It wasn’t Google+. It wasn’t Pinterest. It wasn’t Instagram.
It was email marketing.
Yep. At a major social media marketing conference — where one might assume we’d be focusing on social networking trends — we were talking about how to get more subscribers to our email mailing lists.
Of course, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ got lots of attention, too. But the central message was clear — email is still important, it’s not going away anytime soon, and you need to make sure you’re still giving list-building the attention it deserves.
This shouldn’t surprise you. We’ve talked about email marketing again and again.
But we’re always looking for new ways to organically grow our lists, send out great content, and gain the trust of our current subscribers. So here are three quick ways to keep things fresh while you’re refocusing your energies on email marketing.
1. Create a dedicated subscribe page
With a dedicated subscribe page, you can send the person a link to the page, and you’re done. No dancing around, no weird descriptions, no awkwardness.
When you use a dedicated subscribe page, you’ve also got a lot more space to explain all the great benefits people will get when they join your list. Take your time, add a couple of compelling bullet-points, and break out your best copywriting skills.
Once you’ve got a great page published, you can use the link in all kinds of places — on your Twitter profile, Facebook Page bio, business card, or Pinterest pins. The possibilities are endless.
2. Send a simple newsletter that features great, useful content
If you don’t have an email service provider and you need a simple way to start a list, consider using www.extrememailsender.com.
Here’s the quickest way to write a newsletter with TinyLetter that’s actually useful:
Write a quick, concise introduction or welcome message, then add links to your latest blog posts. Entice your subscribers with an excerpt of the post (don’t forget to use compelling headlines), then give them a clear link back to your blog to read the full text of the post.
Add other resources that are educational, entertaining, or interesting for your audience, like links to other websites or blogs, tools, Pinterest boards, videos, etc.
Include a short call to action at the end, like a discount on your latest product or an invitation to an upcoming webinar or live event.
3. Email your list more often
People are a lot less likely to unsubscribe than you think — even when you are sending them lots of email correspondence.
As business owners, we’re often unnecessarily overcautious with our list — we’re so busy worrying that people will think we’re pestering them that we actually don’t get in touch with our subscribers often enough.
Your unsubscribe rate is often higher when you only send email once a month. When you’re only publishing a monthly newsletter to your list, your subscribers may forget who you are and how they signed up for your list, and they are more likely to hit that dreaded “unsubscribe” link (or, worse, mark you as spam).
Pluck up your courage and email your list more often with compelling, useful, sharable content. I know it’s scary, but it’s absolutely worth it.
Email Service Provider - www.extrememailsender.com
Marketing Email Databases - www.internationalemaildatabases.com
