A mentoring client, who is a specialist website copywriter, came to a session saying she wanted to get her email marketing sorted. She already had a lead magnet in place and people were subscribing to her newsletter. But there was no automation series, no follow up, no regular emails going out, and no clear sales opportunities.
On paper, she felt like she’d done the right thing by setting up a lead magnet and focusing on list building. In reality she felt uncomfortable and not very confident about any of it.
What looked like an email problem was actually a decision problem
On the surface, and during our pre-session check in, this client had thought it was an automation issue. She felt uneasy about automations, worried they wouldn’t sound like her, and that discomfort was putting her off email marketing.
But once we sat down together, it became clear that the bigger issue wasn’t the emails at all. It was who her marketing was attracting.
Her lead magnet was building a list of subscribers, but it was speaking mainly to people looking for a freebie or a low cost fix.
In reality, she wanted to work with business owners ready to invest in proper support.
Chatting this through made something really clear. Her confidence wasn’t going to come from adding more tools or automations. It was going to come from making clearer choices about who she actually wanted to attract
Marketing reality check
If you’re building a list, but wondering whether it’s helping your business at all, it might not be a motivation issue. It might be that you need to make clearer decisions.
I’ve put together a short marketing reality check to help you see what’s pulling it’s weight.
List building only works when you’re clear who you’re building it for
When you’re list building and sending emails to “anyone”, self doubt tends to creep in.
You can be emailing the wrong audience, which often makes emails feel awkward or forced, or like you’re sending them just for the sake of it. Even with a decent open rate, a disengaged list can knock your confidence.
In this case, my client wanted to work with people she can write great website copy for. Her existing subscribers, however, were much better suited to buying her downloadable, low cost templates.
That mismatch was doing more damage than the lack of automation ever could.
What we changed, and why
Nothing needed to be scrapped or started from scratch.
We decided to tweak the messaging on the existing lead magnet so that it clearly pointed people towards her low cost templates as an easy next step.
At the same time, we made a clear decision to focus more energy on a different lead magnet. One designed for people already thinking “I probably need someone to write this for me.”
These people are closer to hiring, not just browsing and hoping to do it themselves.
3 month email marketing package
This is the kind of thing we cover in my 3 month email marketing package.
It’s not about sending more emails. It’s about making sure your email marketing fits your business, your offers, and how you want to work.
Why this lead magnet works better for her business
The new lead magnet is better because:
- it matches how she wants to work
- it attracts people who already value expertise
- it creates an easy next step, rather than a big leap
- it makes selling feel more natural and less pushy
When all her ducks were in a row, my client felt much more comfortable to creating the lead magnet and automation that followed. This clarity removed the “automation ick” she’d been feeling.
What we’re working on next (and why motivation comes last)
In our next session, we’re focusing on her regular emails.
We’ll be looking at:
- who the emails are for
- how often to send an email newsletter and
- how long a newsletter should be.
How often to send emails and how long a newsletter should be are questions I hear all the time. But they’re rarely the right starting point.
Length and frequency matters far less than intention and knowing what action you want to reader to take. Confidence comes from knowing why you’re emailing.
Discovery call
If you’re sending emails, building a list, or sitting on a lead magnet and feeling unsure about any of it, that’s exactly the sort of thing we can talk through together.
Confident marketing is built on choices
Motivation for email marketing (and marketing in general) comes and goes. Clear decisions can remove friction.
When your list, your lead magnets and offers line up, your confidence follows. And marketing starts to feel calmer, more intentional, and far less overwhelming.
