Every time I see someone trying to get business advice from the comments section on Facebook or Threads, it hurts my soul. I know it's easy to zip off a post and have a slew of responses but what is the quality and dependability of those responses? There's no way to tell.
Here's how it usually goes:
OP: I'm new to email marketing and I want to get started. What email platform do you use?
Rando 1: Mailerlite is free!
Rando 2: I love Klaviyo
Rando 3: Active Campaign has great automations
Rando 4: Flodesk is pretty!
Rando 5: My friends use Hubspot
Rando 6: Here's my ConvertKit affiliate link:
Why Professionals Don't Respond to Random Internet Questions
As an Automation Service Provider, when I see these posts, I immediate have a million questions.
- What is your business?
- How long have you had it?
- What other marketing have you been doing?
- What do you want to accomplish with email marketing?
- How do you plan to integrate email marketing with your other channels?
- How comfortable are you with technology?
- Do you just want to send a monthly newsletter or do you want to automate your email marketing?
- Do you need a CRM?
- Have you created a marketing budget to cover the software and the help you might need to get started *effectively* with this channel that is completely new to you?
This is why I don't respond to these kinds of posts and I'm probably not the only professional who cringes every time we see a post like this.
This means you're more likely to get advice from unqualified people who have zero knowledge of you or your business when you are sourcing advice from the comments section.
Normalize asking for advice about which professionals to consult
Instead of asking for blanket advice, ask for recommendations for professionals you can follow or consult directly about your advice. This doesn't mean you have to pay for a consult every time you have a question. Any experienced professional with decent marketing is going to have plenty of free and low cost ways to get their help.
In my case, that means our YouTube channel, Begin as You Mean to Go On podcast, the blog you are reading right now, and you can even get a 30-day trial of Automation Club and ask directly in the community or come to office hours and talk to me live!
Better Questions Will Get You Better Results
Let's look at how this question could be improved with just a little more forethought:
OP: I opened my hair salon 3 months ago and I'm now settled enough in the business that I want to add email marketing in addition to my Instagram acount. I'm an expert in hair, not tech or email! I'm looking to get started with a low cost platform that will let me stay in regular touch with my clients and encourage them to rebook on a regular basis.
Please drop your recommendations for email marketing professionals I should follow and/or their free resources created for folks in my situation.
If you want specific advice, you can book a 1:1 Power Hour Consult or join our next Automation Club coworking session or strategy call and we can tackle whatever tech, marketing or business process issue is most pressing for you right now.
