Best Email Marketing Tool for Creative Entrepreneurs
“Business is good! But if I am being real, I’m sick of dancing on social media. I’m really struggling to connect with my audience and it's starting to mess with my money!”
Flodesk Review: Read this before you switch!
I have conversations like that with entrepreneurs so often in my brand photography studio. Growing your audience, engaging with them, and convincing them to buy something from you is essential to being a successful entrepreneur. Figuring out how to market your brand can be so overwhelming. There are so many tools and platforms out there, finding easy ways to market your small business is a tall order.
When I discovered email marketing my whole life changed… {insert video of me screaming Ginuwine lyrics} Email marketing has been the most effective way to grow my business, connect with clients, and increase sales.
“Chanel, I open every email you send! Your emails are so good. How do you do that?!?!”
My secret weapon is Flodesk.
It is the BEST money that I have ever spent in my business. In this blog post I am going to fangirl over my favorite tool and show you some new features in flodesk that make email marketing easy, effective and absolutely stunning!
What is Flodesk?
Flodesk is a drag and drop marketing platform created with small business owners in mind. Flodesk is the world’s most intuitive email marketing platform designed to help you grow, nurture, and monetize your list—beautifully. Emphasis on the beautiful! As a brand photographer… pretty is so important to me. If it's not ON BRAND I can’t participate.
Flodesk Features I Love as a creative entrepreneur :
Customizable email templates
You know this tool was designed for small businesses based on the templates. They have customizable email templates with topics from welcome and thank you, to Make Money! You never have to start from scratch (unless you want to). Once you load your branding colors, fonts, and logos you can have gorgeous branded emails ready in minutes!
I love the focus they put on GOOD Design and making sure that it is easy to use. Literally your Momma could create an email for your business and send it out. The click-and-drag builder makes it easier than ever to create beautifully branded emails (no coding or design team required). You can add images, gifs, videos and so much more.
Try my free monthly newsletter template
Try new arrival email template with countdown
Workflow Automations
Automation is the Queen of online business:
There are only so many hours in the day. If I never have to rewrite an “I need your payment” email again EVER! That would make my heart smile.
Automation helps creative entrepreneurs and small business professionals create more freedom in their online business. Freedom is likely the delulu thinking that got you started in business in the first place. Flodesk helps Eliminate some of the mundane steps that are required to run our business smoothly but take up A LOT of time.
One of my favorite parts about the Flodesk email marketing tools is the workflows. You can create automated email workflows like welcome series and follow-ups. When someone downloads my opt in and joins my email list the welcome campaign email is triggered. Before I set up the welcome messages it was more likely that you would date your celebrity crush in this lifetime than receive an email from me after signing up! But now I get to love-on every potential client who gets on the list. Even if I take a day off or I am on Baseball mom duty at the field, that email campaign is nurturing my potential clients for me.
And the welcome series is just the beginning. You can also set up sequences that nurture leads and automate your sales process.
I have created a workflow that encourages subscribers to share with their friends. This one email makes me so much money! Once a customer completes a transaction Flodesk automatically sends them an email and asks “where is your buddy?” The email encourages them to share with their friends so that they are not on the journey alone. And you know how much people LOVE a plus one (or two)!
Lead forms
Supercharge sign-ups with new form types
Let’s face it, Email Marketing doesn’t work if you don't have anyone on your list to market to! Flodesk has fun new ways to engage users and grow your list. Flodesk recently released 4 new form types Link in bio forms, Video forms, Spinner forms, and countdown forms. Each is unique, but the goal is the same: grow your list faster.
Link in bio - Create a link landing page that showcases up to six links, plus an opt-in form.
I use this as my link for my social media profiles to turn my audience into email subscribers faster than ever. I can host my most important shareable links and email list opt-in form all in one place, and it is 100% on-brand! I love that I can segment my audience as they are signing up for my list so from day one they get the engaging content that they want to hear about! This is especially important when you have two different offers or target audiences that you want to connect with. My corporate professionals who are interested in a new headshot are not getting emails about business tips that I send to the entrepreneurs who want brand photos for their content. Trying to get people to end their doom scrolling and jump from social media to your website is hard! The link in bio boost website traffic from social media platforms by up to 15%.
Video forms - Embed a YouTube or Vimeo video directly on the opt-in form
We all know how a quick video can capture your attention and leave you wanting more… now the more is right there next to the video. Capture attention and keep visitors engaged longer, increasing the likelihood of conversions… like up to 80% more conversions!
I love that you can create a personal connection with your audience, showcasing your brand’s personality and voice. There are so many cool ways you can use this video feature to deepen the experience like, explain products, share testimonials, or deliver a call-to-action, encouraging visitors to subscribe.
Spinner forms - Include a spinning prize wheel that allows users to win an offer or coupon
Discounts and prizes are the easiest ways to grow your list fast! I mean when have you ever ignored the big fat discount they were trying to throw your way while online shopping. Did you know that spinner forms Convert up to 30% more visitors than standard pop-up forms? I love these forms and they honestly make your small business look BIG! Spinner forms create a memorable experience that sets your brand apart. The gamified nature makes signing up fun and exciting, which can significantly increase completion rates. The anticipation of winning encourages more opt-ins.
And last but not least… my favorite form; Countdown Forms
Nothing lights a fire under your butt like a ticking time clock showing you you’re about to miss out! The Countdown forms creates a sense of urgency, driving visitors to act quickly before time runs out (leading to higher conversions!). The forms also leverage scarcity by making an offer available for a limited time, which again… leads to increased opt-ins!
The way I have used my Countdown forms is by creating a waitlist after the time expires, so users who missed out can still opt-in for future promotions. I am so excited to use it for those random flash sales, boost registration for my events, and encourage early bird opt-ins for my brand photography membership.
Flodesk vs. Squarespace Emails
I have used other email marketing platforms in the past like Mailchimp and Consent Contact. With integrations with Interact, and built in ecommerce solutions, Flodesk is winning! Did I mention that I am a brand photographer and I like pretty things!? Compared to Mailchimp, Flodesk has an easier interface to navigate making the learning curve virtually non-existent. As a business owner doing all the things to run the ship, learning new platforms is exhausting. I know I have definitely stuck with mediocre products for far longer than I should have simply because I didn't feel like making the switch and learning something new. So if you ask…
Is Switching from Squarespace Emails (or other provider)
to Flodesk Worth It?
If you already have an email marketing system that you are not completely in love with, make the switch to Flodesk. Switching from squarespace email to flodesk is easy. With .CSV imports you can migrate your current email list over to the new platform with ease. You are not starting from scratch, you can pick up right where you left off, only better!
Here are quick instructions on how to make the switch to Flodesk
1. Export your subscriber list from Squarespace (or other email marketing platforms) as a CSV file.
2. In Flodesk, create a new segment for your list.
3. Upload the CSV file to the newly created segment.
4. Match the CSV fields with the corresponding Flodesk data fields.
5. Click "Continue," and then select "Finish" to complete the process.
It's easy and so worth the switch!
And if pretty isn’t a good enough reason to make the transition (are you even my people, how did you get here?!?) The price will definitely encourage you. Flodesk has one monthly price, unlimited subscribers! Unlike competitors, Flodesk doesn’t penalize you for growing your list.
Grow baby Grow!
You can get 50% off your first year of flodesk
If you are a small business owner, an entrepreneur growing a personal brand, or a creative who values stunning visuals you should be using Flodesk. With Email Marketing, Link in Bio, and Ecommerce solutions Flodesk helps you run your business like a pro. If you are looking for an impactful way to grow your brand, I highly recommend trying Flodesk; it's as simple as clicking and dragging. Flodesk’s design focused features and automation capabilities make it the easiest way to market your small business.
When you have a clear message, an impactful design, and a solution to people's biggest pain points you have an easy recipe for a payday! Now that’s something to dance about!
You can get 50% off your first year of Flodesk
using this link https://flodesk.com/c/CHANELNICOLE
