FTR:
Conscious email marketing means treating every subscriber as a person you’re in a relationship with, not a lead to be converted. When you consistently deliver value, respect your subscribers’ attention, and sell honestly, your email marketing becomes a reflection of your business values. Your customers buy because they trust and appreciate you because you value and appreciate them.
I’m working on updates to my business right now.
New LinkedIn profile, revamping my website, all the stuff you have to do every once in a while, as a business owner and entrepreneur.
That means I’m also reviewing and revising what I offer and who I want to work with in the one-on-one client side of my business.
I’ve worked with clients of all sizes in dozens of industries. My favorite clients are the ones who share my philosophy of serving first, selling second. Those are the people I want to work with, to help their businesses grow, so they can serve even more people who need what they have to offer.
So, as I’m revamping things, I’m also revamping my primary ideal customer avatar. I am actively looking to work with conscious businesses.
If that’s you, please read all the way to the end of today’s issue. I talk about what I offer and how we can work together.
If it’s not you, or if you’re not sure, please read issue anyway. You’ll learn a lot and you may discover that you are a conscious business owner, or that you too want to work with conscious businesses. They’re pretty cool, so I wouldn’t blame you.
But first, let me answer the question…
What Is a Conscious Business?
A conscious business is one that puts people before profit. It considers multiple stakeholders, not just shareholders (or owners) and the company’s bottom line.
Those multiple stakeholders can include:
- Customers
- Company employees
- The community
- The environment
- The planet
You might think this is solely the realm of nonprofits, but companies that are considered conscious businesses include Patagonia, Ben & Jerry’s, 3M, and IBM. All of these companies have programs, inside and outside the company, that promote and sustain the multiple stakeholders mentioned above.
They’re often called “mission-driven” businesses because the company’s mission focuses on a specific outcome that has an intention beyond just making money. Most importantly, they put serving their customers and delivering value ahead of everything else.
That’s why I’m looking to partner with conscious businesses that need an email marketing system that reflects their values and the way they do business.
After all, your email marketing is one of the ways potential customers get their first impression of your business. You want your values, ethics, and beliefs to be front and center, so you’re being honest about who you are, what you do, and who you serve. Making this clear means you’ll attract your ideal customers and they’ll continue to support you, because you share their beliefs.
The Tension Every Conscious Business Owner Feels
If you’re a conscious business owner, you started your business to serve people. To make an impact on the world, or even just your community. But most importantly, to do work you believe in.
Then you discovered you have to market this business if you want to be successful.
And the marketing world handed you a playbook full of tactics that felt like the opposite of everything you and your business stand for.
Limited-time offers that aren’t actually limited.
Using fear and greed to manipulate people.
Sales emails designed to make people feel like they’re missing out if they don’t buy right now.
You tried some of it. It didn’t feel right. Maybe it worked short-term, but it left you wondering, “Is there a way I can sell without feeling slimy about it?”
There is. And email is where it works best.
Why Email Is the Conscious Business Owner’s Best Channel
You own your email list. Unlike social media, you’re not renting space from an algorithm. Once someone joins your list, you can contact them until they unsubscribe.
Email is intimate. When someone gives you their email, it’s the equivalent of them inviting you into their living room for a cup of tea and a chat. You want to honor and respect this privilege.
Email is patient. You don’t have to convert someone in 6 seconds before they scroll past. You can build a relationship over weeks and months, even years. When you do it right, trust develops naturally.
And email delivers returns: the average ROI for email marketing is around $36 for every $1 spent. This is one of those places where being respectful pays off in spades. People buy from businesses they trust, and trust is built through consistent, honest communication that delivers value.
What Serving First, Selling Second Looks Like in Practice
Before the sale: Lead with value
Your welcome sequence doesn’t scream “buy my stuff!” It introduces you and your company. It delivers what you promised, honesty, clarity, and value. It tells your new subscriber what to expect and shows them, through the quality of what you send, that you’re worth listening to.
Between sales: Nurture the relationship
Your weekly nurture email is the most important email you send. It focuses on your reader and what they need. Every week, you deliver a useful insight. A story that resonates. A perspective they haven’t considered. This is where the relationship deepens.
You can make soft offers during these emails, but you don’t have to. And sometimes you won’t want to. That’s fine. The point is to show your subscribers that they matter to you, and your solution matters to them.
During the sale: Be honest
When you do sell, be direct about what you’re offering, who it’s for, and what it costs. No hidden catches. No manufactured urgency.
If you have a deadline, keep to it. No fake “we’re extending this sale for 3 more days” nonsense. If you don’t, be honest about that. Tell people that this product or service is always available for this price.
Trust your reader to make a decision on their own timeline. They will, and they’ll appreciate you more for it.
After the sale: Keep serving
Your relationship doesn’t end when someone buys. That’s the beginning of the next stage. Your post-purchase onboarding emails should deliver more value, not more upsells. Help your customer get the most out of what they bought. When they’re ready for more, they’ll remember you and they’ll bring their friends.
My Conscious Email Marketing Model That Makes This Sustainable for Your Business
Here’s the practical challenge: conscious email marketing sounds great in theory. Setting up an entire email ecosystem and writing value-filled nurture emails every week while also running a business is hard.
That’s why I built my conscious email marketing model to be sustainable for you and your business:
- I create, automate, and write the ecosystem. That includes the welcome sequences, the sales emails, the onboarding sequences, the abandoned cart emails. This architecture runs in the background, converting your warm subscribers into repeat customers.
- You write your weekly nurture emails, with support from the Email Writing Accountability Group. During our weekly writing sessions, you’ll draft your email in 30 minutes, get professional feedback from me and have a framework that ensures you always know what to say.
The result: a professional email marketing ecosystem system that converts, using your human voice to connect. Your subscribers get the attention, value, and trust they want. You and your business show that you’re true to your beliefs and mission. That’s what serving first, selling second is all about.
If this sounds like your ideal situation for your email marketing, let’s talk. I have space in my roster for 3 new clients right now.
Please click on the button below to schedule your free consultation with me.
Finally, this week’s pictures were taken on my beach walk here in Ventura last week. Our weather has been glorious and I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it.
Also, in the first section above, “FTR” means For the Robots. This is text for AEO or Answer Engine Optimization. It helps the AI bots know what this week’s issue of the Email Marketing Ecosystem newsletter is all about. I hope it helped you a bit too, and kept you reading.
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