“Building a List of Subscribers and Maintaining That List Is the Prime Focus of Your Business”
I know for many of you, e-mail marketing is a totally new experience, so this, I hope, will introduce you to a few new words and some understanding of this brave venture you have undertaken. I am assuming you know nothing, so please forgive me if I have underestimated your skills and knowledge. It is certainly not deliberate.
The popularity of email marketing rises and falls like the temperature in spring. A couple of years ago, when I started out as a blogger, I read many a headline declaring that ‘Email Marketing Is Dead.’ Everyone agreed that no one could make any money through writing e-mails.
I have no idea what was taking its place, as I never read past the headline. I was a blogger and SEO was my obsession.
In my SEO – clouded world, and not focused on making money, I did not grasp the fact that all those snake-oil salesmen that were selling me far too many ‘fabulous’ products were doing just that – E-mail Marketing.
And now I know that it really did not die. It may have lain down for a quiet nap for a while, but when I entered the Internet Marketing field earlier this year, I found that e-mail marketing is alive and well and living in a heap of articles telling how it should be done.
List Building Overview
Email marketing and building a list are two parts of the same process. You build a list of people you will refer to as ‘leads’ and these will be the ones that you will, eventually, send your e-mails to.
First job is to identify your Target Audience. (How you do this is a lesson in itself.) This is a group of people that you have identified as being your future customers. No good advertising to the wrong crowd.
Lead Magnets
You then need to connect with them. Do this by offering them a bribe aka a ‘small gift of value’ (not cash, I hasten to say) in return for their email address.
This is one type of opt-in page with a lead magnet – an e-book
N.B. You may find this bribe referred to as a ‘lead magnet’ and it can take the form of a high quality report, a short tutorial or even a video. It is imperative that the content of the Lead Magnet matches the content of your offer. For example, if you are selling software for video production, your lead magnet should be about video production also.
Squeeze Pages
To present this offer to your potential lead you will use a combination of
- squeeze pages (aka landing pages, lead pages)
- opt-in forms (aka web forms, sign-up forms)
You will need to generate these yourself through your autoresponder provider. This is not difficult. Tricky, maybe at first, but easily doable. You will then have:
- a lead magnet,
- a squeeze page,
- an opt-in page
- a message on your autoresponder.
An example of a squeeze page. Clicking on the button leads you to an opt-in page
These will be linked together in a planned way (by you) and then the magic will happen.
- Your lead will click on your landing page
- He/she will fill in their address
- They will be taken to a page where they can down-load the lead magnet
- Their address is picked up by the autoresponder and added to your mailing list
- A thank you letter will be sent to your new subscriber
Please be aware that there will be variations in the way this happens, depending on how you wish to set up the sequence.
This is another style of opt-in page – the one from the Sydney squeeze page
Now, if this seems a bit of a mystery to you, please don’t panic. Once you have done it a couple of times – and it can be time-consuming at first – you will be fine. Worst case, there are full instructions and plenty of support on the various web-sites. And most have ‘live chat’ which means you can talk immediately with a tech if you need instant help. There will also be help here and you can always contact me if necessary.
E-Mail Marketing Overview
Once a subscriber is a confirmed member of your list, you can begin sending them emails on a regular basis. There is some discussion around the number you should send. Some recommend every day, others run a pattern that suits their schedule and which omits, for example every 3rd or 4th day. Others say once a week unless there is a campaign being run for a big product launch. I know of marketers who will mail their list 2 or 3 times in one day at such times. You need to work out what suits you and your group.
The Purpose of Your List
Always bear in mind that the purpose of having a list and nurturing it is to convert subscribers into active customers. This means developing a relationship with them that will thrive over time, building trust and a sense of confidence when dealing with you. Providing them with entertainment and information that is of high quality and which offers value to them in their business is the secret sauce here. Be forth-coming, share your personality and be positive and encouraging. You may even crack a joke from time to time.
Then, every once in a while you can put an offer in front of them and with luck and good planning, you will make a sale.
Make no mistake, you need to spend time crafting your letters. Bearing in mind that the average email open rate is 3%, you are really pushing up-hill with this, so every ounce of assistance you can get – grab it.
(As encouragement for you, I know some masters who get an open rate of up to 70% so if you love a challenge…)
You can be sure that the larger portion of the income you will make in the future, will come from the relationships you build with your long-term subscribers and the repeat sales you will make from them.
To wrap it up, the infographic on this page gives further insights into building your list and emailing your people.
JIMMY’S SEVEN STEPS
Build a foundation
The primary offer
The squeeze page
The secondary offer
Build Authority
Writing emails
Targeted traffic
This infographic was created by Brianna Burrows of Prosperity Entrepreneur from Jimmy Kim’s BML Fast Track Intro Event
RESOURCES
Autoresponders
A Weber: www.aweber.com
Get Response: www.getresponse.com (30 day free trial)
Sendlane: https://sendlane.com
For Generating Lead and Opt-in Pages
Lead Pages www.leadpages.net
Clickfunnels
Solid actionable advice as always thanks for sharing this today 🙂
you are absolutely correct. your list is your life. Learn how to build it and nurture it.
BarbaraMoss That’s even better 😀
Yes, Jackie, or even, ‘The money is in your relationship with your list!’
You nailed it. The money is in The List.
A very nice presentation of the subject – as you say, there’s absolutely no point in building a list if you don’t then nurture it by regular, varied, interesting emails
A very easy to read and implement piece of training. Great share Barbara 🙂
You’re right email marketing is definitely not dead as you say, and building a responsive list of subscribers should be a priority for anybody wanting to do anything online. Very well laid out steps as to how it can be done.