Amplify Your Authority by Marisa Shadrick

November 29, 2023 Episode #76 Top Email Marketing Tips for Business Growth with Kathy Farah

You don’t want to miss these top email marketing tips for business growth.

Email marketing remains to be a powerful business strategy for turning warm leads into customers.

In a recent podcast interview, email strategist expert Kathy Farah shares top email marketing tips that have propelled her online business forward as she helps her clients achieve remarkable results.

In this podcast, you’ll discover the importance of

Subscriber Engagement: Discover why subscriber engagement is the key to a thriving email marketing strategy.

Reengaging a Cold Email List: Understand how breathing new life into inactive lists can boost your email marketing ROI and rekindle relationships with valuable leads.

The Power of Effectively Using Tags: Dive into the world of personalization through tags and best practices.

Balancing Informational and Promotional Content: Strike the right balance between providing valuable information and promoting your products or services to keep your audience engaged and receptive.

Consistency and Authentic Connection: Explore why consistency and authenticity are the cornerstones of effective email marketing.

These email marketing secrets will help small business owners cultivate strong connections with their audience and increase their business success.

Key Takeaways

Kathy Farah’s Transformative Journey: Witness how Kathy Farah’s life took a remarkable turn as she embarked on her path to becoming a thriving online entrepreneur and a seasoned ConvertKit strategist.

The Influence of Consistent and Engaging Emails: Discover the marketing power hidden within consistent and captivating email communication.

Master the Art of Valuable and Personalized Content: Crafting email content that’s not only personalized but strikes the perfect balance between value and compelling promotions.

Quotes

The Power of Asking the Right Questions: “It really showed me that it was really about asking the right questions.” — Kathy Farah

Do You Have An Engaged Email List: “So if the answer is no, then you really don’t have a list…it really means nothing.” — Kathy Farah

Understanding Your Audience in Marketing: “I have to really understand the people that I’m talking to, where they are in the journey. Are they aware of the value of something.” — Kathy Farah

Exciting Action Step!

As an exclusive offer for our listeners, Kathy announced a free email audit valued at $1500 for the first five listeners who reach out to her by December 22nd. Listen for the submission code to book your free audit.

About Kathy Farah Consulting L L C

ConvertKit Email Strategist

In 2021, Kathy Farah faced a significant life change. She found herself divorced after 14 years.

Although this was a devastating season, she pushed herself to take control of her life and start her own online business.

As a ConvertKit email strategist, she blends project management, copywriting, and marketing skills with a passion for helping online business owners earn revenue from an engaged email list.

Connect with Kathy:

Website: https://www.kathyfarah.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathyfarah/

Email: [email protected]

Free Resource: 4 Email Strategies to Reengage Your List

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Podcast Transcript

Marisa Shadrick [00:00:14]:

Hello. Hello, and welcome. Today is a very special day because I have a very special guest who I consider my friend. Her name is Kathy Farah, but let me tell you a little bit about her 1st, in 2021, Kathy Farah faced a significant life change. She found herself divorced after 14 years. And although this was a devastating season, she pulled herself together to take control of her life and start her own online business. As a ConvertKit email strategist, she blends project management, copywriting, and marketing skills With a passion for helping online business owners earn revenue from an engaged email list, Please welcome Kathy Farah. Hi, Kathy.

Marisa Shadrick [00:01:00]:

How are you?

Kathy Farah [00:01:01]:

Hi, Marisa. I’m so excited to be here.

Marisa Shadrick [00:01:04]:

I’m excited that you’re here too because this is Long overdue. Kathy and I go back a little bit, and, I really like Kathy. I consider her my friend. And so this is gonna be This is gonna be a fun episode. It’s just 2 friends talking with each other over coffee, that type of thing, and we’re gonna let you listen in. So how are you doing, Kathy?

Kathy Farah [00:01:25]:

I’m doing great, Marisa. It’s I’m so excited about this opportunity. It’s so fun to be able to catch up with you.

Marisa Shadrick [00:01:32]:

Absolutely. So for the sake of the listeners, why don’t you tell them where are you coming in from? Where do you live?

Kathy Farah [00:01:38]:

I, live in Simpsonville, South Carolina, and I have lived in South Carolina really most of my life, though I was born in Florida. So I’m kind of a a southern a southern girl.

Marisa Shadrick [00:01:52]:

Oh, wow. That’s awesome. So you were born in Florida, and you live in South Carolina.

Kathy Farah [00:01:57]:

So Yeah. Which is a little bit unusual, actually, Actually, because there’s not very many, like, born in Florida, Floridians. You know? It’s most people come in from other areas. So Do you

Marisa Shadrick [00:02:08]:

have family there in South Carolina?

Kathy Farah [00:02:10]:

In South Carolina? Yes. I do have family that live in South Carolina, and that’s kinda we kind of made our way here, and that’s really where most of us are.

Marisa Shadrick [00:02:19]:

Very cool. Very cool. So siblings or parents? Or

Kathy Farah [00:02:23]:

Yes. So my mother lives in the area, and, so my sister and I live here. My brother actually lives in North Carolina.

Marisa Shadrick [00:02:33]:

Oh, that’s nice. That’s nice. Awesome. So I wanted you on here because we’ve been on a journey together for a little bit, and it really Hasn’t been that long. It I thought it was longer, but it really hasn’t been that long. And I was hoping you would kinda share your perspective, and then I can share my perspective Because I’ve seen so much growth in you, Kathy, and see you just blossom like a rose. And This is something that I love to feature simply because so many people think, you know, can I do it? Can I grow an online business? I would love to hear a little bit about your Perspective and a little backstory about how we started working together.

Kathy Farah [00:03:13]:

Well, we have we started working together really back with copywriting. So you were my copy coach, and so that was kind of how we first experienced each other. And then as we got to know each other and became friendly, I got the opportunity to join the Amplifier Authority. And that experience really was a transformation in my business and for me. Because up until that point, I had really Spent a lot of time doing a lot of training, a lot of preparing, trying to make everything perfect, and making very little progress.

Marisa Shadrick [00:03:56]:

I heard the word that I struggle with too, perfectionism. That’s one

Marisa Shadrick [00:04:00]:

of my

Marisa Shadrick [00:04:00]:

that’s my Achilles’ heel. Right? And I think a lot of people, if they’re honest, they would say that that’s something that maybe they struggle with 2. So, yeah, thanks for being so open and authentic about that.

Kathy Farah [00:04:10]:

Yeah. I think that’s the thing that I started to realize when I started to look back to perfectionism Really was just fear. It was everything had to be perfect, and there was no way that I was gonna be able to move forward until I had this next thing, whatever that was, more research, more you know, another training, and I wasn’t really taking the action. So it was really once you and I had met that I started realizing that it needed to be imperfect action.

Marisa Shadrick [00:04:38]:

Yeah.

Marisa Shadrick [00:04:38]:

That it needs to

Kathy Farah [00:04:38]:

take small steps.

Marisa Shadrick [00:04:40]:

That is so true because fear really has so many faces. It pops up in so many ways. And as entrepreneurs, We begin to see the different faces of fear because we’re stepping out. We’re innovating. We’re doing things we’ve never done before. Wouldn’t you agree?

Kathy Farah [00:04:58]:

Yes. Absolutely. It’s one of those things that I think fear is probably the biggest reason that we don’t do things. We just don’t believe that we’re capable, in in doing the you know, going after what we wanna try to go And, especially, there’s so much comparison. I mean, you go online, all the research you do, you start to really compare yourself. And I’m like, I’m not as good as she is, or I’m not as good as

Marisa Shadrick [00:05:25]:

he is. So how am

Kathy Farah [00:05:26]:

I going to be successful?

Marisa Shadrick [00:05:28]:

Yeah. For sure. I see it a lot in just Putting yourself out there and having an opinion of something, a point of view, some people don’t want to. They wanna agree with someone else, but not really stand on their own 2 feet with Their perspective, and their perspective is important. Or I see it also in pricing. Right? I struggled in that area. Pricing, not really

Marisa Shadrick [00:05:48]:

pricing things, you know,

Marisa Shadrick [00:05:48]:

according to the value that

Marisa Shadrick [00:05:48]:

you bring. So you

Marisa Shadrick [00:05:49]:

see it in According to the value that you bring. So you see it in different ways and people getting busy on the active back end things and not really Prospecting, you know, and asking for the sale, those kind of conversations that make us all feel uncomfortable. But it if you look at it as serving, All of a sudden doesn’t feel like a sales call because not all calls are gonna be a sale. There’s other outcomes that we can get from it as well. Right. So yeah.

Marisa Shadrick [00:06:17]:

Yeah.

Kathy Farah [00:06:17]:

And I was gonna say that’s really been one of the biggest things that you’ve taught me is about making connection. So when I looked at my sales Calls, you know, if we wanna call it a sales call, really to just asking questions

Marisa Shadrick [00:06:30]:

Yes.

Kathy Farah [00:06:31]:

And really better understanding the other Person and what their needs were, it changed a lot about how those calls felt. I mean, prior to that, to be honest with you, I would spent hours preparing for a very short call with somebody, not really knowing what the outcome was. And so often when the time came, It was a totally different issue than what I thought they may need. So in reality, once I started to ask some deeper questions, I started to realize, like, Oh, that’s not I’ve been preparing for hours on something totally different. Like, this is not what they wanted at all. You know? So it really showed me that it was really about asking the right questions. And that’s something that you really help us as students of yours is to really think about, well, why ask that Question, you know, what what’s, you know, what’s the deeper meaning in this?

Marisa Shadrick [00:07:25]:

Right. I love asking question. I think I recently read something, And I may misquote this. I thought it was Brene Brown in her latest book, but it was it referenced and I’m gonna butch the Paraphrase I’m gonna paraphrase this, but it was something that leaders don’t have all the answers, but they ask great questions. And by asking great questions, it’s kind of a journey of discovery, and you understand so much. So it’s a win. You don’t have to have all the answers. You don’t have to be perfect, but ask Great questions to really find out.

Marisa Shadrick [00:07:56]:

Like you were saying, what is it exactly that someone needs? So Kathy was referencing, Amplify Your Authority. So just to keep this in context so they know what we’re talking about. Right. Sorry.

Kathy Farah [00:08:06]:

Jumping into different friends.

Marisa Shadrick [00:08:08]:

No. I know. I know. Amplify Your Authority is my my signature coaching program that I finally dialed in in 2022. After a lot of things that I went through and realized understanding that the big challenge that people had was traffic, you can build courses. You can Know about SEO. You can do a lot of things, but the bottom line is you need people. You need traffic, and how do you do this? And so in my own, discovery and asking lots of questions, I came up with Amplify Your Authority, which is has a component of a 90 day intensive.

Marisa Shadrick [00:08:43]:

And then the following 3 months is masterminding and implementation. So the 90 day intensive, the 1st month is all about branding, The 2nd month is about traffic, and the 3rd month is about your products. What products are you going to create to have not only Those signature products, but also multiple streams of revenue so you can reach that revenue goal. So did I do a good job explaining that?

Kathy Farah [00:09:07]:

Yes. You did. And I think, really, it’s all the foundation

Marisa Shadrick [00:09:11]:

Mhmm.

Kathy Farah [00:09:12]:

Of creating an online business because I think one The things that I was doing wrong before you and I met was I could I’m an information person. I can research all day long, But to really have the foundation, I mean, it was interesting, though I had been working with clients, some very basic things about the way my brand was And what I was trying to do, was not a 100% clear. And really, in truth, when I look back, I wasn’t really clear on what I really wanted to be doing. So it was a little of this, a little of that. And that is something that I think That through your program, you really kinda help guide us on okay. Here start with first things first. You know, really build it and don’t jump Behead of yourself. Get the foundation in place so that it’s very clear.

Kathy Farah [00:10:06]:

So since you and I have worked together, I mean, honestly, my LinkedIn profile, I’ve Upleveled that from where we started. You know? So it’s a lot more professional, and I’ve had a lot more people reach out to me as a result. Yeah. Right?

Marisa Shadrick [00:10:21]:

It was so different. Laugh because she was gonna be on a podcast, and I said, well, where are you sending them? And she goes, well, LinkedIn. It’s gonna be on LinkedIn. I Popped up her LinkedIn profile and said, Kathy, you haven’t looked at this in a while because it just did not represent her at all. So Kathy, being the student that she is, she’s just so she absorbs everything like a sponge. She got busy and just created this beautiful profile that you I know I think I’ve created some curiosity. You need to go check it out. And when you do Yeah.

Marisa Shadrick [00:10:50]:

Connect with her. Right? So, yeah, she’s got a Beautiful profile. But it’s so true what you’re saying. We get busy like, okay. I gotta start a lead magnet. Well, why? Where are you sending them? Right? I gotta start this. Why? What is that gonna help you accomplish? You know, they start doing all The things rather than work backwards, like, what do you wanna sell and what does your brand represent? Because your brand is more than colors and fonts. Right? It should Be an expression of who you are as a person and as a business, and that’s not easy to do as you pointed out.

Marisa Shadrick [00:11:23]:

Even I’m rebranding, and I’m tweaking, and I’m tightening things. So it’s not something that is in cement. It’s something that continues to evolve as we grow and as our audience, we begin to talk to them, we find out more about them, And we figure out, like you pointed out earlier, oh, that’s what they need. Okay. Or how they even interpret us. For a while, I used to say I’m a copywriter, and people would look at me like, copy what? They didn’t understand that. They didn’t understand online marketing. But when I said business development online, they go, oh Oh, I get what that is, and that was someone that told me that.

Marisa Shadrick [00:11:59]:

After I

Marisa Shadrick [00:11:59]:

had talked to

Marisa Shadrick [00:12:00]:

her, she said, oh, you do business development. And I go, okay. If if that works, then that’s what it is. And that’s what I have on my LinkedIn now because that’s how she interpreted All of the branding and the copywriting, the strategy, she just said it in a couple of words, business development. Why I couldn’t figure that out? I don’t know. But it’s funny. It does take Take a while, but you have grown a lot. So as a result of the Amplify Authority and being in community and us having some time together, What’s the after now? What’s the after story?

Kathy Farah [00:12:32]:

The after story is that I really feel a whole lot more confident. Like, I actually feel more confident to take the and and this is big for me being that I am a type 5 an Enneagram. So expertise is a top priority for me. But to have to, like, say, okay. Let’s just take action. Imperfect. Just do it. You know? And just taking those steps and feeling more confident about how I’m presenting myself and creating more of a niche and saying, okay.

Kathy Farah [00:13:04]:

Here’s where I’m gonna focus right now. You put so much pressure on yourself when you’re starting out that I have to have it All figured out. I need to know every exactly every step, what I’m gonna be doing, what’s my ideal client, picture the avatars. And that is what’s really changed is that now I have a better direction. So it’s a lot easier for me to help clients is that I can really I I feel more confident just doing things that maybe I don’t know perfectly. Like, I may not be the spurred. But I can figure things out, and I’m willing to help. And that’s the key thing is that I you know, my credibility comes across differently because I feel more Confident and more credible and love helping people.

Kathy Farah [00:13:48]:

So when I get in there and start working with somebody, then it’s a matter of, You know, how can I help you? What, you know, what is the thing that’s stressing you out? Okay. Then let’s work on that. Let’s get that better so that that is that’s no longer stress for you.

Marisa Shadrick [00:14:03]:

Kathy is great. She’s so conscientious. That’s why I love her so much, and I consider her a friend because she not only, Understands about research, and she understands about doing a thorough job on the front end, the middle, and the after. Right? She understands all that. She understands strategy. She’s a great copywriter. But the thing is that I what I love about her is her heart. She really wants to serve people, and I like those kind of people.

Marisa Shadrick [00:14:30]:

Those people that really wanna serve those that are struggling, we need more of those because there’s so much Direct response and hype out there to download this, pay this. Everything is Yes. 5,000, 10,000. And and I’ve invested in myself, and I’m not saying it’s wrong to invest in yourself. You should. But when people are starting out, they can’t afford those prices. And that’s one of the reason why I try to keep my pricing low because I’m helping people in the beginning stages, like the 1st couple of years. Right? And they don’t have Those resources.

Marisa Shadrick [00:15:04]:

So who helps them? Right? Who’s gonna help them?

Kathy Farah [00:15:07]:

Right.

Marisa Shadrick [00:15:07]:

So, you know, I had to pay a lot, and I had to, get alone in some cases. I mean, there was it was really a struggle for me to get the knowledge that I needed, and I would only get one little bit, One tiny slice. And so that’s why Amplify Authority is more of a a system That you can continue to do over and over again and create sort of a flywheel effect so that this will be your Engine for getting clients, and you got clients, didn’t you?

Kathy Farah [00:15:37]:

Yes. I have. And, really, even since the beginning, since we started working in January with this, it you know, I’ve made some changes, you know, since then. So because I’m just taking the action, then it’s something and I have that foundation. I can go back and tweak things and go, okay. Let me go back through the checklist. Because that that is one thing that you do really well as Well, is that you do research, and then you share what you discover. And so it saves us a lot of time.

Kathy Farah [00:16:07]:

And so there’s a lot of check List and things like that that we can go back and say, okay. Wait a minute. I think I might have missed this element. Let me go back and tweak this and make this better. And you have all of that stuff easily laid out for us to be able to go back and and keep tweaking even as we start we continue to evolve. Because that’s the thing I’m really learning is throughout this year, I I still am evolving and still making a few tweaks as I work people and say, you know, this project really lit me up, and I was excited about. Like, that’s what I wanna do more of that.

Marisa Shadrick [00:16:41]:

Yeah. That

Kathy Farah [00:16:41]:

that’s the exciting thing I think about online entrepreneurship.

Marisa Shadrick [00:16:45]:

Yeah. I think we’re in trouble when we’re not evolving Because look how many changes we’ve had since 2020.

Kathy Farah [00:16:51]:

Right.

Marisa Shadrick [00:16:51]:

And people that keep doing things the same way, the same way, the same way, never innovate, never there’s kind of like a If you look at a diagram and you see a a line that’s going uphill, before it reaches that plateau, we need to be innovating or it will go down. Yeah. We need to keep innovating and creating and figuring out how can I better serve clients? Am I really hitting the mark? Market research is important like we talked about. You know, it’s so important to do market research, industry research, competitor research, all those things that most people don’t wanna do that, But it’s foundational, and it tells you so much. And then when you’re on social, then you do it with intention, not just throwing everything on social. Because I have my own perspective on how to do social media that is people probably would not agree with me, but it’s more effective and it doesn’t burn people out from posting, posting, posting. Right? So, anyway, can we segue more into, like I mean, I really appreciate all the kind things you’ve said about Amplified Authority, but I really wanna talk more about what you do With ConvertKit and the emails, I I see that you’re helping people with their email campaigns because that is A great asset, and do you feel that sometimes people just don’t value the asset that they already have? They want more, more, more, more leads, but they don’t take care of the people they have. Tell me your perspective on that.

Kathy Farah [00:18:11]:

That absolutely. I do think that that is one of the things that we are looking for large numbers. And it’s almost like to say when someone asks how many people do you have on your email list, it’s like, well, you know, you don’t you’re A little uncomfortable. And even if you could proudly say, okay. I have this many, you know, whatever that big number is that you feel very proud of, The question becomes, are you consistently communicating to your email list, and are you selling to your list? Like, are you making offers to your list? So if the answer is no, then you really don’t have a list. It’s not a fully engaged list. And so then it really means nothing. So that that’s really the thing that I’m starting to recognize that it’s really much More about even if your list is not huge, it’s really more about having engagement and really connecting with people and providing value consistently.

Marisa Shadrick [00:19:11]:

That is so true. I couldn’t have said it better because so many people are so preoccupied on the more. Let me get more, more, more. And They do it, and then when they have them, what are they doing? And some people completely abandon their list, and they won’t you know, they feel like, well, I got their email, so I’m good. And they then maybe they don’t communicate with them until they have a promotion. What do you think about that?

Kathy Farah [00:19:35]:

Right. Yeah. See, See, and that’s usually not gonna be as effective either because by the that point and thing and we could really think about the way we interact with our own email list. Mhmm. If we suddenly See a promotion, even if the sale seems great, but it’s from someone we don’t remember, it’s like, wait a minute.

Marisa Shadrick [00:19:52]:

When did I even sign up for that person’s list?

Kathy Farah [00:19:54]:

I don’t remember who they are. That’s not gonna help you. That’s likely to end up in the trash bin. So it really means that you put a lot of effort into something that doesn’t pay Pay off in the long run than if you’re consistently communicating. And I think, to be honest with you, it goes back again to fear. It goes back to, I don’t have the perfect email. What am I gonna send out to my email list so they just don’t send anything? And figure, well, I’m giving them the sale. I’m giving them a discount or whatever it may be, that you know, that’s better than, You know, not really having the perfect newsletter or the perfect email to send out.

Kathy Farah [00:20:36]:

And in reality, it’s about Being consistent and really knowing who your audience is and wanting to provide them value.

Marisa Shadrick [00:20:46]:

You’re singing my song. That is so true. So let me ask you. How did you end up landing with ConvertKit? Why ConvertKit as opposed to maybe other email service providers?

Kathy Farah [00:20:57]:

Truthfully, it was during my journey very early on that, you know, I’d heard it From, you know, one of the podcasts that I listened to, about ConvertKit. I had used other email service providers in the past and just didn’t like it, as much. ConvertKit, I’m all for simplicity And having things just easy to do and understand. I don’t want it to be overcomplicated because I really don’t have Time to learn a bunch of very complex email systems. Mhmm. So ConvertKit to me was a very easy system to learn At any level of understanding with email, and so that’s really why I decided to focus in was that I like their simple approach. Automation was easy to put together. Just setting up sequences and things like that were a little easier to do.

Kathy Farah [00:21:49]:

And, frankly, it let me dial in on a particular email service provider so that I kind of what research I was doing was more targeted to understand all the things that Convert could could do.

Marisa Shadrick [00:22:02]:

Now you say it’s easy, but have you found with your clients that sometimes they don’t take advantage of some of the features and some of the things that they can do with, Or maybe they took completely botched it up. Yes.

Kathy Farah [00:22:15]:

And here’s the thing. I and I say easy, and probably I should add the caveat that I love technology, so technology is easy for me too. So that’s

Marisa Shadrick [00:22:26]:

kind of a technology too.

Kathy Farah [00:22:28]:

Yeah. So I will sit there and play with things. And and I think that really a lot of the clients that I work with tend to be, people that are feeling a little less comfortable with the technology generally or just really kind of overwhelmed with email marketing and and understanding the things that they need to do, all the things that

Marisa Shadrick [00:22:47]:

you need

Kathy Farah [00:22:47]:

to have in place for an email campaign to work. So I’ve I’ve worked with clients where they’ve been collecting emails, but then really just don’t understand the flow of how you might want to have things set up, for their system. So all you think to do is send the 1 email, send a one off, and not really take into account all the other advantages of really having a true email service provider. We kind of use it the way we do our own email, you know, address, Something that we do in Google or Outlook, that’s kind of the way we approach it. And email service providers have offer so much more Functionality that does make our jobs a lot easier as marketers and online business owners.

Marisa Shadrick [00:23:33]:

Yeah. It’s almost like an afterthought. It’s almost like, oh, I grew my email list. That’s great. I’m moving on to something else, and they don’t really follow through with what that means, like, because it is such a great asset and opportunity. And, you know, I know when email service providers came out and they had opportunity to create lists and tags, and sometimes people over tag things. Yes. Tag, like, Tag all over the place, and then you have more confusion.

Marisa Shadrick [00:23:57]:

You know, using those those things strategically and why You wanna tag something. I’m sure you found to be important. Right? Yes. Absolutely. Mhmm.

Marisa Shadrick [00:24:08]:

A lot

Kathy Farah [00:24:08]:

of people, when they tag things, They’ll put abbreviations that they don’t remember later.

Marisa Shadrick [00:24:16]:

You know? And so if you’ve got someone I would do.

Kathy Farah [00:24:20]:

Someone comes in later and you’re looking at it like, what is ADU? You know what I mean? Like, it was something they did some time ago. So That’s the thing. Really tags, it’s there’s a purpose behind it that helps to make things life easier for you in communicating with those particular subscribers later. So it’s not about just tagging everyone. You wanna have a little bit more thought behind, tagging a subscriber so that you’re really using for personalization down

Marisa Shadrick [00:24:51]:

the road.

Marisa Shadrick [00:24:52]:

Yeah. Absolutely. I know we had a conversation, and we Kinda chuckled about it. Do you wanna tell them about the conversation we had about old list and dead list? Because we were talking about that.

Kathy Farah [00:25:03]:

Yeah. So you hear a Lot of times when people refer to their email list and they and they see a lot of providers will show you cold subscribers versus and what we realized was that wasn’t anything that really kinda talked about an old subscriber. So when you’re really when you because we were just talking earlier about how much To evolve as a business owner, sometimes those people came on your list from some workshop or webinar that you did Sometime before, which is no longer relevant to what you’re doing today. And they haven’t really opened an email, Assuming you’ve emailed them, you know, that they’ve not opened an email in 6 months or more, well, now, really, those are Old or dead subscribers. They’re no longer really going to provide you any value. They’re not engaged anymore.

Marisa Shadrick [00:25:53]:

So do you try to reengage him somehow? Do you help clients do that to see if you can still salvage?

Kathy Farah [00:25:58]:

So I always recommend to try to reengage, send some reengagement emails to try to get them back in you know, back into the fold of what you’re doing first. You know, and that sometimes won’t work. You know? If it’s an older, subscriber that maybe just isn’t interested in what you’re doing today, Then you might not have any luck with that. If they’re cold and it’s been a few months, like, usually, I would recommend 60 to 90 days. If they’ve not opened in that amount of time, Then that’s somebody that you might be able to reengage and and kind of let them know that you miss them, and here’s what, you know, here’s what I’m giving you now to kinda get you back, You know, to where you’re more interested in my emails. Yeah.

Marisa Shadrick [00:26:41]:

Do you have any recommendation? Like, I know I use the Pareto principle for a lot of things, but A recommendation, like a ratio, like content that we send out, like, how often a week. And then as we’re sending out content, how often can we promote? Do you have, like, a ratio, a rule of thumb for people, listeners, to kind of know if they’re promoting too much or if not, creating another value?

Kathy Farah [00:27:04]:

Sorta recommend that you usually are sending about 70 to 80% of informational content that’s providing some sort of value. And then the, you know, 20 to 30% promotional. And really, as far as your, You know, consistency, generally, I recommend sending, you know, an email weekly at least. Mhmm. Yeah.

Marisa Shadrick [00:27:27]:

And and be consistent with that. What I always tell everybody

Kathy Farah [00:27:28]:

when they’re thinking with that. What I always tell everybody when they’re thinking about that, that feels overwhelming sometimes to people. We’ll tell people is be consistent to what you’re going to do each time. So if it is every 2 weeks, That’s you know, really, I recommend a week. But if it is every 2 weeks that you’re doing it at the same time, so it’s Tuesdays at 8:30, Then your list knows that you’re going to be sending some information, you know, an email to them. But try to keep on a consistent schedule so that there’s something they know to expect. But, again, I really recommend sending emails weekly to your list.

Marisa Shadrick [00:28:06]:

Yeah. Because there’s so much quantity of emails.

Marisa Shadrick [00:28:09]:

Yes.

Marisa Shadrick [00:28:09]:

But if we wait too long, like, I can easily like, when I go out of town, I realize how many emails I actually get. And if I go out of town for 3 days or something, there could be a 100 To a 150 emails that accumulate. That’s, like, at least 50 emails or more a day. So you do the math. You wait two weeks, they’ve already seen and read a whole bunch of other stuff. So, no. I agree. I I think it’s important to and it doesn’t have to be a lot.

Marisa Shadrick [00:28:36]:

Right? Even if you do a newsletter back in the day, it’s like newsletters were great. Then there was a season where they said newsletters are bad. Nobody wants to subscribe to newsletter. Now newsletters are popular again. Give them a newsletter. It’s like people can’t make up their minds. So you know what? Just I figured, just do what Feels right. You know?

Kathy Farah [00:28:53]:

That’s really what I think it boils down to. You’re right, Marisa, is really do what feels comfortable to you. If it’s a newsletter, then great. Do that. If it because it gives you a chance to show your personality. You know? If it’s a weekly email, that’s kinda what I do with my list is I’m sending a weekly email, and I’m trying to really think about what’s gonna bring value to the people that are on my list. And I really pay attention to What what I’m hearing from my existing clients of things that they’re curious about. So that’s the kind of stuff that I will Send them to my, you know, to my list.

Marisa Shadrick [00:29:28]:

Right. So a lot of people often, they don’t know what they don’t know. Like, For example, ConvertKit. Excuse me. Maybe, there are things within ConvertKit, features and things that they can use, but If they don’t even have time to write emails, let alone find time to figure out how to use ConvertKit more effectively or strategically, do you do Audits or something to help them see, like, maybe something that they could leverage or something that they could change that could make a difference?

Kathy Farah [00:29:58]:

Yes. Absolutely. So I do, email audits. And so that way, I could take a look at a variety of different things. Look at your landing pages And see, do you have welcome sequences, that type of thing, as well as take a look at your actual emails and really identify What maybe not is not working as well. Why aren’t people opening? If you’ve got lower open rates, what may be going on with your emails that is causing that? Your promotional emails. You know, sometimes it’s a matter we’ve sent promotions out, and for some reason, people aren’t really responding to those. I could take a look at that and sort of give you a little more guidance on the way the copy is coming across and how you’re presenting the information.

Kathy Farah [00:30:44]:

Does it resonate with your audience the way you’re you know, are you really speaking to your audience at where they’re at?

Marisa Shadrick [00:30:51]:

Exactly. Because sometimes people just think, well, let me just give them information or throw it in chat GPT and spit it out.

Kathy Farah [00:30:59]:

Right.

Marisa Shadrick [00:31:00]:

But it’s really about Them and their journey. It really isn’t about us.

Kathy Farah [00:31:04]:

And where they are in the process with you, do they know it? Because that’s, You know, I think we’re all guilty of this is sort of like what we were saying with ConvertKit. Here, I’m telling you about how exciting it is, but I’m at a different level with it, right, versus someone that’s Just starting out. So I have to really understand, you know, the people that I’m talking to, where they are in the journey. Do they are they aware of the value of something. You know? Am I speaking to him at that level? Like, am I going back and thinking from a beginner’s mindset, Rather than where I am a more advanced, that’s a totally different conversation. So if it’s if there are people on my list that are newer to email marketing, then I can’t jump in and start using terminology that doesn’t make sense or speak to them on a more advanced Conversation Yeah. That that is relevant to them at that stage.

Marisa Shadrick [00:31:58]:

Yeah. I’ve discovered that too because there was a wave of people, The ones that watch the Amy Porterfields and the Jeff Walkers and, you know, that kind of learned all those basic things, but then they’ve moved on to Do their thing, and there’s a whole new group of people coming on that need to understand these things. And I realized that too That it’s not dumbing down the information. It’s simplifying it, using language that anyone could understand rather than jargon and Things like that. Yeah.

Marisa Shadrick [00:32:27]:

discovered that as well.

Kathy Farah [00:32:29]:

Because I think one thing that I’m realizing is a lot of the, small business owners that I’m working with are experienced in their business. They know their business.

Marisa Shadrick [00:32:37]:

Yeah.

Kathy Farah [00:32:37]:

They just don’t understand the best way to communicate that information to their email list. You know, they’re talking in the way they think about it. You know? And so that’s where I try to come in and take a look at that and make sure that what their goals are for their email list, that that’s in line with what they’re actually communicating out to their email list.

Marisa Shadrick [00:33:00]:

Yeah. And you tell me some Success stories of some of your clients that you’ve worked with. I can’t remember there was 1 person that you were helping them with some sales campaign or something. Do you remember?

Kathy Farah [00:33:10]:

Yeah. So I there was a, there was a client I was working with that online business owner or I’m sorry. A brick and mortar business owner That had always done direct mailers, and it was something that was sorta new for her. She’d been collecting emails, but really didn’t know how to do it. So we, did an email promotional campaign for a Mother’s Day sale, and it turned out to be the highest sales that She had gotten in that month of May in 22 years.

Marisa Shadrick [00:33:41]:

Oh my gosh. Yeah. Now if that’s not

Kathy Farah [00:33:44]:

Yeah. Yeah. So she was so excited. So she’s He’s now an email marketing convert. She wants to more and more get away from doing direct mailers and get back get into email marketing.

Marisa Shadrick [00:33:57]:

Oh my god. Can I put my coach hat on real quick? Yes, please. Has she give you given you a recommendation on LinkedIn? I hope so.

Kathy Farah [00:34:05]:

No. But we will I I have asked her to do a testimonial, but I will now. Now that you’ve Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Marisa Shadrick [00:34:10]:

Absolutely. Get her to do that on LinkedIn because the profile looks so beautiful. It’d be nice to have some recommendations on there on LinkedIn. So that’s awesome. So let me ask you this. I mean, everything has just kind of changed for you this year, and You’re getting clients. You’re seeing great results. You’re really dialing in on your messaging and your branding.

Marisa Shadrick [00:34:30]:

Was what was, like, the one thing that was really Difficult for you. I always like the podcast to be inspiring for people, people that might feel the same way and know, well, Kathy was able to do this. Maybe I can too. What was something that you had to overcome? Just one thing that, you’re sort of proud of yourself to give yourself a pat on my back for doing it.

Kathy Farah [00:34:52]:

Believing that I was capable of doing it and that I didn’t have to know all the things Yeah. Before getting started.

Marisa Shadrick [00:35:02]:

That’s awesome.

Kathy Farah [00:35:02]:

I I think that was the biggest thing is I really I had to get out of the learning mode And get into the doing mode. So once I changed that and just started doing things and taking that risk, Which really, when you start looking at it, is just taking action. It doesn’t it’s not as much of a risk. It’s really just taking the small steps To take action every day, even if it’s a little scary, because that for me was the big thing was that I didn’t feel like I knew enough. You know, I wanted to learn more and more, and it really was I was you know, I did know more more than the average person about email marketing, And so I just had to lean in and do a little each day.

Marisa Shadrick [00:35:49]:

And look at the results you were able to get for your clients. That’s Yes. Totally amazing. You would have kept, like, The best email strategist away from the world. Had you not stepped out and done that. Thank you. So that is awesome. That is awesome.

Marisa Shadrick [00:36:04]:

So you have A gift for our listeners that is just a special limited time gift, a free gift for our listeners. Do you wanna tell them a little bit about this this audit that you’re offering?

Kathy Farah [00:36:17]:

Yes. So, the email Audits that I typically do are valued at $1500, but I’m going to, for your audience, through December 22nd, For the first 5 people that reach out to me, I’m gonna give that email audit to them for free.

Marisa Shadrick [00:36:36]:

Oh. So I will, yeah,

Kathy Farah [00:36:38]:

I will look At if you don’t now, I focus a lot in ConvertKit, but I can also look at emails and look Get other items, and then really give you a report at the end that lets you understand what actions you can take to try to improve your email marketing strategy.

Marisa Shadrick [00:36:57]:

That is awesome. So all you have to do is when you reach out to Kathy, and we’ll give you how to reach out to her at the end of the podcast, all you have to say is free Audit. So she knows it came from this podcast because she’s not gonna do this for everybody, right, just for the listeners. So you have to say free Audit. And if you say free audit, then she knows it was a listener from the podcast because she’s gonna take the first 5. And then Once you connect with her, she can book on her calendar and begin to do that. So by the time you listen to this podcast, we will be December holiday season. So you’re looking at getting getting booked in January to get these things reviewed and stuff just so everybody know, because we don’t want her Working on Christmas.

Marisa Shadrick [00:37:40]:

Right? It’s just like, no. We don’t wanna do that. So that is awesome. So you mentioned something that sort of piqued my curiosity. You said something Even if they don’t have ConvertKit. So is this offer just for people that have ConvertKit? I mean, you can obviously give them a more in-depth audit, right, if you can, Like, look at their ConvertKit. But is this for people that don’t have ConvertKit too? I mean, do you do services for those people?

Kathy Farah [00:38:04]:

Don’t have ConvertKit as well. So the in that case, if it’s somebody that does not have ConvertKit, then maybe we’re focusing in on looking at the last Five emails that you sent out to your email list that you are wondering, you know, is there anything that I could do to improve this? So maybe it’s your promo sequence that you sent out some promotions. And for some reason, the sale just was not as successful as you had hoped. If you want to provide me the emails that went out, to your list, then I can take a look at those and give you some feedback and, you know, a little bit of a copy critique to let you know

Marisa Shadrick [00:38:41]:

Yeah. What you could maybe do

Kathy Farah [00:38:42]:

a little differently the next time to hopefully improve the chances of your promotions

Marisa Shadrick [00:38:48]:

success. Be a welcome series for a free A free download welcome series with an order bump or something on the end, that is amazing. That has so much value because Once you tweak it and you get it working right, think of the revenue that you’re gonna make. Right? So you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. And especially for lead magnets, a lot of people don’t think about the welcome series. So Right. That is really valuable too. It’s not just about getting them to download that Resource, it’s getting them to stay engaged.

Marisa Shadrick [00:39:17]:

Yes. So that’s a wonderful offer. So I’m gonna recap here. For those people listening to the podcast and want to have a free email sequence audit. And if you have ConvertKit, she will do a little bit more for you there. It’s a $1500 value. If you submit or reach out to her Before December 22nd, which is a Friday before Christmas, and make sure you say free audit. Kathy will put you on the calendar, and you can get this report from her.

Marisa Shadrick [00:39:50]:

So that is awesome. That is awesome. This has been Great having you on. I just had so much fun, and you gave us so much value as far as emails and one of our greatest assets. And so Thank you so much for being so generous and giving us so much value on the podcast. And I just wanna remind everyone to be sure if you need an audit, this is Free. This has a a $1500 value. And what she shares with you, you can use in future emails too.

Marisa Shadrick [00:40:20]:

So This could be the game changer for you, so be sure to reach out to her before December 22nd and make sure You say free audit because this is just for our podcast listeners, and she’s gonna take only 5. So make sure you reach out so she can get on the calendar with her. Yes. Thank you, Marisa.

Kathy Farah [00:40:41]:

Any of the time.

Marisa Shadrick [00:40:42]:

Last last comments for our audience?

Kathy Farah [00:40:45]:

Well, I would definitely say sign up for Amplify Your Authority. It’s well worth it. Get Get that foundation in your business even if you think you know all the things. It’s definitely worth Getting things dialed in the way you need to

Marisa Shadrick [00:41:05]:

to make connections, to really take

Kathy Farah [00:41:07]:

your business to the next level.

Marisa Shadrick [00:41:09]:

Well, thank you so much. We yeah. We are gonna have a cohort in January. So, if people are interested, December’s the time to reach out to me for that because we are gonna have cohort in January, and that’s gonna be starting. And it’s application first. I feel it’s very reasonably priced compared to I mean, not gonna pay 5,000, $10,000 for it. And, we take a journey for 6 months. So, yeah, thank you so much, Kathy, for that.

Marisa Shadrick [00:41:34]:

That was so sweet. I appreciate it.

Kathy Farah [00:41:36]:

Yeah. Thanks, Marisa, for your time.

Marisa Shadrick [00:41:39]:

Alrighty, everyone. Take care, and we’ll talk to you soon.

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