In today’s world, it’s crucial to have an abundant email list of dedicated brand followers to nurture relationships with, provide them with helpful information, and ultimately convert these loyalists into buying customers of our products + services.
But saying “I want to grow my email list!” isn’t as easy as it sounds. It takes time + work to gain the trust of people who come across your brand. It takes providing valuable information, a free insight into what working with you would look like, helping followers learn and take them to where they want to go, etc. Your passion and industry authority will need to transcend through your brand to show people that, “Hey, I’m an expert at ___. I provide valuable and actionable information you can use (for free), and I want to help you. Come join me.”
Because list building organically is hard, it requires serious strategizing + content generation to figure out what will be the hook that draws people in.
People driven through incentive—it’s just human nature. Tap into this psychology by providing your followers and potential subscribers something valuable that is free. All they have to do to receive that freebie is provide their email address (because you’re going to email them that freebie so they can download it!) It’s simple and effective. Check out this example.
Pro tip: NEVER give away a freebie without capturing the email address—that’s a huge missed opportunity.
Here are some proven + powerful ways to grow your email list with brand devotees and potential customers:
- Free Whitepaper downloads
- A free 3 or 5-day email course on a topic in your niche (ex: FREE 3 Day Social Media for Recruiters E-course!)
- Webinar invitation
- Exclusive podcast episode for subscribers only (describe what it’s about and how enticing it is and what they’ll learn from it.)
- Sneak peek of a program you offer. (ex: if you offer leadership training for managers, offer a free download of a small section of the training in exchange for an email.)
- Checklist printable
- Case study downloads of a service you provide that a potential customer is interested in learning more of
- Free stock photo downloads
- Free email templates
- Swipe copy (think email templates recruiters could use when communicating with candidates…)
- Free resource library that is password protected (create landing page with an opt-in form to access all the freebies, like this example. Once they sign up, they will be emailed the password to access the library.)
All of these freebies should be offered via a landing page combined with an opt-in form to capture the email addresses. I’ll be diving deeper into what these are and how to use them next week.
The opportunities to grow your email list are endless.
Your homework: Pick 3 ways from the list above to start planning out and creating to start sharing with your social following to begin building (or continue growing!) your email list. What content do you currently have that can be revamped into an opt-in freebie?
Pro tip: If you create a 3-day email challenge about a specific topic, send the option to join that challenge to your current subscribers! Then using your email provider, you can tag those current subscribers as part of the challenge—this will lend you more insight on who is very interested in what and who is more likely to become a serious paying customer.