Bourn Creative

Transforming Businesses into Extraordinary Brands

How to Build Your Email List Fast With An Irresistible Free OfferRead Build Your Email List Fast With An Irresistible Free Offer
standard icon

Build Your Email List Fast With An Irresistible Free Offer

Jennifer Bourn

While brands and businesses are all but racing to social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, SnapChat and Instagram, they still are only reaching a small amount of the market. The irresistible email opt-in offer can change that.

The cornerstone of any successful business, online or offline, is its coveted marketing list — the list of customers, clients, prospects and other interested folks who have given you permission to market to them.

Email lists are critical to the success of your business because while not everyone uses social media (it’s crazy, but true), everyone has an email address.

  • Want to sign up for a social media site? Go ahead. They’ll require and email address.
  • Want to buy a product? Sure. They’ll need your email address.
  • Want to subscribe to a publication? No problem. Give them your email address.
  • Want to become a member? Great. They’ll also ask for your email.

Read More

Email Marketing Copywriting TipsRead Simple But Effective Copywriting Tips For Email Marketing
standard icon

Simple But Effective Copywriting Tips For Email Marketing

Jennifer Bourn

Like the email subject line, the copywriting in your email is also an important part of the your email marketing success — and the approach needs to be personal.

When you’re writing for email (and most types of marketing for that matter), you’re not writing to a general audience, to a big group, to just anyone — you’re writing to one person, to one subscriber that has a connection to you. You must think of your email marketing copywriting as the art of creating a conversation between you and a single subscriber.

You want them to read your email and feel like you are speaking right to them. Like they matter. Like they know you and you know them.

Read More

Email Marketing Worst PracticesRead 11 Email Marketing WORST Practices
standard icon

11 Email Marketing WORST Practices

Jennifer Bourn

When it comes to email marketing, if you do it right, you’ll experience great success, you’ll create strong relationships, build a loyal and responsive list, gain more visibility, and attract more new opportunities. Plus, you’ll see an increase in sales conversions.

But if you decide to use some of the email marketing worst practices — those frowned upon by savvy business owners, consumers, internet service providers, email marketing service providers, and the government — you might as well not even bother. It’ll do you more harm than good.

Read More

Retain Email SubscribersRead Retain Email Subscribers and Create Loyal Readers & Raving Fans
standard icon

Retain Email Subscribers and Create Loyal Readers & Raving Fans

Jennifer Bourn

Getting consumers on your email list is only the first step. Your opt-in box, free gift or ethical bribe, list building efforts, website traffic generation — it’s all focused on getting people onto your email list so you can stay in touch with them and continue to market to them by email with permission.

But what happens after the conversion from consumer to subscriber? What happens AFTER they join your list and become a subscriber and member of your community?

  • Once you have gained a subscriber, your goals shift from acquiring to retaining.
  • Your main focus once a consumer joins your list to keep them on your list and keep them engaged with your business and brand.
  • You captured their attention and gained their trust once already when they were compelled to opt-in, and now you need to keep it up — keep them interested, keep them engaged, keep them wanting and even looking forward to hearing from you.

Read More

Make Opting In a No-BrainerRead Make Opting-In A No Brainer For Ideal Clients and Prospects
standard icon

Make Opting-In A No Brainer For Ideal Clients and Prospects

Jennifer Bourn

Building an email list isn’t easy. The idea that just throwing an opt-in up on your website with a free gift — any old free gift — will create a giant list of ready-to-buy email subscribers IS A MYTH. Putting in a little effort for a few hours and then raking in 6-figures based on set-it and forget-it sales pitch isn’t going to work.

Successful Email Marketing Requires You To Build A Strong Marketing List. Successful email marketing comes from constant effort, hard work, and providing amazing value — such amazing value that you think you really should be charging for what you’re giving people, and even consider turning this into a paid offer and using something else as your opt-in free gift.

Here are 10 ethical (and highly effective) tips on how to build a great email marketing list:

Read More

Write Effective Email Subject LinesRead How to Write Effective Email Subject Lines That Get Subscribers to Open Your Emails
standard icon

How to Write Effective Email Subject Lines That Get Subscribers to Open Your Emails

Jennifer Bourn

As a business owner and marketer, you have a lot to say and a lot to share with your audience, prospects, and clients — and it is easy to get so focused on the content of your email newsletter or email marketing message, conversion goals, and click-through rates, that you lose sight of something as simple as the email subject line. But…

Your email subject line is one of the most important parts of your email. The absolute best email subject lines are short, to the point, descriptive, and enticing. They have one purpose — to get you to open the email.

If your subject line stinks, is boring, or seems irrelevant, or worse, seems like spam — no one will open your email, and it won’t matter how much time you spent creating the killer content inside, because no one will ever read it. That’s why your email subject line needs to be interesting and relevant to the recipient. And while it’s job is to be so awesome that it gets them to open your email, you also need to avoid getting caught in spam filters.

So, do you write a killer email subject line that is practically guaranteed to get people to open your email, but may get caught in a lot of spam filters? Or do you play it safe and go with a slightly safer subject line that may not get as many opens, but avoid the spam filters?

Read More

Follow Up Sequences Build Email ListsRead Follow Up Sequences Build Successful, Responsive Email Lists
standard icon

Follow Up Sequences Build Successful, Responsive Email Lists

Jennifer Bourn

A follow up sequence or auto responder is a series of pre-written emails that are set up in advance and sent to subscribers or consumers automatically after they opt-in, sign up, subscribe, register, purchase, etc. They are a way to continue to provide value, build relationships, and stay top of mind.

Business owners love follow up sequences because it allows them to leverage software to automate tasks and create stronger, better brand experiences with their clients, customers, and subscribers. With a follow up sequence, you can do the work once to create it, then you put it on autopilot and let is do it magic over and over again automagically — yes, automagically — saving you time energy, and money.

Almost every business owner using a shopping cart or email marketing service provider in their business has the ability to use auto responders and follow up sequences. But they don’t.

Read More

Choose Right Email Marketing ProviderRead How to Choose The Right Email Marketing Service Provider
standard icon

How to Choose The Right Email Marketing Service Provider

Jennifer Bourn

If you try to send email marketing messages or bulk email from your personal email account, you’ll risk getting flagged as a spammer by your own email service provider (ESP), your internet service provider (ISP), and recipient’s email service providers like Yahoo and Gmail. If your personal email address gets flagged as a spam address, you risk having every email you send — not just your email newsletter — get blocked as spam.

So, if you want your email marketing message to reach your subscribers, you must sign up with an email marketing service provider (EMSP), follow the rules, and follow email marketing best practices. Not using a professional email marketing service provider sends a message to consumers about your business — and it’s not a good one! By skirting the law, you’re showing them that you’re either:

  • Too cheap to spend money and invest in your own business, (so why would they ever invest with you)
  • Not confident in your ability to succeed and make money to pay for the service, (so why would they ever feel confident investing with you)
  • Out of touch with current laws and regulations about email communications and marketing, (which will make them question what else you’re not up to speed on)
  • Not successful, or at least not as successful as you say you are, (if you ca’t even afford to communicate professionally, I probably should invest somewhere else)

Read More

Permission Based MarketingRead Permission Trumps Everything in Email Marketing
standard icon

Permission Trumps Everything in Email Marketing

Jennifer Bourn

If your inbox is even half as full as mine, you know how much time email eats up every day in your business — time away from the truly important tasks at hand like serving your clients and customers! And, I’ll bet you’re always looking for smart ways to reduce the amount of email you get and make email more efficient. So, I can also bet that you CAN’T STAND IT when random businesses market you by email without your permission! Or when other business owners add you to their list without permission.

Permission based email marketing operates on the principle that you obtain email addresses through legitimate means only.

This means you always gain permission first, through a sign up form or opt-in box (single or double opt-in) of some kind — as long as you clearly communicate they will be receiving emails from you up front — or by registering for something for making a purchase.

Without Gaining Permission, Adding People To Your Email List Makes You A Spammer (ICK!)

If a person doesn’t opt-in on your website, sign up, or specifically ask to be added to your list, you may not add them and market to them by email — it’s against the law! Email marketing is a permission-based marketing strategy. I understand that building your list is very important. In fact, it is the primary focus for many online entrepreneurs and marketers… But you cannot engage in list building practices that are disrespectful to your audience.

Read More

Get Subscribers to UnsubscribeRead 5 Fast Ways to Get Readers to Unsubscribe
standard icon

5 Fast Ways to Get Readers to Unsubscribe

Jennifer Bourn

Building a responsive list of engaged subscribers that have given you permission to market to them is a common goal for many business owners. But often there is so much focus on building the list, that the most important part — nurturing subscribers after they have signed up — is forgotten.

Retaining subscribers once they have joined your list and continuing to build your relationship with them is the key to growing a responsive, engaged list. Unfortunately, some simple mistakes can sabotage your list building efforts and get your subscribers to unsubscribe and leave your list in droves.

Here Are Five Marketing Mistakes That Cause Readers to Unsubscribe:

Read More

Get More Sales With Auto RespondersRead 4 Steps To Get More Sales Using Your Autoresponder System
standard icon

4 Steps To Get More Sales Using Your Autoresponder System

Jennifer Bourn

This is a guest post from my friend and brilliant business coach, Sue Painter. Sue is one of Michael Port’s Book Yourself Solid Coaches, a coach for Ali Brown’s Elevate program, and a successful entrepreneur. I always appreciate Sue’s perspective on business and marketing. We use follow up sequences (autoresponders) heavily in our business and when we were creating several new ones earlier this year, Sue reviewed and provided feedback on almost every one, ensuring what we create is easy to understand and easy to use!

In this guest post, Sue shares 4 steps on how you can use autoresponders to get more sales and more clients — Enjoy!

Read More

Irresistible Free OfferRead Clients & Customers Can’t Resist … And You Build Your List The Benefits of Making an Irresistible Free Offer
standard icon

Clients & Customers Can’t Resist … And You Build Your List The Benefits of Making an Irresistible Free Offer

Jennifer Bourn

I know many entrepreneurs and small business owners, especially when we’re first starting out, dream of building really big lists of prospects and clients — lists with the names and email addresses of people in our target market, who may someday spend their money with us.

At first, it seems to make perfect sense that you’d want a big list — that the more people you can communicate with in your email marketing campaigns, the more likely you will be to find a customer who will take the next step with you.

But what we often forget as we get “big eyes” imagining having a list with over 1000 names and email addresses on it, is that quantity in list building will never be as important, nor have as great an impact on our profits, as quality.

Read More

Opt-In For List BuildingRead Anatomy Of An Opt-In: 8 Parts Of A Successful Website Opt-In Box
standard icon

Anatomy Of An Opt-In: 8 Parts Of A Successful Website Opt-In Box

Jennifer Bourn

Let’s talk about your website opt-in box visitors will see when they come to your website, and the eight key parts of an opt-in box that ensure maximum success (and conversions).

If you already have a website opt-in box, use this checklist to confirm that you have implemented each item listed and aren’t missing one key component that could increase your conversion rate. If you’re in the process of planning or creating a new website, use this checklist to ensure your designer includes all eight elements in your website opt-in box so you can build your list effectively.

Here are the 8 components of of a successful website opt-in box:

Read More

Email Marketing CritiqueRead Direct Email Marketing Gone Bad: A Critique
standard icon

Direct Email Marketing Gone Bad: A Critique

Jennifer Bourn

Last week Brian wrote about the worst direct email marketing tactic we’ve seen in a while and on Monday I received probably one of the worst introduction emails I have ever received – if you can even call it an introduction.

I read the email, re-read the email and again and at the end I still wasn’t quite sure what the sender was asking of me! But I think the sender was asking me to either meet him for a sales pitch or provide free coaching. Here’s the problem with “cold calling” using direct email marketing: you can’t hear the tone of voice, you have a hard time reading between the lines, and you can’t clarify and ask questions easily.

In this post, I am going to share the email I received with you, I am going to critique it and share some insights on what a stranger would think reading it, and I am going to provide a rewritten version of the email that I would have liked to have received.

Read More

Discover What We Can Do For You

Have a project you think we'll like? Click the button below and tell us about it.

We love working with enthusiastic clients who are as passionate about their business as we are about strategy, design, and development. If that sounds like you, we should talk.

Start Your Project