You’ve heard of marketing ROI – return on investment. Well, with email marketing, you’re getting investment right away. Having an open and signed-up email list is equivalent to having investors who are just waiting to give you a return on your investment. And the best part is that you’re the one who decides when and how your investment is returned.
In this guide, we’re going to teach you the exact formula for collecting valuable and relevant contact information from prospective customers. This information helps you communicate with your audience and grow your business. So let’s get started.
How to Build An Effective Email List
There are a few key points you need to keep in mind if you want to grow your email list and make sure you’re sending the right message to the right audience:
Focus On Value
When you send out an email, you’re usually trying to get your subscriber to do something – subscribe, consume, or buy something. So it’s critical that you offer value props (i.e. benefits) in the form of good tips, tricks, or other helpful information. Doing this will make sure you engage your audience and keep them engaged. And, as a result, you’ll grow your email list.
Make Sure You Have Something To Communicate
The whole purpose of an email is to send a message to someone. So, before you start building your list, you need to have something to send to your subscribers. Ideally, you’ll already have a product or service to offer that’s directly related to your industry. But even if you don’t, you can quickly find something. Take a look at our guide to marketing product ideas for inspiration.
For example, if you’re an artist and you want to promote your upcoming exhibit, you might want to consider using email marketing to find prospective customers. You might build a list of famous artists whose work they admire, and then, you could send them an email introducing your exhibit. You might say something like:
“Hey, John Doe, I noticed your work on Instagram and was wondering if you would like to see my new exhibit in person? I’m organizing an art opening next week and would love for you to come and check it out. Hopefully, we can make this happen. Thanks!”
By focusing on the value you offer and tying it to a relevant news story or compelling offer, you’re sure to grow your list.
Build Your List By Offering Value
When you send out a new email, you want to put in place a series of steps that will confirm your subscriber actually reads the email. The most effective way to do this is by offering value prop in the form of good tips, tricks, or other helpful information. For example, if you’re marketing a weight loss product and someone subscribed to your email list simply because they’re interested in losing weight, you might send them an email with tips on how to achieve this. Or, if the product you promote is a printer or an inkjet printer, you could send out a newsletter with the latest news about this type of printer.
An important thing to keep in mind is that the value you provide needs to be relevant to your audience. For example, if you’re marketing a luxury goods store and your email list consists mostly of fans of luxury items, you might want to avoid sending them emails that are completely unrelated to luxury or expensive goods. By doing this, you’re sure to grow your list and keep your email subscribers engaged.
Make Sure To Connect With Your Audience
When you establish contact with potential customers through email, it’s important to maintain the connection. One of the best ways to do this is by adding value where value is most needed. For example, if you’re marketing a weight loss product and you noticed that a lot of people on your list are struggling with their mental well-being, you might want to consider sending them an email with tips on how to better their moods. Or, if you’re an artist and you want to promote your upcoming exhibit, you could send out an email with a link to an article about the psychological benefits of art.
You never know what your audience might need help with, so it’s important to have a continuous flow of relevant content ready to go whenever you have an email campaign. This ensures you’re offering value and keeping your subscriber engaged.
Make Sure To Cross-Promote
In addition to sending value-added emails to your list, you can also consider using cross-promotion to get more subscribers to your list. For example, if you’re an artist and you want to promote your exhibit, you could put in place a simple email campaign with a link to an articles about famous artists and the exhibitions they organized. You could also consider using a service like Hello Fresh to send out a weekly recipe email that could include a quick tip about one of the recipes. Or, you could offer a special deal to those who subscribe to your email list and mention it in your next newsletter.
By combining different types of marketing activities – SEO, PPC, and social media – with email marketing, you’re sure to drive traffic to your website and grow your business. And all you need to do is to consistently build and grow your email list.