Email marketing is a great way to grow your customer base and build deeper relationships with them.
By providing valuable and useful content to them, they will become buyers and brand advocates.
One of the best ways to get started with email marketing is to treat it like a conversation: start by reaching out and listening to your customers, and then share your knowledge and insight with them.
1 – Get the Right People to Subscribe!
Getting people on your list is the first step to any successful marketing campaign. But bigger, isn’t better. You need to know who would be interested in your services before you can go further.
- What do your subscribers need from you?
- What is the problem that they are trying to solve?
- How can you help them further?
If you have the wrong people on your email list, you are not only wasting time and money, but your list simply won’t engage!
The next step is to build a relationship with your consumer via email, social media, or any other platform you decide to use.
But, how do you get people to sign up for your email list?
The answer is simple: offer them something of value.
When I say value, I don’t mean having a sale or throwing a bunch of coupons at them.
I mean actually giving them something of real value like a free ebook, video, or any other type of content that helps people solve their problems. This is no different than asking someone out on a date, except this time it is business asking for business.
Offer a lead magnet that people can download for free in exchange for their name and email address. Subscribers download the free gift and enjoy the unique value it offers, and then start receiving email messages from you.
The key here is to ask for as little as possible. Name and email address is enough. If you make it difficult, people won’t sign up.
2 – Engage Subscribers with Valuable Content
Don’t start promoting to new subscribers right away. You’ve started a relationship with them by offering helpful free content, so keep the content coming, at least at first. Many people are accustomed to being bombarded with advertisements when they sign up to a new mailing list or follow a new social media account. This can be frustrating and turn people off to your brand. As a result, they may unsubscribe and never try your brand or product. Instead, you should focus on providing them with helpful and exciting content that allows them to get to know you, and your brand, before they’re even aware of your offer.
Give subscribers helpful tips and information that they can only receive through your list. Share your knowledge with your email subscribers and this will start to build a relationship with them.
Offering free content through your email list will also help you gather feedback from your market. You’ll see what content they like and how they react.
Your email service provider will give you data on what people click and don’t click.
3 – Make Exclusive Offers to Your Engaged Subscribers
Gradually start making offers and promoting products and services, such as online deals or coupons for your offline store.
Create a balanced mix between informational content and offers. Just like with your content, exclusivity is enticing. Emphasize that these deals are only available to your email subscribers.
A good way to get people to subscribe to your email list is through an exclusive deal. Offer the deal only to your email subscribers. If you have a large email list, divide the offer into smaller chunks so not all of your subscribers are trying to access the deal at the same time. Exclusive deals are appealing because they are something that your customers can’t get anywhere else.
You’ll earn directly from the offers you make to your list, but you’ll also gain valuable strategic information.
You’ll likely find that some subscribers take advantage of offers while others don’t. Some will just enjoy the free content. The ones that buy are your qualified leads. You can lead them to make bigger and bigger purchases.
It takes a great deal of effort to successfully build and run a list.
You need to provide constant high-value content. You also have to first gain a keen understanding into your target market and what issues they face. But this highly personal method for building relationships, earning directly, and getting to know your audience is invaluable.
