The Safety Net Your Business Deserves Before It Is Too Late | S2 Ep22

Are you more TEAM email list or TEAM website?

Relying only on social media to communicate with your audience? Big mistake!

What happens if your account gets hacked or the algorithm stops showing your posts? It feels like we’re seeing that happen more and more, right?

That’s why every entrepreneur needs an email list—so you own your audience and a website—so you have a place that’s yours.

We know it sounds like a lot of extra work, but it doesn’t have to be.

In this episode, we share the major benefits of having non-social media ways of talking to your people, and who knows, you may end up actually loving it!

Grab a cup and enjoy!

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Transcript

Why You Need Owned Digital Assets

Speaker 1 0:00

About 10 to 15% of your audience sees your posts.

Speaker 2 0:04

Right, but you have a shot at 100% of your email lists getting your email.

Speaker 1 0:08

They might not open it but Right, but they might see it. And I mean I would say for me a solid open rate is about 50%, so that's a lot higher than 10%. It's Coffee Social, the podcast, all about social media and business. And now here are your hosts, Jonathan Howard and Mimi.

Speaker 2 0:33

Langley. Hi everyone. Hi Jonathan Howard, hello Mimi Langley, I see you bopping your head over there.

Speaker 1 0:42

Bopping my head. I didn't feel like moving. The rest of my body is frozen solid.

Speaker 2 0:46

No, but it's summertime.

Speaker 1 0:47

I know it's summertime, it's summertime.

Speaker 2 0:50

It's summertime out there, it's summertime.

Speaker 1 0:52

I'm drinking warm coffee.

Speaker 2 0:54

We don't know what time of year it is right now, you guys, we're in the middle of winter, a little behind the scenes of recording a podcast.

Speaker 1 1:00

Yeah, exactly. Mimi has been pregnant for 27 months and we're recording so that she has some time off after the baby comes. Yeah, it is freezing.

Speaker 2 1:09

But look, I'm dressed like for summer and you're dressed like it's winter.

Speaker 1 1:11

still, I'm dressed like it's winter still, because it's freezing. It's nine degrees outside.

Speaker 2 1:16

Well, that's what you get from being from New York.

Speaker 1 1:19

OK, living in New York Down south where you have snow on the ground down south.

Speaker 2 1:23

Oh my gosh, you guys were revealing too much. We should have coordinated our outfits better, though. Yeah.

Speaker 1 1:27

Next time I'm wearing a sweater. Next episode my gosh.

Speaker 2 1:30

So, yes, my husband set up this, my mic stand and I feel like it's falling, like it's just something's loose, so bear with me with the microphone, guys, if you're watching on YouTube.

Speaker 1 1:41

Oh good, isn't on YouTube. Oh good, then you're going to be moving the mic. Stand again. It's be like holding the mic. Oh, I miss those days. I don't, can we?

Speaker 2 1:54

bring it back. No, do you know how much easier it is to edit episodes without you going? Stop it right now, mister, the entire time.

Speaker 1 1:57

I apologize to all of our listeners who had to listen to that.

Speaker 2 2:00

So mean to be you guys? Okay, why don't we cheers so that we can uplift the energy?

Speaker 1 2:03

Cheers. I think the energy is great right now.

Speaker 2 2:06

I don't know what's wrong with you. I can't even sip. Okay, hold on. Where's your gulp? I had a gulp. I didn't hear it One more time. Take two. Oh, there we go. I heard it. It was very light. It's to your headphones versus like the speaker on your phone or computer. Anyways, well guys, welcome to Coffee Social. If it's your first time here, we're a little goofy in the beginning, but I promise you we will give you the goods as to what the title says you're going to be receiving. We're going to talk about the power of having an email list and a website. We also have some cons, but it's mostly like all pros. But why?

Speaker 1 2:43

are we bringing this up? We only have some cons, but come on.

Speaker 2 2:46

Jonathan, why are we bringing this up? Like what is like? Why, yeah, what started this?

Speaker 1 2:50

Well, what started this was, as many of you may know, back in the beginning of the year. We lost something that means a lot to us for a few hours.

Speaker 2 3:01

Does it, though? I mean it doesn't mean a lot to me.

The Power of Email Lists

Speaker 1 3:03

I mean it doesn't mean a lot to me. It doesn't mean a lot to Mimi, because we are not as hip as many of the kids are these days. However, losing TikTok was a big deal for a lot of people and a lot of people. Tiktok brought last year $25.9 billion to the US GDP. That's a lot of money. The US GDP, that's a lot of money, and that money could have all gone away if those people didn't have websites and email addresses for their people. That's a lot of money to lose, so we want to talk a little bit about why it's necessary, what you can do if you don't have one, and how you should go about tracking, running for people and begging them for their email addresses.

Speaker 2 3:43

Well, and also, it's not even just TikTok, you guys, you know it's anything. I mean. You know, a lot of us put our attention into these social media platforms and like we dedicate a lot of our time, a lot of our energy to like Instagram or to LinkedIn, or we go all in on YouTube and it's like they always say you are, you're working on borrowed land. What is it? What is the working on?

Speaker 1 4:03

rented land. Yeah, say you are. You're working on borrowed land. What is?

Speaker 2 4:05

it. What is the working on rented land? Yeah, exactly. So, which is why we bring up an email list and a website, because those are yours. You own that shit, you own that.

Speaker 1 4:19

You know, you said S-H-I-T. You can spell it out. I think that that counts.

Speaker 2 4:22

Ok, you own that shit. Ok, so before we dive into the email list and the website, the pros and cons mostly pros, jonathan, do you want to tell people who you are Sure?

Speaker 1 4:31

My name is Jonathan Howard. I'm the owner of Success on Social, and I help successful coaches reach their ideal clients through developing their signature style, so they're no longer the best kept secret in their niche so smooth and so fast.

Speaker 2 4:41

Hi, I'm Mimi Langley and TBD. You know 2025 is throwing me for a loop. I have to be honest with you guys. Typically, you might know me for teaching women in business how to utilize social audio, aka audio marketing. But 2025, it's bringing some new stuff my way. So fingers crossed, Hopefully we'll have that children's book written. Yes, yes. New York Times bestseller.

Speaker 1 5:06

New York Times bestselling author. New York Times bestselling children's author, mimi Langley.

Speaker 2 5:10

for you, ladies and gentlemen, oh, my goodness, can you imagine? And then you're just going to be a big hot shot. I already know Jonathan Howard, so don't forget about me. Okay, all right, you guys, let's dive into this let's start with you. Want to start with email.

Speaker 1 5:26

Let's start with email.

Speaker 2 5:27

Yeah, okay, so go ahead A pro, tell us a pro.

Speaker 1 5:31

A pro. You have all their email addresses so that you can reach them when and if your platform goes down or disappears, like TikTok might have. May still be. We don't know. It could be gone already. We'll update you guys in the notes below. We don't know it could be gone already.

Speaker 2 5:44

We'll update you guys in the notes below. We'll let you know what's going on.

Speaker 1 5:48

But yeah, I mean you're able to have retained the audience that you have on the platform by, if you have their email addresses, you can get in touch with them.

Speaker 2 5:56

Exactly, I mean, think about it, you guys, like I remember last year when LinkedIn audio went bye bye and so many people depended on LinkedIn audio. Now, granted, you could make a post on LinkedIn and reach people, because it wasn't the entire LinkedIn shutting down, but for a lot of people it's like you know. Think about it like that we just don't know what's going to go away if it goes away, if it gets shut down. So having their email address is like having, like a mailing address where you can communicate with them via letter, via letter, via letter.

Speaker 1 6:27

We're going to send the carrier pigeon over to them. No, but it's better than a carrier pigeon and it's your audience, it is.

Speaker 2 6:37

You're right. And another pro, I think, for an email list is you're not battling an algorithm. If that makes sense, I feel like maybe email has an algorithm. It doesn't though right. Email doesn't battling an algorithm, if that makes sense. I feel like maybe email has an algorithm. It doesn't though right.

Speaker 1 6:48

Email doesn't have an algorithm. Email has deliverability issues sometimes, but that's only if you are either one sending spam or two. You've got bad email addresses on your thing and that can be handled by cleaning your list on a regular basis.

Speaker 2 7:03

Okay, yeah, and we won't jump too far into deliverability and all that, but it is something to look into. But yeah, you're not fighting like the social media algorithm. Like, for example, if Instagram said you're only going to get seen if you make reels and you're not one to make reels, it's like you know you're fighting against that, Whereas email, you know you schedule it and it gets delivered period Right.

Speaker 1 7:26

How many of my emails do you see, Mimi?

Speaker 2 7:28

Oh, my gosh Every time.

Speaker 1 7:30

Every time I see, every time you email. How many of my posts do you see? Oh, it's yeah.

Speaker 2 7:34

Yeah, If it pops up yeah, there's a difference.

Speaker 1 7:37

I always am able to reach Mimi by having by sending an email, because she opens them, so she's going to see them anyway.

Speaker 2 7:46

You know that's a really I love how you demonstrated like you painted that picture, because I think everybody can take that with them, right? We don't get to see everybody's posts. What was the percent?

Speaker 1 7:56

I don't know if it's different now, but About 10 to 15% of your audience sees your posts.

Speaker 2 8:02

But you have a shot at 100% of your email lists getting your email. They might not open it, but Right, but they might see it.

Website Benefits & Considerations

Speaker 1 8:09

And I mean I would say for me a solid open rate is about 50 percent, so that's a lot higher than 10 percent.

Speaker 2 8:18

A lot and they're not easily. Here's the other thing too. Another pro is they're not easily, not short attention span, but they're not influenced by or they're not like scrolling when you're checking your email. You're not necessarily like when you actually open up an email. You're there to read it most of the time, right, right.

Speaker 1 8:36

Versus when you're on Instagram, you scroll yeah.

Speaker 2 8:39

Yep. So it's how you play, like how you are using the actual feature. Yeah, yep, exactly.

Speaker 1 8:45

I just thought about that on the fly.

Speaker 2 8:46

That's actually a really good pro Yep. Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1 8:49

All right, okay, what else?

Speaker 2 8:53

should we have. Well, do you want to just throw some cons in there?

Speaker 1 8:56

Okay, we can throw some cons in there. I hate to include cons.

Speaker 2 8:59

but just so you're aware, honestly is probably not even the right word for this, it's probably just a heads up. Heads up. Okay, yeah, unless you're using MailChimp.

Speaker 1 9:09

Unless you're using MailChimp or something like that, you gotta pay, and it's not that it's really expensive, but it's a little bit expensive. And two, you've gotta maintain your list. That's work, so, and then, of course, you need to create a regular flow to your email list, which might be challenging for some people, but you can also use some of the things that you're posting on social media, because only 10% of your audience sees that.

Speaker 2 9:34

Honestly, that's not a bad idea. You can write like a little insert and then drop, you know, like the post. There's so many ways to create an email.

Speaker 1 9:43

Five lessons from the last room. I ran on social audio.

Speaker 2 9:47

Yeah, I mean, and then ChatGPT will help you too. You don't have to use ChatGPT to write your copy, but they can at least give you ideas as to what you can write about Other than paying money and obviously be patient, because you have to grow your list. The other thing I had on my quote, unquote cons is you're still fighting against a full inbox for somebody, so you still have to stand out. You have to find a way, and usually, by standing out, it's usually your subject line that does it.

Speaker 1 10:15

Yeah, your subject line, that's what's going to get people to open it, and it shouldn't be always about selling. Your subject line should be about some problems that they have. Remember, I tell you, guys, you need to be creating content around the things that your audience is asking for. Create email about the things your audience is asking for. Provide them those answers. They'll open it up.

Speaker 2 10:36

Nine times out of ten, would you say. The hook is kind of like a subject line in a way yeah, yep, okay.

Speaker 1 10:42

Absolutely.

Speaker 2 10:43

In all your content.

Speaker 1 10:44

that should be the case. Your hook is your first line. It gets people interested in what you're writing about. If you have a really boring hook, first line subject line who the hell is going to read it if it doesn't interest them? Right Headline in a newspaper, redbook article. It doesn't matter, redbook, redbook.

Email List vs Website: Which Comes First?

Speaker 2 11:10

Are they even around anymore? I don't think so. But anyways, jonathan, so that would be for emails. You guys, the point at the end of the day is have one, regardless of these quote unquote cons. It's worth it If you can be consistent with it. It's worth growing your email list. It's a great way to connect, absolutely Okay. Last one would be the website. So we talked email list, now website. What would be? This is like up in the air, because I've always thought about this too. Like, is a website necessary? Yes, but even if I have an email list.

Speaker 2 11:33

I recommend both. Okay, so tell me why.

Speaker 1 11:35

Because it's your home. It's your home to put stuff. It's your home to control what you're putting out there. It is your home to sell. Like, if you're using social media to sell, you're paying money to social media platform. They're getting anywhere from you know, most of the time 30 percent, because that's what between any payments on the Apple store. That's what they're getting is 30 percent of what you would get.

Speaker 2 11:59

So like you're selling within the app.

Speaker 1 12:01

OK, Hello, frustration Like and then if you're selling elsewhere, you elsewhere, there may be a fee from that place. So yeah, if you have your own website, you can sell. What does that?

Speaker 2 12:12

mean you were talking about e-commerce, like the e-commerce portion of a website.

Speaker 1 12:16

So if you don't have your own website, then you're going to be paying those fees to other places. You're going to be trying to do it through Gumroad or whatever. Hey, I like.

Speaker 2 12:25

Gumroad.

Speaker 1 12:26

I understand, but if you're doing it through your own website, there aren't as many fees. You do have to pay the credit card processing fee because you're a business, but if you get a good credit card processor that's actually fairly minimal and you can run your transactions. So having your own website is, in my opinion, absolutely necessary. And that's odd because it wasn't my opinion until fairly recently. I've always had my own website, but I've let it expire. I've had to redo it you know stuff like that. It's really necessary.

Speaker 2 12:57

I agree with you. I like the analogy of it's your house, like everything is under this big umbrella, like, literally, your people do not have to go anywhere else. It's like all in one place. It's a beautiful thing and you control what you want people to see. That's it's so customizable.

Speaker 1 13:15

Yep.

Speaker 2 13:16

It's a win, it's a huge win.

Speaker 1 13:18

It's a huge win.

Speaker 2 13:19

But you know, along with wins there are cons for websites, money and maintenance right it's money and maintenance Money and maintenance right it's money and maintenance, money and maintenance. But also I feel like when you're on social media platforms, almost they like provide you an audience Not always guaranteed, but usually they'll feed people to your social media handle or whatever it is On a website. Yes, google helps and obviously you could do word of mouth, but it can be harder sometimes to actually get people get traffic.

Speaker 1 13:50

Right, right, but that's a matter of you know, using your social media to drive traffic to your people, to your place so you want to get your social media should be driving traffic to your home. It shouldn't be driving traffic to another social media, which is sometimes something that I see people making the mistake of. A lot Like they would drive and I understand why this happened, but, like on Clubhouse, people would drive people to Instagram. And instead of driving people to another social media, you should be driving them to your home.

Speaker 2 14:19

I love. I just love that you're putting home with it. I'm like that totally changes it. For me. That's really cool. A pro would be you have a better chance of showing up on SEO on Google, sometimes because of the SEO that your, your website can bring. Yep, there's a lot of benefits and you can put your social media handles on your website so everybody knows where you are.

Speaker 1 14:38

Yep.

Speaker 2 14:40

Exactly.

Speaker 1 14:40

Exactly.

Speaker 2 14:41

That's really. That's it. The con is really just you have to pay for it. It's usually not a one-time fee, so just know that there's some investment, but at the end of the day usually the pros outweigh that.

Speaker 1 14:53

Yeah, and if you're in an in-between town but you still want to have a home to drive people to. A lot of the email list platforms allow you to build landing pages, and you can build a landing page with your newsletter that captures email addresses and can act as a place for people to go to see more about you.

Speaker 2 15:11

I have been trying to get Jonathan to like because you use ConvertKit right To build a page, I do, but then you also use Canva to help actually build it right.

Speaker 1 15:21

Most of my ConvertKits are on ConvertKit. I do have some that are bigger ideas, like my membership that I have a Canva that leads into a ConvertKit.

Speaker 2 15:31

I've been trying to get him to make a course about this because I think that that's so brilliant, because some people don't want to invest in a domain and do a host for their site and all that. So if you're already paying for ConvertKit because you have an email list, it might be worth your while to at least just get a page, a landing page.

Speaker 1 15:48

Yep, okay, more than the basic one you can do on ConvertKit, because they're very limited on ConvertKit.

Speaker 2 15:53

Okay Well, but you like it. I mean it's been working?

Speaker 1 15:55

Yeah, no, it works for me.

Speaker 2 15:56

Okay, I like that. We need the people. You need to teach people. If, by the time we upload this episode and Jonathan has something out for that, we'll put it in the show notes below for you guys.

Speaker 1 16:10

Because I don't get to go out on maternity leave.

Speaker 2 16:11

Stop it. Also, he's drinking hot coffee today. I feel like the energy is all over. It's all over the place.

Speaker 1 16:17

Nobody knows what's happening today.

Episode Wrap-up & Call to Action

Speaker 2 16:18

No one knows. I'm shivering, but I'm drinking hot coffee. It's snowing in the south. It's apparently summertime right now. While you're watching this. I don't know what's happening, jonathan. Yes, let's go ahead, we'll wind down.

Speaker 1 16:28

Wind this down, because we're already at 20 minutes for a short episode, yes, so wherever you listen to your favorite podcast, we hope you're listening to us there, because we want to be where you're listening to your favorite podcast, not your least favorite, and we want to make sure that you give us a review. Mimi hasn't gotten five stars in a long time, a long time.

Speaker 1 16:47

We've recorded 20, 30 episodes and Mimi has not gotten five stars, now granted only two of them have been posted, but we still recorded 30 episodes and Mimi hasn't gotten five stars, so make sure that you give us five stars wherever you listen to your favorite podcast.

Speaker 2 17:03

Wait, wait, wait, jonathan, if they've already given the five stars on their phone, go ahead and grab somebody else's phone.

Speaker 1 17:09

Grab somebody else's phone, give us five stars. Download the episode on their phone. Give us five stars. You know what else you can do. You can go over to the other, your least favorite platform, and also give us five stars.

Speaker 2 17:21

Five all around, maybe, and make comments.

Speaker 1 17:22

By the way, you can comment on our episodes on Spotify. Mimi, over to you. Where else can they?

Speaker 2 17:25

find us Well. We're on Instagram at Coffee Social Podcast, and we're on YouTube. So if you'd rather watch the podcast versus just listening, we're there so you guys can actually see our facial gesture. If you had to choose only one, are you team email list or team website Email list?

Speaker 1 17:45

Yeah, I thought you were going to say email list, yeah email list.

Speaker 2 17:47

That might be something to take with you guys If you had to start with just one. Start with the email list.

Speaker 1 17:53

And Mimi, what are you?

Speaker 2 17:54

I feel like email list, because it's almost like direct messaging. So do you know what I'm saying Like? It's like I want to also remind people hey, I'm out there go to me.

Speaker 1 18:03

Yeah, okay email list for me too, there you have it, and mimi's email or website is mimi langleycom. Mine is success on dot social. Yeah, I like yours. Well, my company name is success on social, so and it has the dot actually in the company name officially.

Speaker 2 18:22

I know I love that. You're so brilliant Genius. Okay, well, thank you guys for listening and watching. Don't forget we have a ton of episodes on the Coffee Social podcast library, wherever you listen to podcasts. So go check out those and we'll see you soon. Bye everyone. Bye, jonathan Howard, bye guys. Bye everyone. Bye, jonathan Howard, bye guys.