Week 10 Part A: Researching Email Marketing

    I think that monthly or quarterly may work in my best interest. Sending out monthly e-mails would help remind my audience about the business as well as my presence as an artist without sending out multiple e-mails with shallow content or constant promotions that could annoy some users. For my own business I don't think that sending out emails weekly or twice a year would be beneficial; this is because most of my weekly updates would be progress, process, and completed work posted regularly on social medias but these may not always available for purchase immediately. I also don't think that sending e-mails twice a year would be good for my business because I would want to release more products year round to keep up with trends and spark interest in products that are being updated and sold. 

    I think a welcome e-mail would be a great way to keep my audience in touch with all of my social media accounts(especially if there are some they are unaware of!), aware of my portfolio site (I've offered commissions through here before), and have the e-mail link back to the business store. To create more engagement I could tag on a 15% off coupon or something similar as a call to action to continue browsing and complete purchases on the business store.

    These kinds of e-mails in between the initial welcome e-mail and other product drops could include snippets from blog posts on tutorials and new art resources that others may be interested in. These blog posts will be created and formatted so even non-artists can find some entertainment through by offering videos that go through the tutorial or test out new tools/programs while working on creating a new artwork.

    E-mails could contain newsletters that give a spotlight to the community by using user-generated content, with credits to the original artist, that use a support hashtag like #GhoulCrushSpotlight or something similar. Since this would use other creators work it would be best to create a highlight on Instagram or a pinned post on all platforms that fully explains that content under that hashtag may be shared; the other route is to DM individuals and ask for their consent to do this which would be much safer and not stir up drama.

     A similar tactic would be to hold "draw this in your style" contests that are also sent out through e-mail as well as on social media platforms; in an artist community, it is a known fact that you're work will be highlighted through stories, reels, posts, etc. with credits back to the original artist. A DTIYS contest could generate an initial e-mail to broadcast the event, a reminder e-mail after one month about the contest and deadline, and a "winners" e-mail to end the event in the following month; incentives for this could be as simple as just being highlighted to maybe down the line having winners collaborate on new projects or even products for the shop.

    In the middle of the other content, I'm hoping to drop new art print products or re-stocks of popular products in my shop quarterly which would have an announcement e-mail alerting customers about new products before they arrive to generate hype and after to remind customers about the product drops. Having the other content as a buffer would help keep interest of my presence and work without having to churn out a whole new line of products weekly or monthly. 

    As far as tactics that other businesses use, I think Patreon has a great e-mail format and preference settings that allows users to completely customize how and which e-mails they receive which I would also like to do. For the business itself they offer to let you opt in or out of their announcements and newsletters as well as opt in or out of individual subscribed creators updates, messages, and benefits. This format has made it easier for me to receive e-mails and not have my inbox flooded with all sorts of e-mails from Patreon or multiple creators which has kept me from outright unsubscribing from the e-mail list. I think this would benefit my business so that individuals could opt out of content that they are not interested like the more artist oriented content for a customer that is only interested in buying products. I think this could help keep people from unsubscribing because of too frequent e-mails or e-mails that they are not interested in at all.