Creating your own email templates and campaigns can be time-consuming, but while it might seem like direct messaging on content and social media platforms or public posts are all you need for marketing, having a way to reach your fans outside of that is vital too. You never know when a platform might have issues or when a social media site might suspend your account, so asking fans to sign up for an email newsletter is a surefire way to be able to keep in touch no matter what.
Let’s dive into the nitty-gritty. There are plenty of free pre-made templates out there that may tempt you with an easy path for communication, but forget it. That collection of “tried-and-true” email templates is likely also being used by hundreds of other marketers worldwide. By using them, you immediately lose your chance to stand out.
Instead, have a custom email template made specifically for your brand and campaign. As a creator, you should already know what your fans expect from you, which words work best and the kind of news that creates engagement. If you are unsure, your Twitter timeline is your friend here: look at how well your past tweets produced engagement and experiment with new tweets to find out what your fanatics expect to hear from you. Apply that experience to your email marketing campaigns, and you won't fail.
Since a creator's core business is their content and regular output naturally generates the need to notify your fans about new releases, notification emails about fresh scenes have one of the highest open rates of any email type, according to my research. This gives us a significant advantage over other industries where the product/service being offered remains more or less always the same. While mainstream’s goal is to give clients meaningful information to loop them back into the product/ service and keep them engaged, creators always have something truly new to offer fans, making it easier to keep them engaged with just a simple notification.
Here are some basic tips and tricks to create effective email marketing campaigns, once you’re ready and have your template prepped:
STAY COMPLIANT WITH REGULATIONS
You may be surprised to discover laws such as the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act, as well as European privacy regulations like the General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR, but take them seriously and be sure only to email people who have confirmed their interest in hearing about your offer and brand. Noncompliance is not only bad marketing with minimal returns, it’s illegal and it can seriously damage your brand.
KEEP YOUR MESSAGE RELEVANT AND BRIEF
Just because you send an email doesn't mean it will be opened and read. Your subject line is the door to your email, and its effectiveness is the key that opens it. Use a clear, descriptive subject and make sure that the email’s content is relevant to it. Keep it short and to the point. The recipient is likely to spend about a second looking at your email and deciding whether they want to read it or not, so make it engaging, easy and a quick read. While the highest open and response rates are shown by emails 200-250 words long, I've found that the most effective emails in the adult creators world are 50-70 words.
PERSONALIZE YOUR OUTREACH
People appreciate the personal touch, and that's especially true for creators' fans. The impression that the email has been designed and written specifically for them will make them feel unique and more prone to engage. If you know your recipient's name or nickname, use it. If you know a returning client who likes the kind of content you are promoting in the email, mention it. For this reason, it is always a good idea to have multiple templates for each campaign; send one to all those fans you already know are looking for that specific content and another more generic one to all the rest of your prospects' list.
GO EASY ON ATTACHMENTS
Using multiple attachments, videos, pictures and links makes it more likely that your email will be blocked or sent to a spam folder. While sticking to the 70/30 text-to-image ratio , when it comes to adult content, I find it best to embed no more than one photo, possibly none. Besides helping to avoid the spam-blocking risks, this also makes the email safer to read in situations where privacy is not an option. Insert one link only and make sure that what you feature on your linked page resembles what your fan would expect to see based on your email.
ALWAYS INCLUDE AN UNSUBSCRIBE LINK
This may seem obvious, but it’s important and, in light of the GDPR, all your emails must offer the recipient a way to refuse to receive any further emails. The easiest way to do this is to include an unsubscribe link, making the unsubscription process clear and simple.
OPTIMIZE YOUR EMAIL CAMPAIGN FOR ALL DEVICES
Mobile phone email opens comprise well over 50% of all email opens, and two-thirds of consumers will delete emails if they don't look good on mobile. That means that you need to make sure your email campaign is displayed correctly on all possible devices, mobile included.
BUILD AND GROW YOUR MAILING LIST
To me, this is the simplest part of the process, although an often overlooked one. Whatever app or software you use to manage your mailing list, i.e. Mailchimp, make sure it features a subscription link. Now, add this link everywhere you can, like social media and content sites, to see your mailing list grow. When I say everywhere you can, I mean it. Too often I notice the lack of such a link in the most obvious places. If you don't have it on your business email signature too, you're doing it wrong. Trust me, one proprietary subscriber to your mailing list is worth 10 anonymous subscribers to your OnlyFans. Another great place to add that link is your media's watermarks. The silliest promotional photo you put out there gathers tens of thousands of views during its lifespan and there's no better conversion than enticing viewers to grant permission for emails via watermark.
By following the above tips, you’ll grow your mailing list and client portfolio over time and achieve the reach you need to expand your brand.
Sabrina Deep is Blisss.company brand manager and ambassador. She can be followed @SabrinaDeep on Twitter and contacted by email at Sabrina@Blisss.Company.
