Mastering Sustainable Email Marketing: How to Create Freedom in Your Business

In this post, we’re deep diving into how sustainable email marketing can help you create the freedom and success in your business you’ve dreamed about.

For years, Boss Babes and industry gurus have told entrepreneurs that hustling is the only way to achieve success, but I’m here to tell you there are thousands–if not millions of ways–to achieve business success.

However, there is only one sustainable way to consistently turn browsers into paying clients–and it doesn’t involve social media.

Mastering Sustainable Email Marketing

After spending a decade working with six and seven-figure business owners, I have learned that it’s easier to implement when you know why you need to change. So let’s dive into why sustainable email marketing needs to be your priority moving forward in your business.

First, we will examine hustle culture and the Entrepreneur Burnout Epidemic to see why sustainable email marketing is so important moving forward in your business.

Second, we’ll look at how sustainable email marketing combats burnout and things to implement to make this transition possible.

What is Hustle Culture?

Hustle culture is a culture based on achievement. It glorifies working long hours, taking very few breaks or vacations, and ignoring the need for rest.

Hustle culture is an intense way to approach your goals that ignores any balance one needs to enjoy achieving any goals. It’s based on the thought that if you aren’t working 24/7, you aren’t serious about achieving your goals, so don’t bother.

Boss Babes and public figures, such as Elon Musk and Gary V., broadcast the message that massive action equals massive results; you have to show up all the time to achieve any success, even if that means sleeping in your office seven days a week and being available 24/7, as Elon Musk has shared.

Understanding Hustle Culture in Marketing

When looking at hustle culture in marketing specifically, the message to any entrepreneur is that you must show up everywhere, or you’re nowhere and will achieve zero success.

This means you have to show up on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, and any other platforms that will exist in the future, or you won’t have a successful business.

So what do entrepreneurs do?

They jump on the hampster wheel to show up on every platform possible because they see the success of these Boss Babes and want to achieve success too. After all, if Boss Babes can do it, so can you, right?

This hampster wheel leads to longer working days, constant use of creativity to create new content consistently, and, ultimately, burnout.

The Entrepreneur Burnout Epidemic

With all the hats entrepreneurs wear daily, adopting the hustle culture mentality inevitably leads to burnout. It is so widespread that it has officially become an epidemic. One that I’m working to eradicate.

What is the Entrepreneur Burnout Epidemic?

According to a study by Capital One, “Forty-eight percent of small business owners say they have experienced burnout in the past month.” The odds of a woman business owner experiencing burnout are higher than a man business owner.

This same study also reported that seven in ten business owners are experiencing mental exhaustion in some capacity. While the pandemic hasn’t helped, the truth is that entrepreneur burnout goes back further than COVID-19.

Burnout occurs when you stop listening to your body and choose to press forward with an endeavor. It can come from overworking, stress, sleepless nights, poor eating, and not making time to enjoy life.

Burnout can be partnered with many other health issues, such as depression, high blood pressure, stress, and more. While I am not a medical professional, I am someone who has experienced burnout as an entrepreneur, and it was a rather complicated experience and healing process.

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all to entrepreneur burnout, and I believe it has become an epidemic that isn’t talked about nearly enough.

If you love statistics and want to dive deeper, this article by Zipdo pulls back the curtain about the Entrepeneur Burnout Epidemic.

Examining the causes and consequences of burnout

I briefly mentioned a few causes and consequences of burnout above, but let’s take a closer look.

Common Causes of Burnout according to Harvard Business Review:

1. Workload – taking on too much
2. Perceived lack of control – lack of boundaries or feeling like you can’t speak up for what you need
3. Reward – not being adequately rewarded for your effort
4. Community – becoming like those who surround you [burnout can be contagious]
5. Fairness – not being treated well for the effort
6. Values mismatch – different motivations

Overall, I think these are accurate, but what I feel it is missing is the following:

1. Obsessive passion
2. Zero work-life balance
3. Ignoring your health

Combining my experience as an entrepreneur who has experienced burnout with the Harvard Business Review list, I can say that all nine causes take a toll on oneself.

It isn’t one of these things that causes burnout, but some combination of them all.

Consequences of burnout, according to The Mayo Clinic, include excessive stress, fatigue, trouble sleeping, mood swings, heart disease, and more.

Based on my experience, I would also include apathy, brain fog, depression, not feeling like yourself, and being very aware of it.

How sustainable email marketing can help prevent burnout

Sustainable email marketing is a practice for work-life balance–or work-life harmony, as I like to say it.

It is also a practice that supports lower environmental impact, community support, and core values of a business, including fair trade, health and wellbeing, giving back, and more.

When you build your business around sustainable email marketing, you are utilizing automation and systems that support your ability to build trust and convert subscribers into paying clients or customers.

It allows you to create a genuine long-term growth strategy, increase customer loyalty, and spend more time with your family and friends.

Sustainable email marketing is crucial for any business owner to stop hustling, hop off the hamster wheel of social media, and enjoy life again.

One of my favorite quotes, which you’ll also find in other places throughout my business, reminds me how important a sustainable email marketing strategy is:

“Producing a great result is good. Producing a great result with ease is better.
Producing a great result with ease again and again is best.”

– Greg McKeown, Effortless

The Return on Investment: Email Marketing vs. Social Media

I’m throwing social media under the bus because many entrepreneurs are stuck on this hamster wheel. It is seen as a necessity for growth, but the truth is that social media is optional!

How many hours a day do you spend trying to build your social media following and engagement?

The quick answer is probably too many.

Here are a few stats that opened my eyes to how more effective email marketing is compared to social media:

• Email marketing ROI averages $36:1 [Litmus]
• Social media ROI averages $2.80:1 [Neal Schaffer]
• Social media engagement rate averages 0.58% [Optin Monster]
• Email marketing open rate average is 22.86%, and click-through rate average is 3.71% [Optin Monster]
• Consumers prefer to receive product promotions via email [60%] over social media [20%] [Marketing Sherpa]

These stats are just a few reasons to prioritize a sustainable email marketing strategy over social media.

I’m not suggesting you throw your social media strategy out the window. I’m suggesting you look at the return on investment it provides you to see if the time you have invested in it is worth it.

When I evaluated my use of social media in a previous business, I found that my return on investment was not worth the time and effort.

My experience with burnout was sparked by hustle culture, but social media was the activity that led me to the worst burnout I’ve ever experienced. I didn’t realize social media and hustling was optional until it was too late.

Sustainable Email Marketing Strategies to Eliminate Entrepreneur Burnout

Using sustainable email marketing strategies, let’s turn the page away from hustle culture and burnout.

Prioritizing self-care and more work-life balance is excellent, and I highly recommend it. However, without changing your approach to your business, it won’t be helpful.

Self-care means many different things to different people, but if you’re only treating the symptoms, you fail to change the root of the problem, which is your business strategy.

Based on my research and experience, focusing on a sustainable email marketing strategy is what can help set you free from hustling and burnout.

Throughout the remainder of this blog post, we’re going to discuss the following:

1. Sustainable Email List Growth
2. Sustainable Branding and Messaging
3. Sustainably Promoting Your Products and Services
4. Evergreen Email Marketing Strategies

I’ll also share a few tactic ideas to help jumpstart your transition to a more sustainable marketing strategy.

Sustainable Email List Growth

Sustainable email list growth isn’t about chasing leads. It is about offering something of value and having it available in various places that will allow you to set it up and forget about it.

For example, I offer a 60+ Newsletter Writing Prompts Resource that allows anyone to write a newsletter in under 30 minutes.

This approach allows me to grow my list for however long this blog post exists without much effort. While I have to maintain my website and forms, it only needs my attention once or twice a year.

Whether you offer a PDF resource, webinar, free training, spreadsheet, etc., you need to mention your freebie everywhere possible to grow your email list sustainably.

Here are a few places you can include to mention your freebie to help grow your email list:

1. Footer of website
2. Navigation menu at the top of your website
3. Website sidebar
4. Within blog posts or other web pages, as seen above
5. Bio links on any platform
6. Pinterest pins
7. Email signature
8. Email auto-response message
9. Commenting on others’ content [be genuine in doing this, not swarmy]
10. Guest posts or interviews

Comment below to let me know if you want me to expand this list with photo examples.

Sustainable Branding and Messaging

If you’re not using the same branding for your email marketing as the rest of your business, you’ve got a huge opportunity here!

People need to be able to recognize your business anywhere.

This means that your website, email marketing, CRM, etc., all need to look cohesive.

Take some time to define your branding and messaging, then see how you can use that on any platform you use. [ConvertKit & Flodesk users can use unique fonts to ensure cohesive branding.]

If you need help with your branding, I highly recommend Fiona Humberstone’s books on branding:

These books work together to ensure cohesive, sustainable branding for your business. I promise they are worth every penny!

After working through them, a brand designer audited the branding I created using these books. She was impressed when I told her I had no experience outside these books.

Consider these things for your sustainable branding and messaging:

• Create a business brand and messaging guide to make delegating easier
• Create a values list to showcase in your branding through visual and contextual branding
• Create a list of things you always, maybe, or never include or want to say in your business

Branding is about helping you stand out and speak to your ideal client/customer. Sustainability comes into play when you’re consistent.

Sustainably Promoting Your Products and Services

Let’s talk about sustainable offers because they lead to sales and revenue.

Promoting your products and services can be done on autopilot with email marketing in several ways. This can include funnels, footer notes, and, most importantly, evergreen offers.

The hope entrepreneurs have for subscribers is that they become clients or customers. To make that happen, you have to offer your products and services.

Here are a few things to consider about sustainably promoting your paid offers:

• Is this an evergreen product? Can you sell it at any time and fulfill the service or product?
• Can you offer a discount code or bonus incentive to make your paid offer more enticing?
• Is there any reason you can’t turn your products or services into an evergreen product/service?

Once you know which things are evergreen, you can place them in different parts of your strategy.

Three of my favorite ways to sustainably promote products/services include:

1. Welcome sequence – A new subscriber needs to know what problems you solve and how.
2. Newsletter footer – The perfect place to remind people that you get paid to solve their problems.
3. Launch funnel – Highlighting one product or service can amplify your results.

The beautiful thing about sprinkling your promotions throughout your email marketing strategy is that sales can be made anytime, even when you’re BBQing in the backyard with your family.

Evergreen Marketing Strategies

Evergreen marketing strategies change the game when it comes to your business.

While it can be used for all kinds of marketing, including Pinterest, SEO, and social media, we will focus on email marketing.

What is evergreen marketing?

Evergreen marketing is the promotion of content, services, products, or any information that is not time-bound and can be shared any day of the year for years.

How can you utilize evergreen marketing within email marketing?

Evergreen email marketing promotes content on autopilot by utilizing funnels, nurturing sequences, and strategic planning.

What are the benefits of an evergreen email marketing strategy?

The benefits of an evergreen email marketing strategy are that it is less time-consuming, targeted for specific promotions, and allows you to take a proactive stance in your business versus reactive.

As mentioned above, evergreen email marketing strategies allow you to sell products and services anytime and aren’t dependent on your need for work-life harmony.

How do you get started with a sustainable evergreen email marketing strategy?

Always start with the end in mind. What product or service do you want a subscriber to invest in with you?

Once you know what conversion you want, you can build a roadmap for your subscriber.

Think about how you’ll welcome them to your list, nurture and educate them about their problem, and offer the solution.

Many marketers say the average number of touchpoints someone needs to purchase from you is eleven. Some subscribers need more touchpoints, while some need far fewer.

Take this into consideration with your strategy. You want to hit the mark for all three kinds of people: quick, average, and slow decision-makers.

Client Case Study – Implementing a Sustainable Newsletter Strategy

Lauren, a craft business owner, hired me to help with her newsletter strategy. In the nearly two years we’ve worked together, we have transformed how she shows up in her business.

She now has the opportunity to do other things because of her sustainable email marketing strategy.

This is a recent testimonial she provided me to share with you:

Q: What was your biggest struggle before hiring me? How has this changed since hiring me?

Before hiring Erin, emails were hit or miss. As a creative entrepreneur, I had a desire to spend my time creating rather than dealing with writing the emails I knew I needed to be sending.

Now, I look forward to creating new content for you to share, as well as you finding relevant posts from the past to share with my audience.

Q: What could have kept you from hiring my services?

It can be hard to make investments in our businesses. However, the ROI for email is huge. I’m so thankful I “took the plunge.”

Q: What is your favorite part of working with me?

How emails are now getting sent on a regular basis without the hassle of having to take the time to write my emails each week. As a business owner who homeschools three children, this has been priceless.

Q: What gains have you received since working together?

My subscribers are engaged and love seeing what’s hitting their inboxes each Thursday. My traffic always sees a big boost on email days.

Before Lauren hired me, she sent out emails occasionally and saw pretty decent results. However, since hiring me, she has seen a considerable increase in traffic to her website and has guilt-free time to focus on creating new projects and spending time with her family.

She’s even been able to implement other parts of the sustainable email marketing strategy into her business to create an incredible experience for her subscribers, who love it!

The Long-Term Value of Sustainable Email Marketing

Sometimes it takes a while to adjust to a sustainable email marketing strategy because hustling and burnout are habitualized in our mind and body. However, breaking these habits and enjoying the benefits of sustainable email marketing in your business is possible.

Like Lauren, you can focus on what you want to do versus what needs to be done because you have the freedom due to increased residual income. [Passive income doesn’t exist. It’s residual due to having to put effort into getting a result.]

The long-term value of sustainable email marketing includes increased revenue, freedom of time and choice, less stress, a stronger community and brand, and intangible benefits that you have to experience to understand.

The other cool thing about sustainable email marketing is its impact on the planet, which I’ll cover in the future for you. If you have any questions, please leave them below in the comments so I can answer them in the post.

Let’s Make the Change Together!

You know how important it is to consistently connect with your subscribers to build trust and grow your business.

However, the constant struggle to find time and maintain a consistent email marketing strategy can be overwhelming, leaving you stuck in the hustle mentality.

I am challenging you to break free and choose a simpler and more sustainable approach to email marketing.

My Newsletter Services are comprehensive and include developing a newsletter strategy specifically for your business, newsletter template design, copywriting, and list management. I do the heavy lifting and ensure your newsletters are sent consistently to your subscribers.

Let’s work together to define your goals, build out your business’ unique story, and plan exactly how you will nurture and convert your community into paying customers.

Don’t let the guilt of inconsistent newsletters hold you back—transition your business to a sustainable email marketing plan and convert subscribers into paying clients! Let’s get started on this exciting journey together.

One more note from Lauren:

Hiring Erin has been one of the best decisions I’ve made for my business. She’s easy to communicate with and has fantastic ideas. If you’re overwhelmed with email marketing like I was, Erin will help remove that stress. Erin’s attention to detail has freed me up to spend my time doing what I love to do – creating!

Lauren B.

How to Create Freedom in Your Business

Hustle culture and boss babes tell you that the only way to succeed is to work 24/7, but as I’ve mentioned, that isn’t the case. The ways to success are unlimited. All you need is your imagination and a sustainable marketing strategy.

You now have the tools to change your email marketing strategy, and I encourage you to prioritize these changes.

It’s time to put hustle culture and the entrepreneur burnout epidemic in the history books.

As a reminder, you can create a sustainable email marketing strategy by focusing on these essential pieces:

1. Sustainable Email List Growth
2. Sustainable Branding and Messaging
3. Sustainably Promoting Your Products and Services
4. Evergreen Email Marketing Strategies

I believe in you and know you can create freedom in your business today with a sustainable email marketing strategy.

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