[MUSIC PLAYING] I'm a self-taught marketer. The way I learned is through trial and error, being scrappy, and willing to try new things. If it doesn't work, it's a lesson learned. This is the mindset I want you to adopt when you're marketing your business. In this module, we're going to be talking about how to get your marketing right. At the end of this module, I'm going to give you a marketing template that I use to help build my marketing plan. Whether you're first starting out or leveling up your marketing to become a national brand, I've got you covered in this course.
To start, in this lesson, I'm going to teach you three ways to get started when you're first starting out. Tip number one, encourage word-of-mouth marketing. This was big from our early days, and it's big now. Growing through word of mouth is incredible because it's free. And it works because people buy from people they trust. According to Neilsen, 92% of customers will believe recommendations from friends and family over all other forms of marketing.
This is huge. Here are some tips I have for growing word-of-mouth marketing. Let people become part of helping you reach a goal. This was helpful for me in reaching at least one customer in all 50 states. I asked people to help me get there and kept updating a map to show where I still needed help, and customers helped me get there. You don't have to offer incentives to encourage it. I found that the more I had success with the word of mouth when it came from genuine desire to help us grow because they love our products than doing it to earn some incentive.
People want to help the brands they love. Tip number two, set up an email list and send emails to your subscribers. Setting up an email list is one of the most important aspects of marketing and e-commerce. They say the gold is in the email list. Shopify has some great courses specifically on email marketing. Though to start, I recommend you simply use a tool like Klaviyo, like I use. Or check the Shopify app store for recommendation that can work for your business.
You can also check out Shopify Email and see if it's available in your region. I'll add a link below, so you can learn more. In the next lesson, I'll teach you more about what to send your subscribers. So how often would you email your subscribers? I think the thing with email marketing is sometimes people go overboard with email messages and send too many emails to people. I know for me, I try to send one newsletter a month instead of sending something weekly.
I don't want to bombard my people because then I don't want people to start subscribing because I'm giving them too much information. So for me, it's one email newsletter a month that gives them a broader update. And then I try to send one other email during the month, where it's a quick sale or a quick update. If something exciting has happened, send a quick update to the email list about that. But it's usually the newsletter, once a month, toward the beginning of the month.
And then about halfway through, I'll send a special email for the list only, whether it's a special coupon code or something for subscribers. I'll just send that out. Hey, guys, just wanted to touch base with you. It's the middle of the month. Here's what's been working well this month. Here's a special discount code for you. And send it out to the list just letting them know that we're thinking about them, and we're engaged with them, and haven't forgotten about them. A few places to ensure you collect email addresses is on your website, at shows or pop ups, or even your Instagram or social media.
Every chance you get, you should be collecting email addresses. Speaking of social media, this leads me to my next tip. Tip number three, get your social media handles and start sharing content. I currently run most of my company's social media. As we're selling sauces and rubs, it's a very visual product. So we use Instagram a lot. Now this ties into your branding as well. When I take photos of the meat I've cooked with a sauce and rubs, I make sure the followers can see the label and the branding is there.
Everything you're doing visually still includes your branding. Also, what's working for us now-- and I'd recommend if you're first starting out-- it to upload more videos. I've uploaded more cooking videos than I've ever done before. I've uploaded more videos with me just talking about business. There was a stretch this year, where every Tuesday, I was doing a series of videos called Tuesdays With Mike D, where I would just talk for 5 to 10 minutes about what was happening this week with the business.
Talking about new products, or shipping delays, or just different things that were happening, so people could see what was going on behind the scenes with the business. That really increased engagement. And when engagement goes up, sales go up. Just the more things I do in video, the more I find that video really works. It just really helps the pull people in. Overall consistency is the key with social media. I know you're a busy entrepreneur, but people can't buy what they don't know about.
People spend more than four hours a day on their phones. So we have a better chance of capturing their attention on social media. OK, so to recap, the top three ways I recommend to market when you're first starting is word-of-mouth marketing, set up an email list, and send out emails. Get your social media handles, and start sharing content. Now join me in the next lesson to learn how to evolve your marketing to become a national brand.