“I don't have a product or service to promote on an email list.”
“I don't know what I'd say in an email.”
“People won't read my emails.”
One of the biggest mistakes business owners and entrepreneurs make is putting off building an email list until “later”. Whatever the excuse is, it's a terrible mistake.
The time to start building your email list is now.
Even if you can only send an email out to your list once a month, that one time that you're putting yourself out in front of your customers or clients is most likely more than what they see from you on social media. With algorithms of social media being hard and harder to crack, utilizing an email list to get in front of your target demographic is vital to the success of your business! You don't have to be sleazy, you don't have to be salesy–but what you HAVE to be is in their inbox.
Email lists give you the opportunity to build relationships before you sell.
Let's say that you can commit to sending out an email to your list once a week. This is a FANTABULOUS first step! Now…what the heck are you going to send to them? Try some of these for your next email:
- Inspiration
- Recent blog post share
- Answers to questions you are always asked (think of this like a “tip” of sorts)
- Tools and resources you find useful that your audience would love to learn about
- Tips and tricks (how can you make their life easier?)
- Entertainment (did you stumble across something funny that relates to your business/product/service?)
- How-to's
- Encouragement (yeah, sometimes touchy-feely is just necessary)
- New product or service
- Promotion (use sparingly!)
We suggest having about 3 different items in your email. Remember: you don't want to write a book here! If you find that something is becoming lengthy, write a blog post about it and then link to that blog post in your email!
Write click-worthy subject lines.
Obviously, the biggest hurdle in email marketing is getting your emails opened. Part of the hurdle is writing click-worthy subject lines that aren't sleazy. If you can avoid spammy phrases and words like “FREE!” or a billion exclamation points, you can increase your open rate significantly. We suggest that you always capture a first name during the opt-in process so that you can personalize subject lines and emails with the recipient's first name. Speaking of opt-ins…
Don't forget to create an opt-in that doesn't suck.
Gone are the days of growing an email list using a sucky CTA (call-to-action) like, “Subscribe to our newsletter”. You MUST get creative with your CTA! “Send me my awesome template!” or “I need to be at this webinar!” get in your readers' heads better than “Click to download” or “Sign up”, right?
So where are these “7 Steps for Growing A Killer Email List”, huh?
We're so glad you asked! We're holding a sweet webinar where Kim will tell you all the awesome secrets to growing a KILLER email list! Choose from several different days and times, pour yourself a good cup of coffee, and bring a notebook because this webinar is going to give you actionable steps for growing your email list…right away!
