The first step in a marketing plan for our clients is to build the list.
THE LIST is everything to a business owner.
I say it over and over again because 80% of small businesses do not actively collect the contact details of their customers and if they do they do nothing with them.
Writing and sending the emails is the most important part so when the list is small I suggest keeping it incredibly simple.
My very simple method for small lists (less than 50 contacts):
Just save the contact details on a google spreadsheet copy them into the BCC section of your email and send them.
Tip - don't put any greeting at the top just get straight into the email - loads of the best info marketeers do it this way.
Next Step (50-100 contacts)
If you use a google account then GMass is a really good way to send mass emails to a list. You just connect your account, connect the google spreadsheet and it will send the emails from your account and you'll be able to see who has opened emails etc.
The unpaid plan allows you to send 50 emails in a 24hr period but you can pay a relatively small amount a month to send an unlimited amount.
Bigger Steps
The key is to make sure you are sending regular (and useful) emails to your list so wasting time setting up a CRM and then never using it is probably one of the mistakes most businesses make.
Once you're in the rhythm of sending an email a week and getting some good feedback then its worth looking at a bigger system. There are tonnes out there and in my experience they get pretty complicated to set up.
In the past we've used MailChimp and Keap.
Currently we use a new system known as Genie AI which has been developed by the team behind Entrepreneurs Circle. We've found it very easy to set up and get sending emails so it may be worth investigating.
But for starters just keep it simple.
If you do want any help with this then please don't hesitate to get in touch. We may not be able to help ourselves but I bet we know someone who can.