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Most entrepreneurs, coaches, and business strategists will tell you that an email list is an important business asset. If you have been struggling with email marketing and how to implement it in your business, this blog post will help!
I’ll be sharing the email marketing tips and strategy that will arm you with the knowledge necessary to start building your own email list (hint: a very important biz asset for online entrepreneurs).
Let’s discuss the primary components of good email marketing. This is a lot more than the tired “newsletter” concept that nearly everyone is familiar with. It no longer works! People want something in exchange for their contact information and after you’ve given it to them, you’ve gotta keep in touch. When keeping in touch, the ultimate goal is eventually monetizing your interactions with email subscribers. Let’s dive into how this all happens.
Starting From Zero
All of us start with zero email subscribers! Try not to worry about what others are doing in your business space. If they have a large email list in your niche, it is actually proof of the market need. People want what is being offered, so give it to them.
You might be asking how it is possible to do this. Before I get into that, I want to reiterate how important it is not to fall into comparison syndrome and measure your own growth against those who’ve been working on email marketing and have a large list. You can get there too, but your time is better served on your strategy rather than being concerned with someone else’s successes.
How Is Email Marketing An Asset?
Ideally, you want to build a list full of email subscribers that eventually become your customers. The final goal is to sell your products/services. Having an email list is a direct invitation to communicate with someone and let them know what you have to offer.
You can also use your email list for some pretty cool ninja moves like automated sequences intended to warm up, welcome, or sell a product/service. Email marketing allows you to send a message to your subscribers whenever you need or want! Pretty cool right?
If I Don’t Have Email Marketing Where Do I Start?
The first step is choosing an email marketing provider. In this regard, you have a plethora of options. I personally use Convertkit. I’ve used GetResponse in the past as well. Both platforms are great. If you are tight on cash, there are a few free services available until you build your list to a certain specified number of subscribers. Mailerlite is currently a good free option.
I didn’t bother with a free service when I got started. My reasoning for this was simple, I wanted the best tools to grow my email list as quickly as I could. Some features you get in paid plans are really beneficial in giving you more leverage for quick growth.
Certain platforms are also better for certain niches. For example, Convertkit is well known and used among bloggers for options available to segment and tag your audience. You also only pay for a subscriber once, even if they are subscribed to many email sequences with you. Most other platforms charge for each “opt-in”.
For example, Jane subscribes to your freebie on list building. The resource is helpful for her, and she is currently in a funnel to purchase a list building course with you. In that funnel, you host a webinar about list building and pitch your course. Jane opts-in for this webinar as well. With Convertkit, you pay for Jane just one time no matter how many freebies or webinars she registers for or how many email sequences she is a part of.
Nuts and Bolts of Email Marketing
Once you’ve picked out an email marketing provider, you need to get to work on your strategy. There are a few essentials to create in order to start list building. Here are a few of the important ways you’ll communicate with your list of email subscribers:
- Providing value by teaching or solving a problem
- Delivery of a lead magnet or freebie
- Sending Newsletters and updates
- Informing subscribers of sales or promotions
- Welcoming new subscribers and building relationship
- Creating automated funnels to sell your products/services
- Providing customer service
However, before you are able to do any of the above, you need subscribers! Get ready to hustle because you NEED to do a bit of research and develop a strategy to attract the perfect customers/clients to your email list. Let’s discuss how to do that…
Lead Magnet/Freebie
Do you know what your ideal client/customer wants or needs? You’ll need to give them something that provides value or solves a problem. It should be good enough that a reasonable person would ask, “I can’t believe this is being given away for free!” Gone is the day when people would sign up for an email list without expecting anything of value in return.
There are so many options for lead magnets. Consider an ebook, webinar, masterclass, printable, or how-to guide.
Once you’ve developed your lead magnet/freebie, you need a way to deliver it to subscribers.
The Opt-in
Basically, this is a fillable form placed on a webpage that has been developed for the specific purpose of gathering email subscribers. You can place opt-ins within blog posts, in sidebars, embed them as pop-ups on our webpages. Those are only a few examples!
Another great feature of Convertkit is the ability to create an opt-in webpage with an easy webbuilder. Convertkit will host the website and if you drive traffic and get conversions your email list can be growing before you even launch your business website!
Give A Warm Welcome
Always provide your new subscribers with a welcome sequence. This is an automated set of emails you create to build relationship and introduce your new subscriber to your brand. You need to serve the subscribers’ needs and provide value that keeps them engaged.
The process of welcoming subscribers builds trust and makes them more likely to buy your product/service in the future. After you’ve built a relationship, you can ask for the sale. Conversions are always higher with a warm audience whom you’ve built trust with.
Newsletters
This is the regular communication you send subscribers to keep them up to date on your business offerings and engages them in a value driven way. You set the tone for the frequency of communication. It is always the best practice to tell your subscribers how frequently they can expect communications from you.
Funnels
The funnel is the final component of your email marketing strategy. This is a sequence of communications designed around a desired outcome. Often the desired outcome is sales of your products/services. This is how passive income streams are developed for your online business.
Funnels can be very simple or extremely complicated depending on your marketing needs. You can have one funnel or many. Inside your email marketing software, you create automated email sequences that take your prospective customer through journey that hopefully ends by purchasing your product/service.
Interested in learning more about funnels? Check out THIS blog post all about them.
Key Points
The key takeaways from the post are:
- Email list building is an important business asset.
- Everyone starts with the first subscriber and builds from there. Don’t fall victim to comparison syndrome!
- There are a few key elements to a great email marketing strategy check out the Nuts and Bolts section above to make sure you have them.
Go forth and create that perfect email marketing strategy that helps you crush your business goals!
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