My Favorite And Thriftiest Email List Building Strategies…
I’ve spent countless years of my life, and an endless litany of blood sweat and tears in an undying effort to build my email list and to promote my email newsletter.
I’m not saying this to brag, because quite frankly, I’ve attempted so many methods that never brought any results.
With a ton of luck, and endless persistence, I’ve also discovered a tiny handful of methods, that I personally like the best.
Either way, I think that these days, an email newsletter is a really cool thing for any entrepreneur or a small business to publish.
That’s because email marketing rocks, it’s seriously the best way that I know of to build rapport, to generate traffic, and to promote products.
The main problem is that promoting your email list or your email newsletter with paid advertising can cost an absolute fortune unless you’re lucky, or are very skilled in the art and science of advertising.
That’s why I want to share my favorite methods that I’ve personally used to generate email leads and to promote my email newsletter.
I’m not saying that these methods are going to work for you, building and promoting a successful email newsletter requires a ton of effort, skill, and luck, however I still want to share my favorite email lead generation methods if you would like to learn more.
The Overall Email List Building Strategy…
My favorite email list building strategy is simple.
I try my best to create lots of awesome content, and I share that everywhere that I can.
Primarily I create blog posts, courses, and books.
So, I strive my hardest to create awesome content that people can actually benefit from, and then I share my email newsletter registration page.
Seems simple enough, right?
Well, this requires a ton of work. I’ve read so much content that says email list building and promoting one’s email newsletter is easy, I find it to be the opposite. Building an email list requires lots of work, dedication, passion, effort, and luck.
That being said, if you love to create content, then I want to brainstorm three of my favorite methods to not only publish content, but to promote my email newsletter.
The First Email List Building Method Is Online Teaching.
One of the smartest things I’ve ever done to promote my email newsletter, is teach online courses.
Because, I would easily, and honestly say, that the best email subscribers I’ve ever had were my own students.
That’s another reason why I’m so passionate about sales funnels, and it’s why I’m always writing and creating content about sales funnels.
A sales funnel can give you control over all of the pages that your student sees from the time when they first interact with your course, all the way up until they are buying and accessing your course.
For example, your student might see a sales page, an order page, a confirmation page, and also a membership area so they can access the course.
The cool thing about having your own course sales funnel, is that you have control over all of these pages; you can thereby promote your email newsletter on any or all of those pages if you wish.
So you can simply include a call to action or a banner on your thank you page that promotes your email newsletter. Or maybe in your course membership area you can promote one of your automated webinars.
Another really smart idea might be to promote your email newsletter in the final lecture of your course. So maybe on the page for the final lecture of your course you have a huge call to action that promotes your email newsletter.
So let’s pretend that I just launched a course, an awesome student enrolls and then takes the course. If they think that my content is cool, they can visit my email newsletter subscription page and register.
In my opinion, the reason why this is ridiculously powerful, is because I think that a student who makes it all the way to the end of my course, is probably going to make an excellent email subscriber.
Because if they consumed, and appreciate my content, then there’s probably a good chance that this particular student might love to receive an awesome email newsletter, right?
I honestly think that if you publish an awesome email newsletter, that your students might love to receive it. Because your students, especially after they actually take your course, are in my opinion, statistically more likely to know you, like you, and trust you.
If someone takes your course, and they decide that for whatever they don’t like you, then they will probably not join your email newsletter, right? And that would be okay.
With your own sales funnel there are so many creative ways that you can promote your email newsletter within your course.
So maybe at the end of your course, you simply promote one of your lead magnets.
Or maybe you can offer an entire collection of freebies inside the first issue of your email newsletter and you could promote that.
Or, one of my personal favorites, you could promote some type of automated webinar that teaches something really cool, and if properly planned, the webinar funnel itself can serve as a mechanism upon which to generate an email lead.
The main tip I can give you is to try your utmost best to deliver awesome value. If you can deliver awesome value with your email newsletter, then I think you owe it to your students to share it with them.
The real strategy here, is teaching awesome content, and then sharing something worthy of your students at the end of the course so they are prompted to join your email newsletter.
Another Cool Way To Promote Your Email Newsletter Is By Publishing E-Books!
In my humble opinion, your readers also make ridiculously powerful email subscribers.
Do you know why?
Because if someone reads your book, and if they decide that they love your writing style, then obviously it would seem that they might also love your email newsletter content, right?
This is the best of both worlds; because they just read your book, and they appreciate your writing style. So in my opinion they’re the perfect email subscriber.
They want to read more of your stuff.
So, what I personally do, is promote my email newsletter at the beginning of my books, and at the end of my books.
That way, people who browse my book will get a chance to join my email newsletter, and those who fully digest my book and make it all the way to the end will have TWO chances to join my email newsletter.
Another Awesome Email List Building Method Is Content Marketing!
Creating awesome content on my blogs, on social media, and even on forums can be a truly powerful strategy to help build your brand, and get the word out about your email newsletter.
But of course, content marketing isn’t perfect.
The reason why it isn’t perfect, is because it can be harder than heck to get eyeballs on your content.
I always hear that around 90% of startups ultimately fail, so you’ve got to include content marketing nerds like us in those kinds of statistics, right? In other words, is it safe to say that 90% of new content marketers fail? I don’t know but, I feel confident a lot of bloggers and content marketers and self-publishers in general, fail.
Regardless, and that being said, if you CAN get eyeballs on your content, then here are a few tips to help you turn your blog or any content into the entry point of your email funnel.
First of all, try to build a really cool looking blog; and try your best to find a theme that has lots of Calls To Action.
That’s why I personally love StudioPress; because their themes are often designed with email list building in mind, and there are plenty of plugins to help you build your email list.
Another really cool thing about StudioPress Themes, is that they have lots of plugins and widgets that make it easy to creatively promote your stuff.
For example, check out my blog.
I have lots of banners and calls to action throughout the blog structure, so I can be pretty creative with what I want to promote.
I also have a massive call to action at the end of my blog posts that can promote another link.
These Calls To Action, are present on every single blog post.
So, every time I write a new blog post, and share it on social media, I could easily be promoting my lead capture pages, in a roundabout way. (Or maybe even some cool affiliate links, my books, or some other cool stuff that I want to share).
The point is that, if you have a cool blog, and if you publish lots of awesome content, you can then focus on promoting your blog everywhere that you can!
That way, when people land on your blog, hopefully they will appreciate the content that you’re creating, and they may be enticed to click on your advertisements on your blog, as long as they are cool.
Blogging can be a really awesome strategy for building your brand, especially if your blog is cleverly strewn with some awesome Calls To Action!
And to be honest, I’m not the best blogger in the world.
Heck… I SUCK at blogging (Sad but true).
So, I honestly believe, that if you’re actually reading this content right now, then you too can probably attract readers to consume your content, especially if you’re truly devoted to creating awesome content for your intended audience.
Email List Building Is Tough As Nails. Especially If Your Budget Is Tiny.
A lot of people out there say that email list building and managing an email list is super easy, but it’s not. Generating leads is tough work, and there are never any guarantees.
Email marketing and lead generation can be frustrating if you don’t have the biggest budget in the world!
I’ve been frustrated to the brink of insanity regarding all the hype and ballyhoo that the “marketing gurus” clamor about (lol).
That’s why these are my among some of my favorite email list building methods.
Because my philosophy has always been that email list building rocks.
I also believe that paid advertising can be a stroke of genius.
The only problem with paid advertising is that it can be expensive and risky.
The methods I’ve talked about in this blog post though, are actually not that risky at all.
Think of it this way.
If you’re going to create and launch blog posts, courses, and books anyway, then you may as well try to parlay that into an awesome email newsletter, right?
And, if all goes well, then you might get a tremendous list of other benefits too.
Like more readers, students, and fans of your content.
Email list building and lead generation is honestly one of my favorite hobbies, so I had a ton of fun sharing my thoughts in this document.
It’s my hope that this content finds you well.
If you ever have any questions, or simply want to brainstorm, then please never hesitate to contact me.
I’ve got your back!
Until then, stay awesome, and please have an amazing day.
Cordially and humbly yours…
Mike DeVincent
MrComputerScience.com