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Build Your List, Grow Your Business

Written by adminCGT on .

More and more business people are realising that if they get serious about building their email marketing lists, they can grow their business.

Building your list is even more important in a tough economic environment. Your list is your pre-qualified target audience and with GDPR now in force, it is even more crucial that you build your list from genuine and consenting contacts. They know you and your products and services, and they’ve bought from you in the past. They’re an easier sell and a source of referrals. That’s why e-mail marketing is still the most effective tool in your marketing mix. For fractions of a penny per person, you can stay in touch with your best customers. So when they’re ready to buy–even in a down economy–they’ll think of your business first.

List Building Essentials

Before you get started seeking out new subscribers, review these three e-mail marketing “commandments.”

1. Ask permission. E-mail marketing is different from other direct marketing. You need to ask before you add someone to your e-mail list. Only permission-based e-mail marketing works. We no longer trust or even open e-mail from people we don’t know. And only permission-based e-mails get past the spam filters and into the inbox.

2. Permission is perishable. If someone shares his or her e-mail address with you–whether on your website, at your store or when you meet at a business mixer–that person is now expecting to get something from you. Don’t wait six months to send the first e-mail. He or she won’t remember you and will delete your e-mail or unsubscribe immediately. Send a welcome e-mail and a copy of your most recent newsletter while the connection is still fresh in his or her mind.

3. Provide an opt-out link. All e-mail campaigns must include a working unsubscribe link or instructions on how to be removed from the list. Purge those names from your list promptly–within 10 days. It’s not just polite; it’s the law.

Ways to Find New Subscribers

Let’s start with the tried-and-true and end with the exciting-and-new. They’re all great ways to share your expertise and valuable content with the people who might be interested in what you offer. That’s really what list-building is all about.

1. “Join My List” visitor signup box. Your homepage is the “must do” place to put a sign-up box. But it’s not the only place. Include a sign-up link on your other web pages and in your e-mail signature block. Archive your e-mail campaigns and include a link to past articles near your signup box, so people will know what they’re signing up for.

Other places to invite mailing list sign-ups include:

2. In your store and over the phone. Keep a “join our mailing list” sign-up sheet at your cash register, and ask employees to invite shoppers to sign up. Put a sample newsletter in a Lucite stand on your counter so customers can see what they’re signing up for. A visual is powerful! Offer an incentive for sign-ups, e.g., an e-mail coupon for 10% off the customer’s next shopping trip.

Ask for sign-ups when doing phone sales or consultations, too. Don’t forget to ask vendors, suppliers and business partners.

3. At business networking events. When you meet colleagues at a business function, ask permission to sign them up for your mailing list. Put your website address and a line that says “sign up for my free newsletter” on your business cards and . . .

4. . . . On all printed materials. Prompt people who receive your direct mail, brochures, fact sheets and other sales and marketing materials to visit your website and sign up for your e-mail newsletter and promotions. Point them to your website and give them an incentive to sign up, e.g., “Sign up for our newsletter and get a free report on [what you do here]” (or “a free consultation”).

5. Via blogs and social media sites. If you have a blog, include chunks of your newsletter content in your entries, with a sign-up link. If you’re on social networking websites such as Facebook or Twitter, post to visitors or followers about your latest newsletter and encourage them to sign up.

Exposure on blogs and social networking sites can broaden your reach to find new subscribers. Then it’s up to you to nurture those relationships and turn them into customers.