Though there are many new and exciting marketing tools out there, like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook, email marketing remains as a tried and true method of marketing. Email marketing has been around for the better part of two decades and it has remained a constant in the marketing world for a reason: you have sole control over who gets to see your content and when. Unlike social media platforms, which have algorithms that control who might see your content and users who need to subscribe to your content, email marketing is in your sole control. If the algorithms change or new social media platforms are developed, your email marketing contact list can remain a steady presence in your marketing strategies.
In short, yes, email marketing is a reliable and effective method of marketing. But just because email marketing is such a reliable strategy does not mean that you should remain complacent in how you employ it. There are several strategies that you could use to really improve your email marketing and grow your contact list.
Add Email Addresses Anywhere and Everywhere
One of the best ways to grow your email list is simply to ask people to sign up for promotions or discounts with their email. On your website, you can provide links in a variety of places, in which a user on your website can find a way to sign up for your email newsletter, discounts, and promotions. In addition to placing sign up links around your website, you can also provide a pop-up, which would appear when a user goes to a certain part of your website or scrolls down the webpage and asks them if they would like to sign up for promotions and other news about your business with their email address.
Getting email addresses is not limited to the digital space. At your brick and mortar location, you can also provide an email address sign-up sheet near your cash register.
Provide Incentives for Joining Your Email List
A lot of people may sign up for your email list, but to really get those numbers up, you will need to provide people with an incentive to join. People are always on the lookout for discounts or interesting deals – so provide potential clients with something useful while also growing your email list! Now, here are a few incentives that you could employ.
Discounts
For new members of your email list, you can provide a one-time discount with their first purchase. For example, Sign up for our Email List Now and Receive 10% off your first order!
Email Courses
An email course is like an online course, except that it is distributed via email. The course does not need to be anything too elaborate or involved: it can just be plain text. The course can be spread out over the course of 6 weeks. This can be a great way to establish trust with your audience and interest in your business.
Downloadables
Downloadables are quick and simple resources that you are offering to all members of your email list. You can provide recipients with templates, ebooks, white papers, or anything specific to your service or product.
Free Tools
Perhaps you have a piece of software that you are trying to sell, or some other online good. You can provide just a small aspect of that tool and provide it to your customers free of charge. Again, this is a great way to get your business exposed to a lot of different people. Also, building trust and relationships is essential to any business – and providing free tools is a great way to accomplish that.
Leverage Social Media
At the outset, we warned about being too reliant on social media. However, we need to have a more nuanced approach to digital marketing. You need to cover all of your bases, which means that social media cannot be ignored. So, your digital marketing approach will need to be comprehensive. Now let us share with you a few tips that will help you use social media to improve your email marketing list.
Advertise a Giveaway Via Email
Using your social media accounts, promote a giveaway or a contest. In order to register for the giveaway or the contest, participants will have to sign up for your email list. Now this is where you can be creative and really incentivize potential clients to sign up for your email list.
Add a CTA Button on Facebook
Facebook allows you to embed a call-to-action button onto your Facebook page. This call to action page can provide you with a sign-up for an email list. With this strategy, Facebook users will have an easy gateway from your Facebook page to your email list.
Promote Lead Magnets
Like we mentioned earlier, you should try some email marketing strategies such as promoting free tools, online courses, and ebooks. To bolster that strategy, you can promote those free tools and resources via social media – and users can have access to those materials only if they have signed up for your email list.
Run a List-Building Campaign
To really bring your email list to the next level, run a formal email list-building campaign. Now let us outline a few different ways in which you can run a list-building campaign.
Facebook Ads
Effectively using Facebook – which has many great tools for businesses to use – can be of inestimable value. And that value extends to building up that email list.
Guest Blogging
In order to have a website that ranks high, you need to have good content. And that means blogs – which are posted regularly. Guest blogging can be a great way to increase domain authority and backlinks. Sharing those guest blogs via email can be an excellent way to build your email list.
Partner with Similar Brands
In the digital world, it is really important to network with other businesses and expand your marketing campaign’s reach. You can partner with a brand that has a similar target audience, and create promotions that can work with both businesses.