Six ways to grow your email list, so you quit losing business
List-building is a critical tool for growing your business, regardless of your industry. It doesn’t matter if you have a small brick and mortar storefront or if you sell exclusively online. If you aren’t building an email list, you are missing out on many valuable opportunities. Most important, you are losing business!
Here are just a few ways to use email lists to grow your business…
Driving repeat business to your website
Showcasing products and services
Building meaningful relationships with your customers and fans
Saving money on advertising
Learning more about your target audience
Targeting referral business
Glenn Allsopp from ViperChill says email subscribers are more likely to buy your products than any other type of audience. Email lists can help you change a sales slump overnight, and the stronger your list becomes, the less reliant you’ll become on other sources of advertising. So how do you grow your email list? Here are strategies we use at the café.
#1 Exclusive Incentive Offerings
When someone signs up to receive emails from you, they are giving you their time and attention. That’s an important gift! Show that you value this gift by providing exclusive offerings and discounts to your email subscribers. Use incentives and discounts to help entice fans into signing up for your list.
#2 Webinars & Trainings
Even if you don’t work in an industry where you typically train your clients to do something, such as a retail shop, you can still take advantage of webinars and trainings to grow your list. For example, a clothing retailer could hold a training to show how to pick the best clothing for your body type. A home remodeling company or painting company could host a webinar highlighting the top 10 mistakes made by homeowners when remodeling or painting.
#3 Download/Opt-in Content
Create a downloadable content piece as an offering for opting-in to your email list. Focus on high quality, relevant content. Change your content offering quarterly, if at all possible.
#4 Exhibits/Tradeshows/Storefronts
If you EVER come face-to-face with your clients, collect their information. Face-to-face list-building requires excellent customer service and this must be a company wide philosophy. I’ve seen this work the best at a retail store called Buckles. At Buckles, their staff serve as personal shoppers. They spend a lot of time with you helping you shop for the ideal outfit. You leave the store feeling like a celebrity and very much appreciated. Once you are ready to check out, it’s a natural fit to turn over your email address, because you are very impressed with the personalized service you just received.
#5 Social Media Integration
Include the opportunity to sign up for email notices through all of your social media channels. Again, the key to success with this is the content you offer for signing up. What valuable benefit do they receive for signing up?
#6 Memberships
Be it a birthday club, discount club or something unique to your industry, establishing a membership level for your services is a great strategy for building your list. We use a membership focus at myMarketing Cafe. What I love about this is the close relationships I can develop with members. I get to know your industry, your challenges and your successes, which helps me tailor my services and content to best meet your needs.
**Important: I’ve shared strategies for building a list, but the management of the list is just as important. Make sure that every time you contact your list, you are providing something valuable. Don’t be aggressive and don’t blow up their email with constant correspondence from you. Just as with any relationship, treat your subscribers with professionalism and respect.
What questions do you have about this important tool? Are you struggling with content ideas? I’m happy to help, so let me hear from you in the comments below or email us at Barista@mymarketingcafe.com to schedule a free consultation.