If youโre a small business owner who wants to get serious about email marketing in 2026 - this is the episode for you! (And the podcast for you, Vivian and I LOVE email marketing, and we have multiple episodes on the topic.)
This week on the S.O.B. (Small Owned Business) Marketing podcast, Vivian and I are discussing email marketing, specifically how small businesses can grow their email lists. We emphasize the importance of consent, the need for compelling reasons for customers to join, and the effectiveness of landing pages and lead magnets.
Email marketing can be a powerful tool for small businesses, and we want you SOBโs to use it to its full potential. Thatโs why this weekโs Marketing HOT TAKE is that email marketing is UNDERRATED, and should be used by ALL small businesses! Disagree? Let us know in the comments.
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Chapters:
00:00 Welcome to our Marketing Cult! Please Leave Us a Review
05:45 The Importance of Email Marketing
07:33 Consent in Email Marketing
09:11 Reaching Existing Customers Strategy
13:45 Forms, Lead Magnets, and Landing Pages
19:02 Understanding Your Target Audience
22:33 TLDL; Ways to Grow Your Email List in 2026
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๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐:
Email Marketing Best Practices for Small Business Owners: https://youtu.be/35Glyz2Aw6I
Choosing the Right Email Marketing Platform: https://youtu.be/ZEkPOQskpDE
5 Steps to Starting Email Marketing as a Small Business Owner: https://youtu.be/Xd4IomWN59s
Support This Podcast: buymeacoffee.com/sobmarketing
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S.O.B. Marketing Merch: https://theseasonedmarketer.com/swag-shop/
Episode Transcripts: https://sobmarketing.com/blog
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Dad: Please, do me a favor. Leave them a review. They promised me a bottle of bourbon.
*Intro*
Chelsea: Hey everyone and welcome to the S.O.B. Marketing podcast. Where we celebrate to S.O.B. you are, and if you haven't figured it out yet - we mean Small Owned Business, we don't mean S.O.B...
Vivian: Listen, we know that as a small business owner you are working hard on the daily to keep your business fully operational while trying to promote it. And while some days it may feel like the business is owning you, if we're being honest with each other I bet you would admit that you wouldn't give up the insanity for anything.
Chelsea: Our commitment here at the S.O.B. Marketing podcast is to give you the real talk, what works when it comes to advertising, marketing, and promoting your business. And then what doesn't really work.
Vivian: And Chelsea and I promise to always keep the conversation real.
*Beginning of Episode*
Vivian: We're back.
Chelsea: And better than ever.
Vivian: I mean, at least that's what we're telling ourselves. You guys, before we get into our topic for today's marketing discussion, let me just qremind you that we have a TLDL section. Too long, didn't listen. So if you guys are in a rush because you're a small business owner and you just want a quick synopsis of the conversation we have, go ahead and head to that chapter at the very end of this episode. Chelsea gives you a quick rundown and then we want you to come back and listen to the full discussion because that's where all the meat and potatoes...
Chelsea: All the juicy stuff.
Vivian: The juiciness comes into play. Lastly, reminder, we have a whole backlog of episodes that you guys can listen to. So if you are wanting to just brush up on your marketing, if you want to hear discussions about how you can promote your small business in a very matter of fact way, we don't do all of that, you know...
Chelsea: Fluff.
Vivian: Fluff. We don't do the "you need two hundred thousand dollars to promote your business". We're going to give you the lowdown. What works, what doesn't and all that good stuff. So go ahead and check out those episodes and hit subscribe while you're at it so you could get notified whenever a new episode drops.
All right, Chelsea, what are we talking about today?
Chelsea: Vivian, we are once again talking about our favorite marketing channel, marketing campaign, marketing whatever you want to call it. It's email marketing time.
Vivian: Did y'all really think we were going to let 2026 start off without a discussion about email marketing? Come on.
Chelsea: Seriously. I mean, it's the thing that we love the most. It's the thing I love the most at least.
Vivian: Yes. So in what capacity are we going to be discussing email marketing?
Chelsea: So today we are specifically talking about how to grow your email list. Okay. If you want to learn why you should do email marketing or if you, I don't know. We have so many episodes about email marketing. If you're watching on YouTube, go to our channel and just type in email marketing. If you're on Spotify or Apple podcasts, just search email marketing and you'll find our dozens of episodes about email marketing. Today specifically, we're talking about growing your email list.
Vivian: Yes, something that we hope every single one of you will consider doing in 2026 because let me just remind you, I get it. The Tik-y Tok-y and the Instagram and the YouTubes, all of these things are very exciting. They allow you to grow your influence and to promote your small business. However, you do not own any of that. If they decide to shut down your channel, if they decide to block your profile then you guys are kind of out of luck unless you have an email list. Okay, so this is your lifeline to potential sales, and to your customers.
Chelsea: Yes, absolutely. Vivian, before we get started, it is time for the *pew pew pew pew pew* marketing hot take.
Vivian: Okay.
Chelsea: I know you're going to agree with me. Well, maybe not. Email marketing is underrated, and if I could, I would make every single small business owner send out emails.
Vivian: Yeah, I actually do agree with you. So it is underrated. I think it is the less glamorous thing.
Chelsea: That's fair.
Vivian: It's the old school thing that we've been doing since AOL days. It just doesn't have the polish that some of the other things like live shopping and social media marketing and SMS text marketing. It's not the new bright shiny thing. So I think it gets overlooked because it's like the Paw-paw of marketing.
Chelsea: The Paw-paw? I love that. That's cute. I've never, can I just say we call, at least I call our grandmother, grandmother. So when Tim introduced me to his grandmothers and it's Nanny and Maw-maw, I was like, what?
Vivian: I thought you were going to say Memaw and Paw-paw.
Chelsea: No.
Vivian: It's along those lines.
Chelsea: It's Nanny and Poppy and then Maw-maw. I'm like, what? I call grandma, grandmother. I don't. What? I think it's cute now. I'm used to it now.
Vivian: It's a very cute southern thing. That's for sure.
Chelsea: It's a southern thing. Okay, Vivian, where do you want to start this conversation?
Vivian: All right. So why don't we just kick this off by reminding you guys why we sing the praises of email marketing each and every time.
Chelsea: Okay. We're going to keep this real short because obviously we have episodes in which we've already done this and we can talk about this all day. Why email marketing is worth your time. It's cost effective with a high ROI. It's measurable and trackable. It's great for personalization and segmentation. It's easy to, I already said segmentation, but it's easy to segment, to automate, and it's great for building relationships.
Vivian: It is. All those things are true, and we think that it is just one of the ways that you as a small business owner can really get a big bang for your buck.
This isn't something that requires $5. This isn't something that requires a whole lot of time, especially if you plan ahead and you can kind of get on a schedule and stuff. You can use it very strategically. The benefit of you being able to build a relationship with someone through consistent communication that you send them straight to their inbox, pretty cool and nifty if you ask us.
Chelsea: Absolutely. Okay, we kept that real short because we want to go ahead and just dive right in. It's 2026. You've decided you're taking email marketing seriously this year, but you need to build your email list. You've watched the episode about picking the right email marketing platform. Yes, we have an episode about that. Go watch that. You watch that episode and now you're ready to start building your list. Where do you start with that?
Vivian: Let's talk about keeping our email list clean. We don't want you guys to be rebels without a cause out there. We don't want you to get locked up and put behind bars. So we want you to be on the right side of the law. Okay? Which means that you need to ask for consent. All right.
Chelsea: Consent is, I haven't decided yet Vivian, which episode is going to go out first. Okay. We batch our episodes, but in the episode we just recorded I said consent is everything. And that's true across the board in every scenario.
Vivian: Yes. It is the highest of the highest importance to ask people if it is okay. You need their permission to be able to put them on your email list. We're not just saying this so that it's something we mark off the list to say like, "we told them to get consent". There could be some serious implications if you are not asking people because they are cracking down on this type of stuff. Be sure that you are just getting permission ahead of time to put people on their list because that is personal information.
Chelsea: Yeah. You also want to make sure that it is simple and easy for people to unsubscribe to your list, and you want to make sure you're not buying lists.
Vivian: Yes.
Chelsea: Because even though that sounds tempting, it is technically illegal. It's going to hurt your brand reputation, and honestly, it's going to get you blacklisted. It's not worth it.
Vivian: Yeah. All right. So now that we know you guys are not doing hard time, what is the next thing we need to consider about growing an email list, Chels?
Chelsea: Well, let's start with low-hanging fruit. Inform your existing customers. Let everyone know on social media that you have an email list. Let people know when you're checking them out that you have an email list. Have a very simple sign-up form. Most POS systems, if not all POS systems, have that option available.
Vivian: Absolutely.
Chelsea: It's really important to remember, Vivian, that people need a reason to join your email list. Like a compelling reason. We see this a lot and we're going to talk in a second about lead magnets, get 10% off and stuff like that. That's great. When you're trying to attract existing customers, I'm not going to say it's harder because in ways it's easier. It's a little bit harder because do they necessarily want 10% off right now? Maybe, maybe not. But they've already established a relationship with you. If their experience went well with your small business, then they're going to be more comfortable with keeping that relationship open. But it's important that you're very clear as to what the purpose of your email list is going to be.
Vivian: Yeah, and so here's the, I'm glad you kind of brought up this like 10% off thing. I think a lot of times the way we used to view email marketing was, let me offer somebody a discount and then literally they sign up for it, they get the discount. I don't touch the emails, I don't send them anything. Then they're kind of like over time, six months goes by, you haven't sent them another email since that 10% off email, they're going to unsubscribe. So then your email list dwindles down, which is fine. We do think there's a healthy version, you should be losing some email subscribers at any given time.
This is where, as a small business owner, let's say for example, you have a boutique and one of the things that you're doing because you're a clothing boutique for children is you're having family events. Some of these family events that you're having, one of the ways that you let people know about it is not just social media, but it could be through your email list. So your pitch to people when they come in and they make a purchase with you and they're a first time customer is, by the way, we coordinate family events and we would love to see you at the next one. The best way for you to keep in the know about that kind of stuff is to sign up for our email list. Can I go ahead and add your email to the thing?
So letting them know ahead of time, one of the things I relay or I communicate through email is the event coordination, is the specials we have coming up, is...
Chelsea: Where I'm going to be if I'm a pop-up or if I like to do farmers markets and stuff like that, where I'm going to show up.
Vivian: I think what drives a lot of that too is you as a small business owner making the commitment that you're actually going to utilize that email as a form of communication. It doesn't have to be in the ways that we just brought up. It could be very structured. Maybe you just use it for promotions. Maybe you just use it to share events. Maybe you use it a little bit for education and to share where you're going to be at, you know, at farmers markets, all that stuff. You get to decide, but this is going to help you shape your compelling reason to pitch to people on why they want to join.
Chelsea: We're talking about low hanging fruit. We're discussing it with existing customers. Send a post purchase email. They purchased online, send them an email and say, "Hey, sign up for our newsletter".
*S.O.B. Community Ad*
Vivian: This episode of the S.O.B. Marketing podcast is brought to you by the S.O.B. Community. If you are a small business owner that is neglecting your marketing and you feel like you've wasted time and money on marketing help that didn't deliver. Or if you're just craving support from people who actually get what it's like to run and promote a small business, then our membership community is for you. Visit skool.com/sob to sign up today to get instant access and weekly support. That's S-K-O-O-L dot com slash sob.
*End of S.O.B. Community Ad*
Chelsea: Really simple Vivian and something that you absolutely should have, add a form pop-up to your website.
Just very simple step that can do wonders for your email list.
Vivian: But going back to the strategy behind actually knowing what you're going to use and how you're going to use your emails in your small business, I think one of the things that I see when I log on to websites is almost all of them do have that pop-up that says like, "don't miss our latest products, sign up for our emails". But that doesn't really tell me what I'm looking for. So maybe adding a little more to that verbiage to let people know and set them up for expectation of what communication, what type of stuff you're sending them. Because to keep informed about our latest products, it's not, it's so global. You kind of don't know.
Chelsea: Yes, and one thing that we can bring up is landing pages. So you're saying, if you're interested in this, you click on a link, it'll take you to a landing page where they can fill out your information. So this form pop-up is kind of like a landing page. The point is it needs to be thorough and well thought out. You need to be clearly explaining to people what they're going to get out of joining your email list. Because just saying, keep up with our latest products, like that's not enough.
Vivian: Yeah, and I think that's how a lot of us still kind of look, well, not us, but a lot of people still kind of look at an email list. It's a little more hands off. So I love that you're putting a mix in here of, okay, you have the pop-up box, which is you're basically giving website visitors an opportunity to go onto your email list. Perfect. But the landing page is a little more direct, because with the landing page, that is a tool that you can use to very strategically grow that email list depending on what you're offering them. So maybe it's, "hey, here's a free download of a checklist for something", whatever it is, but in order to get it, you have to supply your email.
Those are nice because landing pages allow you to collect not just an email, but a lot more information. Depending on what you're offering them, you now know what their interests are. Because they have downloaded this thing that you've promised them, and now you're like, now I know anything related to this, I can also email them and they may buy.
Chelsea: Well Vivian we're talking about landing pages. Landing pages go hand in hand with lead magnets, which is what I want to talk about. Landing pages are the final step to a lead magnet, right?
Vivian: Yeah, I mean it could be final step or first step, because it houses it.
Chelsea: It houses the lead magnet. Yes. So the landing page is where someone lands to fill out their information. The lead magnet is the thing that you're offering them. So like we talked about, it could be 10% off for sharing your email, but it can be more than that. It can be a free download. We have a lot of free downloads. Go check them out. We have a lot of resources out there for small businesses. So go look at those. But free downloads. There are quizzes. You can do a quiz where to get the results, they end up at the landing page to fill in their information to get the results, right? Or gamification. This is really popular now on websites. You land on a website, you get that pop-up of the spinning wheel. You put in your information for the wheel to stop and it lands on whatever prize you get.
These are all different ways that you can collect emails so you can build that email list.
Vivian: Yeah. Also the old school way of when somebody comes in, you can ask them directly. Your point of system can prompt them. All of that good stuff. So I think the gamification part of it always kind of interests me because I do find, and take it from someone that just downloaded an app to gamify habits that I want to start in 2026.
Chelsea: Let me know if that's helpful.
Vivian: I think it will be. But it's very intriguing the way that our mind now, it's shaped. I want to say shaped, quote unquote, differently in terms of the way you get us to take action is very different than it was 15, 20 years ago. Now everything feels quick, and it feels like it has to be a game and I have to be incentivized and I need it to be bright colors and it needs to be fast paced. It's all very, very different.
Chelsea: Yeah, no, I get that. I, Vivian, want to round out this conversation by saying the key to attracting people to get onto your email list is, y'all are going to be so tired of me for saying this, knowing your target audience. I know. Think of it this way. Let's say you're a local coffee shop and you primarily serve locals. You offering people free shipping in exchange for their email address? Why? There's no reason to do that. You see, your target audience is not going to want that. So keeping in mind what your target audience is interested in is going to make a huge difference, not only in getting people on the email list, but again, in keeping them engaged when you are sending those emails. For example, a nonprofit could get people onto the email list if they shared information about their industry and the work that the nonprofit is currently working on. If I'm passionate about this cause and the nonprofit is telling me, hey, if you join our email newsletter, I'm going to keep you updated on everything that's going on in this world. Yes, I will sign up for that newsletter.
Vivian: Yeah. The topics, the information you share can vary. I love that you brought this up. There are a lot of email lists that have grown substantially from niching down and focusing on a very specific industry or a very specific topic. I think, you know, it's just a matter, like Chelsea said, knowing your target audience is going to help you to find the best way for you to incorporate growing an email list in 2026 because let's not underestimate the value that that it can bring to your small business. Think about this. If every time you have a new product in, if you're offering a new service, you have a list of 500 people that you can automatically send information to and you know maybe you'll get 10% of those people to actually sign up for the thing. Why would you not want to do that?
Chelsea: Yeah, absolutely. I think my key thing that I want to say in this conversation is just make sure in every place that you can be telling people about your email list that you are telling them.
Vivian: Website.
Chelsea: Website.
Vivian: In store.
Chelsea: In store. Maybe have a link on your profiles on social media. Actually remind people on social media. You can add links to your stories. Sky write it. No.
Vivian: Sky write it. I think that's called... What is that called.
Chelsea: That's just advertising.
Vivian: It's not called sky writing though.
Chelsea: It's not called sky writing?
Vivian: No.
*Technical difficulties pause*
Vivian: It is called skywriting.
Chelsea: It is called skywriting.
Vivian: All right. Well, if you want to lease out a plane and actually get them to skywrite, join my email list and then have your link on there.
Chelsea: QR codes.
Vivian: QR codes. Text marketing.
Chelsea: Text marketing. Yeah. Look at that.
Vivian: All that good stuff.
Chelsea: Absolutely. Well, you know what, Vivian? Can I go ahead and do the TLDL then?
Vivian: Do it.
Chelsea: Okay, this is the TLDL chapter. Too long, didn't listen. If you skipped ahead to this chapter, then I'm going to give you a brief summary of what we talked about today. However, when you get the time, go back and listen to this entire conversation, because it'll be more helpful that way. Okay, so today we talked about email marketing, specifically how to grow your email list.
Key points, remember that you are always getting consent when adding people to your email list, that you're not buying lists, that you're making it easy for people to unsubscribe. These are just some fundamentals. You want to build compelling signup forms and landing pages. You want to ask people when they're checking out, informing your existing customers, attracting new customers with lead magnets, and making sure that you really understand your target audience so that the lead magnets that you're using make sense. You also want to make sure that you're being very clear about what you're offering your consumers with your newsletter, because no one's going to sign up for your email list if they're not going to get anything out of it. Vivian, I think that's it.
Vivian: I think that was it. The conversation was short and sweet, but we hope that we brought a ton of value to that. Reminder, please subscribe to...go ahead.
Chelsea: I was going to say it was short and sweet because we have like four or five different episodes about email marketing. Go watch all of them.
Vivian: That's right. Reminder, go ahead and subscribe to this channel so that you guys can get notified when a new episode is dropped. As always, we hope that you guys will share this podcast with your SOB, your Small Owned Business friends, because we kind of have to hang in there together, you guys. We got to help each other out. We got to support and promote and just let people know about the resources that are out there so that they can stay in business longer.
Chelsea: Absolutely. Send us a voice note or buy us a coffee and go be the best SOB you can be.