3 Essential Email Marketing Strategies for List Building

If you are an entrepreneur or business owner a sound marketing strategy is to build up an email subscribers list.

If your business relies solely on Organic Traffic, Social Media or paid advertising then it could be at risk.

No Google algorithm update, change in social network policy or increase in advertising cost will have any bearing upon your email subscribers’ list. It will always remain firmly in your control.

“The best way to control your own destiny is to have direct communication with your customers and not depend on other platforms for your success. For online marketing, the best way is to build and grow your own email list. Email Marketing gives you the most effective way to talk directly to all of your customers. ” Noah Kagan

In this article we will look at 3 email marketing strategies that will help maximise subscriber rate and quality. What’s more you can implement these methods right away for immediate results.

Email Marketing Strategy #1 – Get Targeted Traffic

It’s easy to go for numbers when it come to traffic

But the only traffic that brings conversions and sales is targeted traffic.

Targeted: 

Understanding your target market is where an effective email marketing strategy should begin. Define exactly what type of users should be hitting the Sign Up button:

• Who is he?
• Where is he (online)?
• What is he interested in?

This information is key to defining what action to take in your email communication:

• What your newsletters will be about.
• What your lead magnets will be.
• Where and how you’ll find them.

Traffic:

Next comes the business of sourcing out the Targeted Traffic.

Listed below are the most effective mediums for attracting visitors to your site:

1. Content Marketing: Publish high value content that keeps visitors engaged.
2. SEO: Optimise your content for search engines and get authoritative backlinks that push it up in search rankings.
3. Advertising / SEM: Advertise using targeted keywords or put ads on sites relevant to your niche.
4. Social Media:  Communities and social media groups are a great source of targeted traffic.
5. Email Data: Source out niche relevant email data for running acquisition email marketing campaigns

Email Marketing Strategy #2 – Get Subscribers

Now that targeted traffic is making it’s way to your business it’s time to turn those visitors into conversions.

In order to do this your site needs:

1. A Sign Up Form – where your visitors can enter their name and email
2. A Lead Magnet – or Incentive for them to subscribe

Listed below are four of the most common areas to place a Sign Up Form:

Homepage

The homepage is the most visited page on a website.That is why it is one of the best places to have a sign up form.Jasper Oldersom on his site OpportunityBuilding uses his homepage as one big sign up form.

The first thing his site’s visitors will see is an attention grabbing and curiosity inspiring message, with an opt in from right below but above the fold.

Usually visitors that arrive on the homepage either typed in the URL or came via a link. Chance are that they are familiar with the site or it was recommended to them.

They are less likely to have arrived via a search for specific content.

So they are much less likely to find such a sign up form intrusive and more likely to enter their details in the opt in form.

Sidebar

Placing a sign up form in the sidebar will display on all of the site’s pages.

It is also one of the first items a visitor notices when they arrive on a site for the first time.

Plus it will not interfere with the main body of content, so is unlikely to be considered intrusive.

Nomadic Matt runs a travel blog. Take a look at his Sidebar Sign Up form:

The sidebar is a prime position to put a subscription form.

End of Article

Another great location for lead capture is at the end of an article.

Consider that if a visitor made it to the end of one of your articles they must have enjoyed what they read.

Therefore, they are probably likely to want to hear more from you.

Placing a sign up form at the end of the article taps into an emotional connection with your readers.

Here is an example from Dan Norris of WPCurve

Within Content

Placement of a sign up form within an article is guaranteed to get seen.

If you are able to place it strategically it can do wonders fro your sign up rates.

An example would be to try and capture a visitor when they are on a high. The form can be placed right after a highly valuable piece of information.

You could also offer a lead magnet that’s unique to that section of content.

3 effective ways to incentivise your visitors to join your mailing list:

Now let’s take a look at some sweet incentives for tempting your site visitors into leaving their details.

Remember here that your site’s visitors will only leave their name and email if they perceive that is in their interest to do so.

So if you are serious about building up your email list you should offer them something of over the top value.

Matt Thomas of Insider Secrets points out that you should tap into something that is really bugging your site’s visitors.

It could be the answer to a particular problem that is hindering their progress. If you can find and supply the answer they are likely to come back to your site over and over.

Here are some potential lead magnets you can start working on right away:

Ebook

eBooks are a great lead magnet.

They’re comprehensive, giving your leads something tangible, beyond a simple cheatsheet or checklist. They are also cheaper and more likely to hit a wide audience than a webinar.

Here is a suggestion from hectorpreneur:

As soon as you have the information ready to go, head over to fiverr and in the “books and packaging” area. Here you can choose a cover, add it to your document, convert it to pdf and you’re ready to go with your kick ass free giveaway!

One or Two Page PDF

Sometimes it’s best not to overwhelm your visitors.

Something simple like a bitesized pdf with some immediately actionable information within can be all it takes to give your subscriber’s list a boost.

Two Free Lessons

If your website offers courses or a series of lessons why not give the first one or two away for free?

Video lessons are great giveaways, as you can cram tons of high value information and really showcase your personality.

Having seen what you are offering subscribers are much more likely to purchase your series of lessons, plus once they are on your list you can market other products to them further down the line.

This also works if you run an art or music blog. You could offer two free downloads of your artwork or music in return for a sign up.

Email Marketing Strategy #3 Deliver High Value Content That Connects To Your Subscribers

One of the most important email marketing strategies to consider and perhaps the most difficult.

Delivering high value content takes much consideration and a lot of hard work.

But the long term benefits are well worth the effort.

Your content will show your subscribers that you know about and are passionate about all things to do with your chosen niche.

For that reason it is one of the most effective methods for keeping your subscribers engaged for the long term.

If a user has signed up to receive more content from your site you want to try to create a situation where they will be eagerly awaiting your next email update.

Never forget that most of the time you will be competing for attention whilst your subscriber’s are carrying out other tasks whilst glancing at your site.

So it’s important to keep them fully involved.

Zac Johnson stresses the importance of building up a relationship with your users as a solid list building strategy.

Step by step tutorials that answer provide the answers to specific needs are a great way to keep users interested in an email retention sequence. They gradually build up trust and by encouraging your users to follow the next step in the next message will strengthen the connection.

Conclusion

Hopefully the email marketing strategies that i have outlined in this piece will have given you some actionable tips.

If you are looking for more ideas i suggest signing up to other sites within your niche. This will provide you with much beneficial information and will provide opportunities to connect with other marketers.

Consequently I have gone on to be customers for those business because of the high value services that they offer.

Email marketing offers all businesses the chance to connect with their users and on a massive scale.

It’s worth investing time and resources as you will find it to be one of the most valuable mediums for your business!

Guest article written by: Marketing Consultant at AffexPro. Simon James is a Marketing Consultant. He owns a Marketing Agency and Hosting Company. In addition he runs the blog AffexPro, a tech blog focusing on Hosting, Email Marketing, Affiliate Marketing and SEO. Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/affexpro.blog/
Twitter – https://twitter.com/AffexPro