Although inboxes are flooded with sales and promotional emails from retailers, there is evidence that proves that email is still one of the best ways to engage an audience and acquire customers. Case in point:
- Email marketing yields an average 4,300% return on investment for businesses in the United States. (Direct Marketing Association)
- Email conversion rates are three times higher than social media, with a 17% higher value in the conversion. (McKinsey & Company)
- Email is nearly 40 times better than Facebook and Twitter at acquiring customers. (McKinsey & Company)
After reading those stats, you’re probably starting to
reconsider your email list and might even be regretting not growing it sooner
and faster. In the world of digital marketing, your email list is a huge part
of your online business, and quite frankly, the only thing that you control.
Our social media accounts are at the mercy of the networks and platforms, but
our email lists are ours to administrate as we see fit.
You’re probably thinking, Okay, Emmelie, but I have
full control over my Instagram and Twitter accounts. Yes, but if Twitter
and Instagram changed their algorithm tomorrow in the way that Facebook has, we
would all suffer. In the matter of one algorithm change, Facebook was able to
eliminate our ability to reach the community that we have worked so hard to
build.
Now, in order to get the kind of engagement and reach that
we are used to, you have to pay to boost posts and buy Facebook ads. If Twitter
shut down tomorrow, I would be saying goodbye to almost 5000 followers. Same
for Instagram. With your email list, you aren’t giving up access to and the
success of your community.
What would you do if social media ceased to exist
tomorrow?
It is my hope that by now I have changed how you look at
email lists and email marketing. Here at SumAll, we have seen the benefits of
email marketing week after week. Here is a proven system to build your list
that has worked for us, and other companies.
1. Create tangible pieces of information like worksheets,
infographics, and printables that your audience can download.
You’ve seen this form of content marketing and lead
generation everywhere. They are called lead magnets or content upgrades. Hubspot
is amazing at this. They offer tons of ebooks, guides, and whitepapers in
exchange for your email address. By collecting website visitors’ email
addresses in exchange for information that they really want to read, companies
are able to generate leads for future products and services and nurture those
leads with an email program. To get started, use BuzzSumo and/or Google
Analytics to identify your best-performing content and create a download based
on that topic(s).
2. Drive traffic to your lead magnet.
Use your social media channels to promote these free
products and resources that you are using as lead magnets and content upgrades.
Drive traffic to your content’s landing page by sharing it on all the channels
you are already active on. Share and reshare on Twitter, post a photo of
your new resource on Instagram, create a pin, post to Facebook and make it
prominent on your website and within your blog posts. People can’t download if
they don’t know it exists. You can use tools like Leadpages or your
email service provider to deliver these downloads after you collect the email.
3. Create other kinds of content that you can repurpose.
Downloads aren’t the only way to collect emails. Consider
hosting a free webinar with an email signup requirement. After you deliver your
value-packed virtual session, don’t forget to repurpose the recording as
another opt-in incentive for those who may have missed it or are new to your
site. The same can be done with your Periscope videos and podcasts
recordings. Make a sign-up required to view or listen to the recording.
In my opinion, building an email list is easy. Consistently
adding value with every email that you send is the difficult part. When your
potential customers allow you to contact them directly via their inbox, it is
not to be taken lightly. Consumers are constantly bombarded with marketing
messages, deals, sales, and coupons. How are you going to be different?
Article From: blog.sumall.com
