up, let’s do a quick recap of why email marketing is so important.

• Email marketing is THE number one marketing tactic you should set up for your creative club

• You have control over your email list, you don’t have control over social media

• Emails have higher conversion and engagement rates than social media

• No one is born with an email list, everyone starts from scratch - the sooner you start the better

• Join WebHub to expedite the process and start collecting those leads!

XO
Stefanie

P.S. Enrollment for the CCC Academy is opening SOON! Click here to join the waitlist.