ONLINE TEACHER’S TOOLKIT
Email
Your most valuable asset is email. Social media will come and go…but if you have someone’s email you can be in touch with them no matter what happens to facebook or instagram.
You’re creating an email collection bucket. I’m suggesting using mailchimp but you can use any email software you like. From there, you’ll create 3 different ways to add emails to that bucket, an email that you’ll send to people you already know, an email collection form that can stand alone or you can put one on your wesite, and your social media posts.
Once you have your bucket created and a form that automatically fills that bucket, you can:
-grow your email list by directing people to that form
-send emails from that list to promote your classes
***If you already have all of your emails in one email list application, you can move on down the page to “send an email to your friends”.
Step 1: Create a Mailchimp Account
You’re going to start by creating an email list where you can collect email addresses and send regular emails or newsletters to your people. I recommend using Mailchimp to collect email addresses in one place and send newsletters out for 1-2x/week announcements of your classes.
The free version of Mailchimp includes:
$0/month for less than 2000 subscribers
forms to collect email addresses
connect to your website form
https://mailchimp.com/pricing/
Chose which level of membership you want for your email list
Create a new Mailchimp account.
Create an email signup form (whether this is on your website or in mailchimp) and start using that link in your marketing. https://mailchimp.com/help/how-the-form-builder-works/ for the mailchimp email
Or google how to connect mailchimp to your website form. For example, if you have a squarespace website, google “how to connect Squarespace form to mailchimp email list”.Create a Confirmation email- this is the email that someone gets when they enter their email address and and Final Welcome Email - this is the email they receive when they are added to the list. Short and sweet is good for these.
Step 2: Add all emails that you already have to your email list
If you have been collecting emails through your teaching and those people gave you permission, add all the of those email addresses to your mailchimp address book. You can manually enter them in mailchimp (if there’s less than 30) or upload them from a spreadsheet. Google - how to upload emails to Mailchimp from a spreadsheet.
Step 3: Build your email list with the people you already know.
Send an email to your peeps and invite them to subscribe to your email list
Through your regular email (yahoo, gmail, etc) send an email to all of your friends, colleagues and family letting them know you’re going to start teaching online and inviting them to get on your email list. This isn’t an invitation for them to come to specific classes (not yet). The purpose of this email is to let them know that you’re going to be teaching classes online and how these classes are going to rock their world. You’re going to tell your story, let them know your intention and then invite them to a form where they can signup for your list.
Things to include in your email:
Tell them about your intention for offering these classes
Tell them how awesome its going to be for them. What are all of the benefits of what you’re teaching and what it has done for you. Tell them your story. What will they get out of it. How are they going to feel?
Include that you’ll be sending weekly, bi monthly or monthly emails to let them know about classes and other offerings.
Encourage them to stay on your email list and invite their friends as well.
Include the link to signup
Let them know that if they’re not interested they can hit the unsubscribe at the bottom of the page.
When your’e writing this email, really write it as if you’re talking to a friend that you love and care about. Be yourself, tell jokes, use your own language.
P.S. Every piece of marketing should have a call to action, whether its a link to your email signup form or inviting them to register for a class with you. Keep this in mind as you move forward with setting up your marketing.
Next steps:
-Send your email for proofing to dorie@doriesilverman.com
-Once its finalized, send it to all of the people you know through your regular email software.
-Use the copy from your email to create a social media post with a cute pic of you and a link to your email signup form. Post on all of your social media accounts: Facebook and Instagram, next door, Alignable etc
-Add your questions to the spreadsheet and send feedback to dorie@doriesilverman.com