Marketing to your customer and prospects is different today than it was just a short time ago. Today Email Marketing is an easier and a more cost effective way to get started with your marketing. In the past, when someone wanted to do business with you they had to try to get your attention through direct mail, telemarketing or face-to-face.
The problem? Most of the time these marketing methods were completely unsolicited – the marketers pushed information to consumers. As a result, we often refer to these solicitations in a negative way and respond angrily. I do not know about you, but when someone calls me on the phone and tries to sell me something, I get very angry! I do not have the time to listen to all of this noise!
So how is email marketing different? Email marketing is building a relationship with your prospects and customers. This is extremely important in today‚’s marketing!
The major difference between email marketing and the other marketing methods is that people opt-in ‚Äì or choose ‚Äì to receive your marketing message. This is HUGE! It‚’s like an open-door invitation to share your information and expertise with your customers. That is something you just can't pay for. In today‚’s world of technology, your emails can be received on smart phones, most of the tablets or pads and of course on your computer.
In this article I am going to discuss:
- What Is an Email List?
- How Do You Get Subscribers?
- Why Build an Email List?
What is an Email List?
An email list is simply a collections of email addresses that you have collected from your customers and prospects. Most marketers will also collect the person‚’s first name with the email address so that they can personalize the email through automation in their email marketing software. Instead of saying ‚ÄúHi‚Äù, you can say Hi Theresa‚Äù in your emails. You can also collect other information such as location or phone number in case this is important in your market segment or your marketing message.
How Do Your Get Email Subscribers?
Having a ‚Äúmailing list‚Äù with a series of autoresponder messages that you update regularly is great, but if there‚’s no one on your list, you‚’re not going to be making many sales.
Email marketing is a way to market your product or service through email. You can build your email list in a number of ways. Here are 2 ways to get started:
Opt-In Forms. The most common way to build a list is by placing an opt-in form on a website, sales page or a Facebook Subpage and having people fill it out. Whenever someone visits your Facebook Subpage, your blog, or your website, there should be a clear place for them to subscribe to receive more information, or some type of free gift from you.
Getting people on your email list may seem difficult at first, but there are proven strategies for making people want to give you their email addresses such as providing an Opt-In bonus. This can be a free report on a subject that they are interested in or it can simply be a coupon towards their next purchase!
Customer Lists. Many shopping carts have automatic processes for adding purchasers to your email contact list. This is something you‚’ll definitely want to integrate, because customers are already a step above a ‚Äúprospect.‚Äù By buying something from you, even a purchase of $10 or less, they‚’ve proven that they want what you‚’re offering, they know how to purchase on the internet, and they have money to spend.
Why Build an Email List?
Some people start building their email lists and then get discouraged because they are not getting a flood of people opting in right from the beginning and give up. This is most unfortunate. They simply do not understand the true value of building a large, responsive email list.
Here are five reasons why you need an email list:
- Automatically Follow up – An email list allows you to market to your customers and prospects 24 hours a day, 7 days per week automatically.
- Constantly Building Your Business – New prospects can be signing up to your email list automatically, every day without your help. This is a way to constantly be building your business automatically and getting new people into your pipeline.
- Capture Visitors – You have put tons of work into your website or Facebook page. If you are not capturing visitors, they are leaving your page, possibly never to return again. If you capture their information, you can keep in contact with them and build a relationship. Most of your potential customers or clients do not buy from y ou when they first find you or hear from you. Through email marketing, you can stay on their minds through your automatic emailing program with your autoresponder messages. When they are ready to buy, they'll look back for your emails or remember your website and order from you.
- Saves You Time – Instead of sending your message one on one, over and over again, you can now reach your entire list with one mailing. This not only saves you time, but it also leverages your time into long-term profits.
- Increase your Sales – Sharing your information and building a relationship with your list is great, but the main Goal here is to create your sales. An email list can deliver you an increase in sales.
The important thing when you start is not to give up too soon when it starts out slow. This is perfectly normal and if you do give up, you will never see the benefits of having a large responsive list!
When I first started my email marketing I thought that I would never be able to build up a list. It seemed like it was taking forever. I kept hearing about all of these people that had thousands on their lists and I knew that I would never get there! Today I still have what is called a small list but with almost 5,000 on my list today, it is giving me a lot to work with and I am able to share my message to all of the 5,000 people!
Start today setting up your automatic emailing system. You will be very grateful you did!