Entrepreneurship newsletter

So I've been getting quite a few emails from novice sellers asking how to drive traffic to their storefronts.

First, I'd advise against using paid ads if you're just starting out.

What you really want to do is to build an email list.

That's really the only audience that you truly own (social media accounts get suspended all the time) -- god bless SMTP.

It's the gift that keeps on giving.

1 email list can earn you lifelong revenue, over and over again, if you know what you're doing.

And it compounds too, because as your list grows, your revenue grows.

Each email sent out earns you exponentially more revenue as time goes on.

So how do you get started?

Create a simple funnel

A funnel is basically the pathway your customers take, from when they first hear about you to when they finally buy something from you.

For most digital product sellers, your funnel should look something like this:

1. Awareness

You have the top of your funnel, which is usually social media, YouTube, TikTok, or ads (recommended for advanced sellers).

This is where people first hear about you, and you'll be creating content and consistently posting value on these platforms as well as optimizing your content for the algorithm.

You have to know your niche, of course.

X and Reddit work for "edgier" niches, YouTube and TikTok work for more consumer-oriented niches, LinkedIn works for more business-oriented niches, etc.

The goal of your social media content is to get them to sign up for your email list.

No, this is not where you sell your stuff. Not yet.

This is where you get them on to your email list.

So sprinkle in your email list signup link generously among your content, especially content that has good engagement.

2. Consideration

If they subscribe to your email list, it's because they trust you or see you as an authority in your niche.

Keep it simple here, just follow the formula of "4 content emails for every 1 promotional email."

You MUST send emails regularly, don't just throw email addresses into your list and then let them fester.

You must constantly remind them of your existence and also weed out low-interest subscribers.

Don't send your first email in 3 months and then wonder why you get hundreds of unsubscribes and no one clicks on your links, let alone buys anything.

It's an ongoing relationship, and you have to keep putting out for you to get what you want in return.

3. Conversion

This is where Zylvie comes in.

If you've done your job in nurturing your email list and warming those leads up, by the time they arrive at your product/checkout page, they should be 80-90% sold already.

Like I said before, this stage is not just about making the sale -- it's about making the sale and maximizing the revenue of said sale.

This is where you introduce your bump offers, upsells, and cross-sells to really get that AOV (average order value) up.

They're already sold, they're red-hot, so strike while the iron is hot.

Pour conclure

If you're new to marketing, this is a tried-and-tested funnel that you can use to start making your first revenue.

You can of course optimize each step over time (funnel optimization is a whole separate discussion), but you must have a basic game plan in place.

Building a presence on social media and an email list might be daunting at first, but like anything else, the more you chip away at it, the easier it gets.

Slowly but surely the wheels start turning, and before you know it, compounding is doing most of the work for you.

Et voila, you have a business. 🙂

With thanks,
Jay

What I've built:

Zylvie - High-converting cart software to sell your digital products and subscriptions

Zlappo - Automate your tweets across all your Twitter/X accounts to get sales on auto-pilot