Build your business on email and use everything else as a tactic. Facebook ads, Instagram and TikTok, chatbots, affiliates and webinars can all work – but you don’t own any of them, the leads tend to be weaker, and most of them only work properly with email behind them.
Your email list is the one marketing asset no algorithm change or terms-of-service update can take away from you.
Today I’d like to talk about the rampant confusion that has taken hold of the entire online marketing industry in the last few years…
Can you guess what it is?
I’ll give you a hint:
…it often involves Lambos, luxury houses, and ‘simple tips’ …
Or in other words…
So-called “gurus” seemingly hell-bent on teaching you how to make MILLIONS overnight – by doing “one simple thing”…
Usually based on some sort of popular tactic with a solid foundation, but over-inflated effectiveness.
I bet you’ve seen them before.
Thing is…
These people are evangelists of a particular doctrine…
Ignorant of other methods, and blind to see the bigger picture to growing an online business!
Listen to them too much, and their deceptive advice could have cataclysmic effects on your business.
I call them…
The 4+1 Horsemen of the Marketing Apocalypse
And today, I’m blowing the lid off 5 ‘trendy’ (but often deadly) tactics that these ‘experts’ preach.
I’ll also explain the main problem with each of them…
And how they compare to email marketing – the backbone of a modern online business.
Free book + AI assistant
Turn the Leads Already Joining Your List Into Buyers – Faster
The Rapid Lead Activator reveals the psychology-based framework I use to write welcome sequences that sell – without hype. Normally $9.99 on Amazon, yours free. Plus a bonus AI assistant that writes your first 5 welcome emails for you – in minutes, not days.
Send Me the Rapid Lead Activator →Should you run Facebook ads before you build an email list?
Let’s start with number 1:
1 – FACEBOOK ADS BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE…
“Just start running ads and you’ll quickly discover what works”
Translation: Just keep throwing sh*t against the wall of your living room… and see what sticks :)
Sure, it might work…
But you’re still going to have to clean up the mess after you’ve done playing.
Listen…
Using Facebook ads is certainly a very powerful tactic… but it’s deceptively risky AND costly.
Why?
Because you need proper idea validation, customer research, and pre-testing before even attempting to use Facebook ads successfully.
In reality, it’s much more complicated than it seems – especially if you want to make REAL profit.
Plus, unlike your email list, you don’t own ANYTHING on Facebook.
In fact, you’re exposed to the mercy of its Terms & Conditions!
That’s right… they can shut you down overnight – if they want.
Risky business, if you ask me…
Is Instagram or TikTok better than email?
2 – INSTAGRAM / TIKTOK, THE “REAL” SAVIOR…
Look, I get it…
It’s undeniable that Instagram & TikTok are HOT right now.
Everyone’s looking to replicate the crazy success of just a few social media stars…
And plenty of “experts” are riding this wave of popularity to push their own ‘How 2 get $$$ on Social Media’ schemes…
But whenever you see someone in a Lambo doing Tai Lopez-style videos… run like the wind.
Their entire business model is to get you hooked so that you buy their $997 “get-rich-quick” info product
(and then their mastermind!)
Listen, channels like Instagram & TikTok certainly work pretty well for some brands…
But ultimately, it’s just a marketing tactic.
One of many.
You shouldn’t rely on it as a backbone for your business.
Plus, the quality of leads that you get from these is FAR below what you get from email subscribers.
Can chatbots replace email marketing?
3 – CHATBOTS TO SOLVE ALL YOUR PROBLEMS…
“Pfff, email marketing is soo 2010… use Chatbots instead, they convert like CRAZY”
You know what also converts like crazy?
Offering children candy!
And yet… I’m curious about their lifetime customer value :)
Believe it or not, it’s the same thing with Chatbots.
On the surface, it seems like they’re high-converting sales machines automatically doing all the work for you, generating tons of money.
But in reality, Chatbots don’t mean squat when you don’t have a solid foundation and a product that’s already highly successful.
If you do, it’s certainly a viable tactic…
However…
For most people, it’s just a more ‘dumbed down’ version of email marketing, that seems really cool…
…until you realize that – on its own – it’s very limited.
Do affiliates and webinars still need email?
4 – AFFILIATE MARKETING TILL YOU DROP…
Affiliate marketing – ‘the best way to solve your low traffic problems since at least 1979’ (TM)
Oh man, let me tell you something…
THIS is the area where I see the most scammy online courses in the entire online course industry!
(almost as much as the weight loss industry – and that’s really something!)
Why?
Because people still believe that affiliate marketing is the wonder solution to end all business problems.
It certainly seems simple enough:
Just find an affiliate, pay them a commission, and they’ll sell your product for you.
Auto-profits, right?
Not really.
Guess how the most successful affiliate marketers sell products…
HINT: They have an email list that they regularly monetize.
And they’ll gladly do it for you as well, for 50-70% of your sales.
So why not skip the middleman?
Especially when you can at least 2X your revenue by building your own email list and sending them your own profitable emails?
(or if YOU are the affiliate, why not learn to send better emails that make you more commissions?)
It’s a no-brainer.
5 – LIVE VIDEOS & WEBINARS = $$$…
And finally, we have live videos & webinars – the undeniable stars of every sales funnel nowadays.
Well, I gotta give it to live webinars…
They really DO work, especially for higher ticket items.
Problem is…
Webinar experts only tell you about the webinar itself.
They usually leave out the fact that there’s a WHOLE range of automated emails that accompany a webinar.
That’s right.
Confirmation emails, reminder emails, replay emails, sales emails re-stating the offer, urgency emails.
You name it.
Without these assets, the real number of people who actually show up for the webinar plummets.
And if they don’t buy on the spot…
They’ll forget all about it in 10 minutes, and go watch a cute cat video on Facebook instead.
Webinars DO work, but they STILL need email marketing to work properly.
Why is email marketing better than social media?
So why should you prioritize email over all of the tactics mentioned above?
Here are 5 simple reasons why email marketing is better than all those other “tactics”:
1 – It vastly outperforms almost everything else in ROI.
2 – It scales like no other. You can reach everyone with the same effort, and create all kinds of awesome automation
3 – It’s dirt cheap (if you do it right) – unlike many other crazy-expensive marketing tactics.
4 – It builds real emotional relationships with your readers and creates customers for life.
5 – YOU OWN IT – You aren’t exposed to the mercy of Google’s search algorithm or Fb’s terms of service.
And this last one particularly is HUGE!
Don’t believe me?
Just go ask people whose business relies heavily on Facebook what happens when Facebook’s terms suddenly change… 🙂
(classic example: drastically lowering organic reach on your business profile)
They’re no longer in control…
And their whole business model can just come crumbling down on them in a few days!
When you have bills (& contractors) to pay & mouths to feed…
That’s not a good situation to be in 😕
Listen…
When there’s real money involved, you need assets that you can control.
Like emails.
Because no matter what you sell, the beauty of email marketing is that it’s perfect for any industry, in any country, selling anything.
✅ Are you in e-commerce?
You definitely need abandoned cart emails, win-back emails, promotional emails.
✅ Cool SaaS product?
Confirmation emails, onboarding sequences, upsell emails are a must.
✅ Hustling as a coach/consultant?
Having cold email sequences, pitch emails, and sales emails will definitely land you 2-3X the clients you’re currently getting, easily!
✅ Selling online courses?
You’re most likely sending content emails, sales emails, urgency emails.
✅ Or maybe you’re a copywriter?
In that case, you NEED to know how to write all of the above anyways – only now you’re making fat stacks of cash by writing these for your clients.
Look…
It doesn’t matter if you write emails for your own business or for a client…
Because it’s undeniably one of the most profitable skills that you can ever possess!
How to make email the backbone of your business
1. Validate before you pay for traffic. Do the customer research and pre-testing first – then ads become a tool, not a gamble.
2. Treat every platform as one tactic of many. Use Instagram, TikTok or Facebook if they work for you. Just don’t build the business on them.
3. Move your followers onto your list. Followers live on someone else’s terms. Subscribers are yours. (And the leads are better – here’s why lead quality matters.)
4. Wrap emails around everything else. Webinars need confirmation, reminder, replay and urgency emails. Affiliates sell through their lists – so build your own.
5. Learn to write the emails yourself. Anyone can – even if you’re not a writer, not a marketing guru, and short on time.
And no, email isn’t dead either – I answered that one here.
If you want to learn to write those emails properly, my course Rainmaker Email Mastery teaches you how to write emails that sell.
Free book + AI assistant
Turn the Leads Already Joining Your List Into Buyers – Faster
The Rapid Lead Activator reveals the psychology-based framework I use to write welcome sequences that sell – without hype. Normally $9.99 on Amazon, yours free. Plus a bonus AI assistant that writes your first 5 welcome emails for you – in minutes, not days.
Send Me the Rapid Lead Activator →-Csaba
