For almost a year, I’ve been working with a new fashion brand that released its first two collections over the last six months.

The founder, an online influencer and content creator, has an impressive social media following – 6 million followers/subscribers across all her channels.

She also owns a small email list (~30,000 active subscribers) which has been built from scratch simply by directing her followers to a basic sign-up form from her social media accounts, as well as through the website’s opt-in form.

This is why I love working with influencer-led brands.

They’re in such a unique position from the start because of their existing large audiences.

I mean… How difficult would it be for another business to build such a list of 30,000 prospects so quickly? Not to mention the much greater cost of acquiring so many warm leads.

My client’s team and I work together on a hybrid Done-For-You (DFY) and Done-With-You (DWY) basis.

This gives me the freedom to ideate and strategize, while also allowing my client’s voice and personality to shine through.

What makes our approach to email marketing different from other brands?

I’ve outlined the details below:

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• We lead with largely story-driven, text-based emails. At the beginning, we also worked with a designer, but we eventually agreed that the design was – more often than not – a distraction from the copy. Now we have a template for the email header, but the copy is delivered as plain text.
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• We have developed a varied content strategy that does not resemble the email marketing strategies of countless other brands (who are, for the most part, stuck in a relentless cycle of promotions/offers.)
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• Before launching the first collection, we created a welcome sequence for those who wanted to support the founder’s brand from its inception. We were careful to build a sequence that would remain “evergreen” in the long-term, i.e., that could be easily modified and would still be relevant after the first launch (by just making some small tweaks).
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• We have a deep understanding of our ideal customer avatar, as well as a very clear USP (Unique Selling Proposition.) This allows our email messaging to be highly focused and dialed-in.
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• After launching the first collection, we added in additional flows, for example, abandoned cart flows, etc. (which now account for almost 13% of email revenue without additional effort on our part.)
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• From the beginning, we focused on writing emails in the founder’s voice and signing off with her name. It’s clear to her audience that the messaging is coming from the online influencer they admire, love and support.
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• Sending emails as the founder allows us to share stories from her life which showcases her personality and her unique perspective.

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This approach – counterintuitive to many – has been very effective.

Despite having a relatively small email list, our emails have been responsible for 55% of the brand’s income.

Just check out the stats below from Klaviyo:

Considering this is an entirely new brand, the fact that it generated more than a quarter of a million in less than 5 months is impressive.

And that the majority of this revenue was collected through email showcases the importance of this marketing channel for online influencers.

As Olly Richards (founder of the 8-figure business StoryLearning) writes: “Anyone who tells you email is dead is just trying to sell you a different marketing method.”

And while it’s important to eventually implement good acquisition strategies…

It’s vital (and much cheaper) to get the fundamentals of email marketing right first.

Especially, if you’re an online influencer or content creator with a large audience to leverage.

Any questions about our strategy?

I’d love to hear them.

Just hit “reply” to this email.

Shane

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