One of the oldest forms of communication online is email. As such, it led to one of the earliest forms of online marketing; email marketing.
As the internet matured, many so-called “experts” have claimed time and again that email marketing is dead.
To paraphrase an old saying, “the death of email marketing has been greatly exaggerated.”
This stat from 2019 shows that nearly 294 Billion emails sent per day1
The creation of an email marketing list is, therefore, one of the most important assets a company or solopreneur can create.
Why You Need An Email List
One of the first things a company should do after they have created a website is to start collecting email addresses. You can even begin offline before your site is live.
If you build your online presence only on a social media platform, you are playing in someone else’s sandbox. We all know what happens to them when the kid with the ball gets upset, he goes home and takes the ball with you and you’re left with nothing.
The same can happen online- remember MySpace? If not, that makes my point all the more.
In the age of outrage, your Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram account can be frozen, suspended, or canceled if your content is deemed to be in conflict with community norms.
Creating An Email List
Creating an email list is not difficult. You can start for free with services like MailChimp or Constant
Contact. With MailChimp, your first 2000 email addresses are free. Granted you don’t have access to all the features their paid service offers, but if the $10-$20 a month is too much to start with, go with the free account.
The simplest way to get to 100 emails is to reach out to family, friends, and contacts you have.
Simple reach out to them via email, a text, a DM on social media, and state something along the lines of “I’m starting a newsletter on X that will help with Y. Thought you might be interested. It’ll come out once a week. Can I add you to the list? No pressure.”
IF they say yes, ask for their email list and manually add them to your email service provider.
The Value Of Email Accounts
Since emails can be sent directly to your client or prospect, you have a much warmer audience with them than you do with the public at large.
Email accounts are valuable. Treat them with respect.
Before someone will give you their email address, they need to feel that they are getting something of value in return. Make sure you are providing value.
Providing Value Via Email Marketing
How do you use email to provide value? It depends on your industry.
First, you should offer some sort of email opt-in incentive. This incentive could be a PDF that gives 5 tips on how to do X, Y, or Z. Or the PDF could tell people not to do A, B, or C. It could be a list of resources or a chapter of a book you’ve written.
Setting Expectations
You will also need to set expectations with your audience as to what you plan to do with their email address. Are you going to email them your daily or weekly blog post or only a month newsletter?
You will also want to make sure that you are compliant with the CAN-SPAM Act. If you don’t, you can face steep fines. Most email service providers will help you with this.
Conclusion
No matter your business, you should be involved in some type of email marketing.
It is too powerful a marketing tool to be left in the proverbial drawer.
If you need help setting up your list with an email service provider (ESP), or need help with creating an autoresponder, creating sign-up forms, or developing campaigns to get potential customers to opt into your list, I can help.
