I feel awkward telling my non-business friends about my email list. I shouldn’t.

I start off really enthusiastic, and then as I explain what it is and why it matters, my palms start to sweat.

These are friends and family members who work in a range of industries—a nurse, a botanist, a farmer. They don’t subscribe to anything unless they absolutely have to, and I understand why. We all get a LOT of emails. And nobody wants to feel spammed.

Email marketing can be spammy (which is why we now have anti-spam legislation in Canada). But as someone who receives at least a dozen regular business-advicey emails and also sends out her own, I am deeply aware of the value email marketing can offer all involved, if done right.

Why businesses need ’em:

They say prospective clients need to be exposed to your business seven times before deciding to buy from you. (“They”? The Gods of Marketing?)

A new visitor to your website might love what you have to say and have every intention of checking in with you at a later date. But they’re probably going to forget about you within 24 hours. You are SPECIAL, but you aren’t so special that you will stay on your prospect’s mind forever without prompting. There are plenty of folks shouting louder than you on the Internet, offering similar messages and services and products.

You have to find a way to build a relationship, giving your new friend a chance to understand your business, your values and how much you have to share and give.

With constantly shifting social media algorithms, email marketing is still by far the best way to this.

Facebook wants me to give it money to make sure the posts from my business page pop up in my own friends’ feeds, for example. It could change again tomorrow.

Email is something you have complete control over. It also allows for an intimacy that’s hard to rival. The email subscriptions I always read feel like letters from dear, insightful friends.

I have learned a lot from these people, and when their names pop up in my inbox I’m genuinely happy to see them.

Email marketing is a long game. You use it to offer value with no stings attached, over and over again. You need to be like my favourite sushi restaurant in Vancouver, which always gives me something…

Actual take-out from Green Leaf Sushi.

You build relationships around genuine engagement and quality support in the hopes that your people will always think of you first. Before the other writing coaches, or the other sushi joints. And when you do have an offer to make—a new program, package or workshop—you can tell your subscribers about it without feeling spammy, because you already know they’re interested in what you do, and probably really do want to get the news.

But the relationship-building part is really difficult to do well, and there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. Here are a few different ways for small businesses to connect via email marketing.

Three ways to tackle email marketing:

• I like to take a storytelling approach to my emails, sharing an anecdote that leads into to my latest blog post. Because this approach requires a fair bit of writing, I can only pull it off every other week. But there are some other wonderful options. For example…

• You can blog more and email less. This is a “recent highlights” approach. It’s what the prolific and thoughtful Alexandra Franzen does about twice a month. Each email contains a list of four or five links to recent blog posts, with very short explanations of each. It’s a great way to appeal to a range of different subscribers—she always has something for everyone—without bugging them too much. It might also be interesting to try curating resources from around the Internet—so long as you’re positioning yourself as the (curious) expert.

• But you can also send short and sweet weekly emails with single pieces of actionable advice, as pro copywriter Henneke Duistermaat recommended in a recent Copyblogger webinar. I think this is a fabulous idea, especially if you’re just getting started. You can always link back to your current offering or latest news in a tiny PS at the bottom of the email.

I personally think all of these approaches are worth exploring, and I know there are dozens more. So I’d love to hear from you. If you have a favourite email subscription or a suggestion for how to tackle it all, please join the conversation by leaving a comment!