Email newsletters can be your marketing powerhouse, but this channel is tragically under-utilized due to the perceived amount of work involved in launching them. It doesn't have to be that way.

Create a no-sweat email marketing plan to earn or keep more business in just thirty days by completing a few simple tasks each week this month.

Week 1 - Crafting the Email Marketing Plan

Spend a few minutes each day this week thinking about the strategy of your email marketing plan. Big picture, think about creating the following basic pillars:

• Creating an offer to build your subscriber base
• Publishing a monthly newsletter​ that provides value to your subscribers

We'll get to how to create each piece, but for now, focus on strategy. The key to great email marketing is to provide something of value to your target audience at an efficient cost to you.

Something of Value: Think of how many emails you don't read. If you want your emails to be different, you have to deliver real value to your subscribers. If you're a small business, value could mean coupons or product tips. If you're a website designer, it could be design tips or secret techniques.​ Your value is likely closely related to the purpose of your website and/or the service you provide.

An easier way to go about it: ask your most trusted customers or your ideal prospect what they'd like to see and go from there.​

​Efficient Cost: In most cases, email marketing costs are heavier on time than on money. Your ROI on your email marketing plan is driven by your ability to produce monthly newsletters efficiently and without a lot of extra work.

Think about ways you can leverage the things you're already doing to avoid net new work. For example, if you blog, your newsletter could be driven largely by repackaging your blog posts for those who haven't seen them. My newsletter takes about an hour a month and folks seem to like it.

​Spend some time this week thinking about how you could re-purpose the things you're already doing in a way that will provide value to your subscribers.

Week 2 - Creating an Email Offer

Building your email list is just as important as the emails you send. While a newsletter sign-up link on your website may get you some new subscribers, the secret to larger list gains is to bundle your newsletter sign-up process with a free offer for visitors to your website.

Free offers range from ebooks to webinars to videos. Your offer can vary widely, but the key here is value, and usually more is better. Big Picture Web offers a free Guide to Blogging with Squarespace. I know a dry cleaner in Madison, WI whose email list drives thousands of visits each month thank to dry cleaning coupons.​

Use this week to build a download or guide of some type that will provide utility for your audience, and you'll be set with a tactic to help prime your email list growth.​

Week 3 - Integrating Your Email Plan with Your Site

This week you'll integrate your offer and your newsletter signup with your website. You'll want to be sure you have the ability to promote and deliver your newsletter list and your sign-up offer.

​Step 1: Promote - Create a display ad on your website that displays your offer and link it to a unique landing page on your website. Try experimenting with your ad copy and graphic to see which version generates the most amount of clicks. Keep your ad above the fold on your blog side bar and you could receive a 1-2% click rate on your offer's ad.

Step 2: Landing Page - ​The landing page your ad links to should sell your offer to your potential new subscriber. Include the main benefits of your offer and a collection form. Configure your form so that people who download your offer are entered into your email sign-up list. Lucky for me, Squarespace and MailChimp make it incredibly easy to add form completions to my MailChimp subscriber list.

Step 3: Download - The final step involves adding a link to download your offer on the thank you page for your sign-up landing page. I uploaded my Squarespace ebook to Dropbox and include a link to it in the thank you language that displays after people submit the form to download the ebook.

Week 4 - Delivering Your First Email

Once you're up and running with your list collection and promotion, it's time to start publishing a newsletter. Center your content around the value you identified in your first week. For best results, stick to a consistent schedule and don't email people too often. 

If you're lucky, 40% or more of the people you send your email to will open it, and between 15-30% will click on the links contained in your newsletter. Pay attention to the statistics in your email marketing dashboard and adjust your tactics if you're not getting the expected results.​

What thoughts do you have about email marketing? Do you have an email marketing plan? Is it something you see yourself doing? What's one of the biggest barriers people face when launching an email marketing strategy?​