Email is the best digital strategy for new entrepreneurs, which can be an email newsletter, or a lead-magnet with automated email sequences, or events & sales communications.
I have personally experienced success with email marketing while working in academia for The Franchise Centre, & with automated email marketing working in Lotteries.
By focussing on email marketing with valuable content & offers, new entrepreneurs can build a strong foundation, foster customer relationships & create affordable growth.
Why is email this good?
“When you have created an audience which is warmed-up with insightful content, you become a niche audience owner!”
As your niche audience grows over time, they become more loyal and more likely to buy from you, than a random website or social media visitor.
Contrary to what many people believe, the best digital marketing strategy for new entrepreneurs is not paid social media (FB) or paid search (AdWords PPC) – due to the expense they’re more suited for mature businesses with profit to invest in advertising.
Paid social media is a big trap to avoid, as you don’t own your followers, they’re not heavily invested in your methods or philosophies, & they have short attention spans.
Plus, the social media algorithm restricts the reach of your content (e.g. FB audience reach <5%) due to their monetisation tactics, until you buy it.
Here are Ten Reasons why email is the best digital strategy for new entrepreneurs.
1. Direct Audience Communication
With email you’re able to directly communicate with a person from a specific demographic who is your ideal client, just not a random person who once followed you.
If a person takes the time & effort to subscribe, they’re interested in your information, & you have a direct line to their inbox for nurturing them along the customer journey. Everyone has a different time frame to conversion, so keep providing helpful content.
2. High Return On Investment
Email is known to consistently deliver one of the highest ROIs among all the digital channels (paid search, paid social media, paid email, paid chat, & programmatic adv.).
When you consider a few thousand dollars is a drop in the ocean for digital advertising campaigns & sponsoring posts, email marketing can be started for free & annual subscriptions to an email system can be under one thousand dollars.
3. Known Open & Click-Through Rates
For new entrepreneurs in service-based business, developing the email list should be a priority if you want affordable & sustainable growth, as you can work off the industry Open Rates and Click-Through Rates (CTR) to gauge your success.
Small to medium businesses in the services sector can aim for Open Rates of 32-38% which is considered good. For CTR across industries the average is 2%, so you could aim for between 1.5% and 2.5%.
If these targets are not being achieved, try cleaning-up & validating your email list, & sharpening the service offers to be unbelievable value.
Tip: Try adding a video embed to your emails to boost Open Rates & CTRs.
4. Expedites Relationship Building
Emailing a regular newsletter is one of the best ways to build a relationship and trust with your target audience. They find your website one day, like the articles, & BINGO you have a new subscriber to nurture & serve.
When you provide solutions to your audience for their painful problems that were similar to yours from a few years ago, the magic happens as leads & sales start to grow.
5. Enables Lead-Magnets & Automation
Lead-magnets with automated emails will get you leads when people sign-up for the valuable information you’re offering, e.g. a process checklist or instructional guide, that’s delivered by email & secures permission to email the recipient.
After download, email automation with an email sequence begins over multiple days & weeks, that reminds recipients of their problem & your unique solution with special offers. Email is the only medium that can provide you low-cost message frequency like this.
6. Facilitates Segmenting Audiences
With technology enabled leads who have downloaded your lead-magnet are tagged & segmented into different buckets for alternate email sequences.
This facilitates sending the right information, e.g. high-performance website information to website leads, & email marketing information to email leads.
Segmenting can be applied to your customers who have purchased certain services, to facilitate sending related information, e.g. what’s needed next in the journey.
7. Versatile Message Channel
Email can be used for a variety of content distribution purposes, from newsletter & lead-magnets, to event marketing & event programs, sending post-event recordings, announcing new products, & sending special time-limited offers to entice leads.
Remember to cover all future email purposes in your business terms & conditions, so that you have the appropriate permissions to send emails to recipients, & make sure you follow SPAM Act & Privacy Act rules at all times.
8. Measurable Results & Fine-Tuning
Professional email marketing systems & tools provide you with detailed analytics, like open & click reports, allowing you to track Open Rates, CTR, & offer conversions.
Some systems also pinpoint the areas & buttons with the most clicks assisting your email production, like the feature image & first CTA button.
The results reports become valuable for entrepreneurs, as you learn what content & email sequences engage the best, & convert your audiences.
Email permits fine-tuning, whereas other digital channels would take a lot of money to fine-tune, & you may end up adjusting your emails to suit what works best.
9. Customers Like Emails
When you develop new customers, & loyal customers, they will both want to hear from you in frequent emails, but make sure your content is personalised & related to their purchase or subscription history, & areas of interest.
We all get busy in life & forget our PD, or education pursuits & training for our skills gap, then boom – an email arrives from your favourite education provider about an upcoming event or sale, & your motivated again, moving forwards thanks to email.
10. People Check Emails Daily
According to Zero Bounce’s 2025 survey a massive 88% of email users check inboxes daily, 39% of users check inboxes 3-5 times per day, & 27% check inboxes 10-20 times per day. Email has become a habit & constant for many people.
But keep in mind 56% of respondents said they had at least three email addresses, & over time engagement will decline, as new addresses become dominant. Learn more.
Tip: When engagement drops, try targeting low-performing addresses & use cross-channel SMS marketing to ask people for their updated email address.
Many people believe email marketing is the best channel for new entrepreneurs, due to its affordability & ability to nurture warm leads into customers.
There is no better channel than email, especially for targeting Gen-X and Baby Boomers.
But also keep in mind chat messaging (Slack, Messenger & Telegram) has taken over for the younger generation, e.g. Gen-Y & Z, & they’re motivated to communicate this way.
Let me know how email has worked for you in the comments below.
