Acquiring new subscribers is critical to the continued success of an email-marketing program. A responsive subscriber list will become the glue that holds your business together and eventually creates multiple streams of income.
Opt-in email lists are always a better method for marketing purposes because they guarantee a target audience. While purchasing a premade list saves you the time and effort it would take to build your own list, it can also put you at risk of CAN-SPAM violations.
Email marketing works best when it’s built on a strong foundation. Follow these 5 timeless list-building tips to develop a following of dedicated subscribers.
1. Subscriber landing pages
Create pages on your main website that are specifically designed to promote your newsletter and focus on the call-to-action.
Optimize your email subscriber page for visitors and search engines to ensure that your industry keywords are found. Really drive home the benefits of subscribing to your newsletters.
2. Social networks
Inform everyone about your email marketing program across all your social networks and always make sure fans learn about the benefits of subscribing.
Utilize Twitter to announce upcoming newsletters and link to the subscribe page. In addition, tweet a link to the online edition of every newsletter that comes out. Link to subscriptions and current editions online on Facebook but most importantly, embed an email subscription form to your page. The key is to make the subscription form as accessible to your fans as possible.
Always encourage social sharing within your newsletters. Provide “share” buttons for all known social media sites including Facebook, Digg, Delicious, and StumbleUpon.
Although there are many others, be careful not to overdo it. Stick to those networks that your subscribers are most likely to be active on.
3. Cross promotion
If you have a blog, include a link to the email subscription form on every page and invite others to “guest blog” on your site. Find a blog that is complementary to your own, and write a flattering post that will stir up interest.
Granted that the relationship does not go sour, request permission to “guest blog” and write a post as a guest blogger. When writing for other sites, it is customary for the site to include an author bio as well as a link to the subscription-landing page in your own blog.
4. Limited-time freebie
Offer a limited-time freebie or something that you can easily share. First, set up a page or blog post with an opt-in form to obtain contact information, then send them the freebie once they confirm.
You can also find businesses that sell a product that compliments your freebie and approach them about giving your freebie away with their product.
A limited-time freebie can be anything from a coaching tool to an audio recording. Just make sure that it is first, tangible and second, beneficial to your audience.
5. JV giveaways
A JV giveaway is basically an even set up by several bloggers with the intention of building up each other’s lists through leveraging their own lists and social networks.
Each participating member in the JV giveaway submits one or more freebies, sends emails to their lists and promotes the event through their social networks to bring in as big of a crowd as possible.
With good products, it’s possible to generate hundreds of new subscribers, but be aware that the retention rate for these subscribers can be low. It’ll be up to you to write follow-up emails to maintain your audience.
There are no shortcuts when it comes to building a list of quality subscribers. The long road to success for your campaign starts with traffic and continues with a mailing list. Try some of these timeless list-building tips and apply it to your own business strategy.
