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Everything I wish I was told about IndieDev Email Marketing when I first started out learning marketing.
Marketers portray Email Marketing as the Holy Grail of marketing. Email Marketing helps develop your fan base, and sell your game. I compiled everything I wish someone taught me about e-mail marketing when I first started out. 
Before I jump into E-mail marketing, I recently heard on a podcast that using the word "should" to describe things you "should" do leads to guilt and inaction. You wind up "shoulding" all over yourself. (Apparently this saying has been around since 1996).
Therefore, I replaced the word should with better words that I MUST USE in this article. (See what I did there?) Here's how to do e-mail marketing:
Your CHARGE is to do Email Marketing - This is the beginning of your sales funnel. If you're intimidated by the word "sales funnel," it's okay, I was too. People who give you their e-mail address are interested in you or the game you're making. Feel good about that. This is them taking one more step into being a fan, which is what you want, and they just walked into your sales funnel.
You NEED your own Email under your domain name - Having a business e-mail come from a Gmail account is shady. Don't do it. When you're emailing folks, use your name and the domain of your own website. It makes it feel personable. Here's how to make your own website if you don't have one, and here's how to create your own e-mail address / level up your Vitamin C.
You HAVE A DUTY TO give away something for people giving you their Email - Marketers call this an e-mail incentive. It's an incentive for people to give you their e-mail. How do you do that as an IndieDev? I came up with a list of ideas for attracting your own audience in this post.
You ARE CHARGED TO keep Emailing your list with updates - What updates? What do I even write to them? Well, you email them everything that's on your blog. Here's some ideas about what you can blog about as an independent video game developer.
You MUST VOW TO use a template if you want your e-mail to look nicer because you don't know what you're doing - Am I right? I didn't know HTML / CSS at all when I first started. Not only that, but email isn't like the web, it has its own set of rules. Here's how I use templates to speed up my development. Or you can just do plain text, apparently that works as well.
IT IS ESSENTIAL TO create an Automatic E-mail Campaign to keep them interested - Build up that special trust between you and the people on your email list people. Every time you send them good content, you're increasing your bond with them. Here's how you can do that.
You are COMMISSIONED to keep Learning E-mail Marketing - There's a whole conference dedicated to email marketing. Here's a blog I follow with free email advice. Here's some curated emails that look really nice for inspiration. Here's a free course. Here's some advice on keeping up learning all aspects of being an Independent Video Game Developer.
E-mail is a really good way to grow your audience. Your SINE QUA NON is to use it.
Do you think there's some steps I might have missed? Let me know below!.
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