Why you need to prioritise building an email list
Do you really need an email list for your freelance language teaching business?
Well, it depends. If you only ever intend to work with a handful of large organisations, such as publishers, or you’re not planning to sell services or products directly to individuals, it may not be a priority.
But if you’re a freelance language teacher, trainer or coach who wants to attract clients and build relationships with potential buyers, I think an email list is one of the most valuable marketing assets you can develop.
Let me give you three good reasons why.
1. You have much more control over your email list
Things change on social media. Algorithms change, platforms fall in and out of favour, and accounts can even be suspended or closed.
You can spend literally years building up a following, and see your reach disappear almost overnight, like a crumbling sandcastle.
When you have an email list, you’re much less dependent on the whims of a social media platform. Of course, people can unsubscribe at any time, and you still need to provide emails they actually want to receive. But you have a much more direct way of staying in touch with people who’ve given you permission to contact them.
2. It helps people get to know and trust you
Before people decide to work with you, they usually need to build up a level of confidence and trust.
You can achieve this on social media, of course, but even when someone follows you, there’s no guarantee they’ll see much of what you post. The platform decides what appears in their feed.
With email, you have a much better opportunity to stay in regular contact.
You can share your ideas, talk about your approach, give examples of how you’ve helped clients and generally let people get to know you and understand how you could help them.
And when they’re ready to invest in some support, you’re much more likely to be someone they think of.
3. It helps you build stronger relationships with potential clients
One of my favourite things about email marketing is that it gives people the opportunity to reply directly to me.
That can lead to some really interesting conversations, and it helps me understand what’s going on for people in their businesses.
Over time, you can develop relationships with people who may not be ready to work with you just yet, but who are interested in what you do.
This can make a real difference to how consistently you attract clients, rather than relying entirely on word of mouth or hoping that your next social media post will bring in an enquiry.
If finding clients is something you’re struggling with, you’ll find more ideas in my Finding and attracting clients resource centre.
But isn’t having an email list a big commitment and a lot of work?
Yes, it’s a commitment. You need to demonstrate your reliability and trustworthiness through your willingness to show up regularly.
But that doesn’t mean writing a long newsletter every week.
You might decide to email fortnightly, for example, or even monthly to begin with. You can share a useful idea, a story from your own experience or something you’ve noticed in your work with clients.
The important thing is to choose something realistic that you can maintain.
After all, any relationships that are worth having require some commitment.
How do I get people onto my email list in the first place?
One of the most effective ways to start building an email list is through offering what is known as a lead magnet.
This is some kind of free resource that demonstrates how you could help people and encourages them to sign up to receive emails from you.
It might be a short guide, a checklist, a video training or something else that helps your potential clients solve a specific problem.
But there’s something important to bear in mind here.
Your lead magnet needs to attract the kind of people who might eventually want to work with you. There’s not much point building a huge list of people who love your free resources but have little interest in your paid services.
And creating the lead magnet is only half the battle. You also need to make sure people know about it and understand why it’s worth signing up for.
Which brings me rather neatly to my own email list…
Want to see how I use email marketing in my own business?
I practise what I preach! My own email list is one of the most important ways I build relationships with freelance language professionals, share useful ideas and let people know how I can help them.
If you’d like practical advice on finding clients, developing your offers and building a more profitable, sustainable freelance business, why not join me?
You’ll get my thoughts on what’s working (and what isn’t), ideas you can try in your own business and occasional invitations to work with me.