Today I want to walk you through exactly how to build an email list for your business from 0 to 10,000 in the quickest way possible.
Here’s a glance at this episode…
- [00:16] What is an email list?
- [04:05] How to build your email list
- [04:10] #1: Create a free gift
- [05:33] How to create Lead Magnet
- [09:43] What is a landing page?
- [10:30] What do you need on your landing page?
- [12:27] Email Marketing Software
What is an Email List?
An email list is simply a database of your ideal clients.
Do you know how many businesses do not have a database?
The number of businesses that are depending on Social Media for getting their clients or if they are offline they are depending on the clients that are working through the door.
Here is a typical example:
If you have a business that is offline and you are depending on clients to walk through the door or customers to walk through door, well, the problem with that is that when the pandemic hit all the way back in 2020 and the whole world went into lockdown at various different times all of the offline businesses took massively hit
…and then when the doors opened again and the lockdown was eased in all of the countries a lot of those businesses really struggled to bring their customers back in because they had no way of contacting them.
That is for businesses that are offline.
You might be thinking:
“But Pam that doesn’t concern me, I have a business online so I’m fine, I can just depend on Social Media and do what it is that I already do”
Here’s the problem.
Most people who have a business online don’t actually have an email list.
In fact, it’s even worse than those who are offline because you have this false sense of security because you’re depending on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook and LinkedIn and even youtube in order to grow your business
As much as this is okay because these are platforms that can help you to do that, the truth of the matter is that you do not own these platforms.
There are so many times when Instagram has been shut down or there’s been a blackout on Instagram or blackout on Facebook and it just isn’t working and at that minute you would see people going crazy.
“What’s going on with Facebook?”
“What’s going with Instagram?”
“I can’t post”
“I can’t comment”
“I can’t do this or that”
And there is this worldwide panic that even allows this to hit the news and it becomes breaking news because these platforms have just decided….
“Well I just don’t want to work today”
That’s one thing that could happen.
Another thing that can happen if your business depends on Social Media is that your account can be shut down.
It has happened to so many marketers including myself where you can instantly be wiped off Facebook, be wiped off Instagram or youtube or whatever platform.
I have seen it happen time and time and time again
But the reason these other people haven’t fallen victim to these things, the reason why their business continues to thrive and the reason yours will continue to thrive is if you take the advice that I’m sharing with you today .
Here’s my advice to you today
#1: You do not own any of those Social Media Platforms, create your Email List
#2: Do not fall victim to that false sense of security thinking that these platforms are going to continue to serve you.
#3: You have got to focus on building something that you own and that is where building an email list is extremely important.
Now, with that being said building an email list isn’t very easy.
But by reading this, you are going to figure out the steps I’m going to be sharing with you.
What steps do you have to take so that you can not only build an email list, but build an email list that gives you quality leads?
Speaking about quality leads, if you read until the end of this I’m going to be sharing with you another tool and strategy that you can use to fill your email list with quality leads.
There’s building your email list but there’s also filling it with quality leads.
I’m going to be sharing those two things with you today.
The first thing I want to talk about is:
How to Build Your Email List?
#1: CREATE A FREE GIFT
Some people call this a freebie, they call it a lead magnet.
Some people call it a content upgrade, you might have heard any of these words used.
It’s the same thing.
What does it mean?
A freebie or a lead magnet or a content upgrade is simply something that you give to somebody else in exchange for their name and email address which is what you use to build your email list.
That is your collateral.
The crazy thing is that that name and email address it’s now currency.
Way back in the day it wasn’t a big deal to go and ask somebody for the name and email, now if you ask a stranger, say you’re at a party and you ask a stranger for their name and email they will look at you really weird like:
“What do you need my name and email for”
“Who are you, do I owe you something?
Do you see my point?
It might be a little bit on the weird side but imagine if you said:
“Hey, I have got a free gift to send to you.
I can send it over to your email.
What’s your email?
Give me your name and your email let me pop it in and send it to you right away”
They would be more than happy to give you their name and email because there is something in it for them.
This is the key and this is the beauty to not only building an email list but making sure that people do open and read your emails.
So that is where to begin.
BONUS: We have a detailed Execution Plan for HOW to create a Lead Magnet inside The Lucrative Business Academy
How to create a lead magnet?
The first thing you have to think about is:
#1: Who is my ideal client and what is it that they want?
When you can figure out who your ideal client is and what it is that they want you just put that information into either a pdf or a quiz.
One of the biggest things that I want to share with you is when it comes to creating a lead magnet or a content upgrade this is not the same as creating an ebook so don’t be afraid of it.
You do not have to create a thousand pages or 80 pages of anything, no you don’t.
You can literally create a checklist, you can create a cheat sheet, you can create anything, you can put it into a one-pager
…and that’s really all that you need.
It all begins with what they want because that is where the value is.
Once you have figured out exactly what lead magnet or freebie you want to create the next question that you’re going to be asking yourself and that is:
#2: How to get it to your ideal clients?
This is all about distribution.
There are so many ways to get your lead magnet in the presence of your ideal clients.
You could do it via paid advertising or you could do it via organic free advertising.
My favourite way of distributing my content is by using it as a content upgrade.
Some of the other ways that you can distribute your content, your lead magnet very easily is for example by:
- Putting it in your Instagram bio
- By putting it on Facebook
- By putting it inside your Facebook group if you have one so that when people join your group they can get your freebie from there.
- You can also add it to your Instagram Stories, if you have the swipe up on Instagram, that’s another favourite way that I love to distribute my lead magnets
- You can put it on your LinkedIn.
You can put it anywhere that your ideal client hangs out.
You must ensure that you have your lead magnet in there aside from putting it on social media.
Make sure that you also have your lead magnets on your website.
You can put it in the header on the website like this:
You can also put it on the footer of your website and on the sidebar of a webpage or your website.
Like this:
So make sure that the moment somebody lands on your website that they have the opportunity to grab that free gift and join your email list.
This is very very important.
So the next question you’re going to be asking at this stage once you have figured out exactly what your ideal clients want and create a lead magnet and now know how to distribute it then the question is:
#3: How to collect their email addresses
Do you collect it on pen and paper and type it out one by one?
No, you don’t.
There is something called GDPR
GDPR came out a good couple of years ago but a lot of people are still confused by it.
You’ve got to do more research on this of course but it just basically means that you cannot just get somebody’s name and email from wherever even if they gave it to you verbally.
You cannot just get it and put it inside of your database.
You cannot do that.
They have got to actually opt-in by themselves and there needs to be some sort of proof of that.
Can you just send somebody an email without them actually opting in?
Yes.
You can, but you cannot put them in a database where you repeatedly send them marketing emails and send them promotions and all of those things.
They have got to opt-in themselves.
In order for them to do that you need something called a landing page.
What is a Landing Page?
A landing page in its most basic form is just a basic web page essentially.
It has one job to do.
The only job of a landing page is to collect those leads for you.
It’s a place where people sign up for your freebie or your lead magnet.
It’s very different to a website because when somebody goes onto your website they have an About Me page, they have a Contact Me page, your Home Page, a Blog and by the time they viewed a couple of things they’re already overwhelmed and they’ve gone.
So that’s why I always tell my clients to send people to your landing page, not to your website.
Your first priority is always to build your email list.
So please stop sending people to your website.
Send them to a landing page.
What do you need on your landing page?
- You’re going to need your Headline.
What is it that people are going to be grabbing? Tell them in the Headline
- You’re also going to need a sub-headline that really, really entices them to want to grab that thing.
What is it that people are going to be grabbing? Tell them in the Sub-Headline
- I always recommend you need three to five bullet points that tease what they’re going to get.
It doesn’t tell them what they’re going to get, it teases what they’re going to get.
What is it that people are going to be grabbing? Tell them in the Headline
Then you need a space for them to put in their name and their email.
Those are the two things that you need.
What is it that people are going to be grabbing? Tell them in the Headline
You might have noticed that some landing pages that other people have used they’re asking for other types of information like your phone number perhaps, your address and some people are even asking for all sorts of information.
Here is the truth.
The more you ask on the landing page the lower your conversion will be.
What that means is the more information that you want from somebody the more chances they have of going:
“Ah I’ll do this another time”
And they’re gone right, they’re gone and they won’t do it another time.
You’ve got to ask for the most minimal information so that you could use that to give them what they want and at the barest minimum, you want their name and their email and that button.
Once they click that button, after they have put in their name and their email that’s it.
They are now on your database, in your email list and they’re able to access your freebie.
RELATED: HOW TO CREATE A LANDING PAGE
This leads me to the next thing that I want to talk about.
Email Marketing Software
You do need some sort of Email Marketing Software to be able to do this.
CLICK HERE to get started for FREE with Convertkit, my favorite Email Marketing Software
But not only do you need email marketing software you need an email marketing software that allows you to do tagging and segmentation so that you can organize your email list.
Tagging in its simplest form or segmenting is where you have a group of people and you’re going to put them into different buckets into different segments.
This allows you to be able to know exactly how they came into your email list and what their interest was.
So for example.
We have an incredible 5-training where we teach you How to bring quality leads into your email list and into your business so that you can enrol them
Everybody who joins the challenge will be tagged, everybody who grabs all of my freebies or our storytelling freebie will be tagged inside Convertkit
This allows me to have the opportunity in the future to look inside of my email marketing software and know that X amount of people are interested in Instagram marketing, X amount of people are interested in Facebook ads, X amount of people are interested in growing their email list, X amount of people are interested in getting high-quality leads or creating a sales system creating an offer etc.
This gives me really good data so that when I’m speaking to somebody who has grabbed a lead magnet all about getting quality leads for their business I can direct them to content that they are already interested in and looking for.
Can you see the difference?
This is where segmenting and tagging really comes in.
Without that, I won’t be able to do that so you want to be careful with what email marketing software you choose to ensure that it gives you the ability to tag people and to segment your list.
Once you have these key things in place:
- You have you know who your ideal clients are
- You know what they want
- You’ve created a freebie for them
- You’ve now started to publish and use content upgrades and all of the strategies that I have talked about
- You have your email automation set up
…the next thing for you to do is to continue to grow your list
CONSISTENCY IS REALLY KEY.
Let me give you some stats that you are going to want to remember.
At the barest minimum, the number of people you have on your email list should equal the amount of money that you are making from your business every single month.
That means that if you have say 500 people on your email list every single month you should be able to make at least $1 or £1 per person on your email list.
That is every month consistently and that is at the barest minimum depending on your offer, depending on the emails that you send you can start making a hundred dollars a hundred pounds from each person on your email list or a thousand depending on your offer.
So at the barest minimum that is what you’re expecting.
That means that if you have 5,000 people on your email list then you should be expecting to be making a minimum of $5k per month in your business at the MINIMUM.
Can you see now how and why having an email list and growing your email list, why it is a currency in and of itself?
I want you to get going and you know put these things into action that I have shared with you today and grow your email list like wildfire.
Let it be your priority.
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