Networking is the best way to find new clients. If you want to know who might be interested in your offers, then working with your loyal customers sounds like a great start. Social networks are a boon for small and medium businesses because it allows for swift development of business networks.
At this point, one might ask if email marketing is now obsolete. It almost was. However, smartphones and their “push” notifications helped it make its comeback. In fact, the component’s strategy is off the charts in modern digital marketing
For businesses with active emails in their lists originating since the era of Web 1.0, congratulations, your data will still be of use. However, if the emails in the list are inactive when you checked you’ll need to use your social network and advertising campaigns to collect new contacts. This is great news for those who are just about to build their own lists.
But that’s not all you can use to create this sub-process of your marketing funnel. Here are five more things that you could do to get email on your side when it comes to marketing.
Newsletter Invitation
Once you’ve done everything you can to get great marketing scores and results from your Internet marketing campaigns (meaning you’re seeing huge numbers of clicks on content that links back to your website), then it’s your website’s landing page that must do most of the work. However, before this section can be 100% effective, you must understand that not all visitors will take the complete journey into your website. No matter how beautiful and optimized your landing page is, if users can’t find a reason to consume content, then they won’t.
The newsletter invitation is an underestimated feature that most websites can employ. However, unlike the past years’ intrusive pop-ups, incorporating it into the aesthetic of the site’s design makes it more appealing for audiences.
But, even if you are the master of prose when it comes to writing a CTA message on top of the newsletter, you’re still going to need…
Give an Offer (That They Can’t Refuse)
Cash incentives guarantee that your survey sample size will be honest in answering. In fact, surveys are almost the same with newsletter invitations. Their only difference is you want to collect enough information to build your email list.
Among all the products or services offered on your website, list down the ones that you deem valuable enough to give away but not expensive enough for a raffle. Categorize these products based on their overall usefulness. You can also categorize them based on the positive experience the item provides to end consumers. If you want to know more about making irresistible offers, then this guide can be handy.
However, if your offer is still refused, don’t opt to use the next expensive item you have on your list. At this point, your efforts are enough. Limiting your offers helps you find high-quality leads, not just any ordinary one-off contacts.
Free Limited-Time Testing
Offering a 15 or 30-day free trial to audiences still maximizes your profits. Instead of giving away the product or voucher free, give your audiences a sample. In exchange, ask for their emails. The trial expires, but your leads won’t. In fact, they’ll want to know more and even purchase your product or service subscription because of their positive experience.
‘Rent’ an Email List
There’s one downside to renting email lists: you won’t see the contacts in these lists unless you receive inquiries or new subscriptions and find their sources.
However, renting email lists is affordable. Think of it as using influencer marketing to spread the word about your brand. To make things better, most list owners just charge average rates.
Before you agree to use a rented email list, make sure to observe the returns they had given past clients. Also pay attention to how they can back up with data the results you can get. Check the general category of the audiences in their list as well. It would be an expensive mistake if you used an email list that does not contain your target audience.
Rented email lists can come from your previous company suppliers, competition, and related-industry companies. For example, ice cream cone-making companies are great list sources for ice cream makers.
Host a ‘Webinar’
One other way is to create an online class. Internet universities such as Udemy and Lynda, allow professionals from companies to hold free or paid classes. If you aim to use this course to market your company, then you can teach the basics of a specific aspect in your company that most people may find interesting.
For example, if you are an owner of a car repair business, then you can conduct a class regarding managing a basic car repair business. The class can neither be too basic nor complicated. However, it must add value to individuals who might want to begin their companies in this certain industry. Your webinars can help your brand improve if your effective methods can reap positive experiences for your students.
Not all businesses can conduct webinars based on their industry. However, if you really have something of value to teach, then use it to your marketing advantage. Also, make an effort to collect all your student’s emails for inquiries. Give them an offer that is just irresistible. For example, give them discounts if they might want to use your company’s services in the future.
Create an Online Forum
Conducting a webinar means all the learning materials and experiences come from you. Creating an online community allows like-minded individuals to share their opinions on the subject. If you host this forum, you can conveniently collect emails, but it may compromise the brand your own forum has. The best thing to do is to introduce yourself not as a professional but as a friend willing to help individuals in your community with their basic issues.
You can also do this strategy when you join other related forums. Point to your website for solutions and allow your compelling content to give them a positive experience. These individuals that you forward to your useful content are likely to sign up for your newsletter and want to receive quality tips, advice, content, and even notifications of products and services your company provides.
Participate In Real-Life Events
Nothing speaks brand promotion better than a real-life event that guarantees audiences only positive experiences. Host a convention, sponsor a local exhibition game, or even create a company fair in populated areas. Just make sure to hand out outreach material that allows participants and potential leads to contact you afterwards.
Wrapping Up
Email marketing is still up, running, and useful for your online campaigns. Creating an email list was easier during the Web 1.0 days (because search engines weren’t too good and people wanted to get notified about interesting stuff they find online), but it’s not that difficult to do nowadays as long as you do these five things.
What do you do to create a high-quality email list? Share your ideas in the comments!