No Email Marketing List? Here’s How To Build One From Scratch

Email marketing is an excellent way of communicating with prospects. It doesn't get in the way of their schedules, it can be picked up whenever it's convenient – and email marketing can deliver an excellent ROI, potentially as high as 38 times what you spent. But what if you don't already have a list of prospects to send emails to? Start here.

Add Opt-In Forms To Your Web Pages

Nobody's going to sign up to a newsletter unless they know it exists. Placing opt-in forms on selected pages of your website, especially blog pages, can help to fix that. Don't go overboard with the accompanying text; keep it down to a few lines that explain clearly what your visitor will get out of signing up. The more helpful you make your content, the more likely they are to opt-in, so take care that the pages with sign-up forms are well designed and easy to use.

Consider Using Custom Leads Lists

Building a list organically from scratch isn't a quick fix, and building a custom list for faster results is quite resource-intensive. That can be a real problem for SMEs without dedicated marketing teams. One effective solution is to call in a marketing agency, who can turn their real-world expertise and experience to the problem. With the right list, based on recipients' company type, location or job title, you can also send out offers and promotions tailored to the people you most want to reach.

Leverage Social Media

There’s a good chance that your followers on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn may be interested in your email marketing materials. If you have only 200 subscribers to your email newsletter, but 2,800 followers on social media, you have a potential follower base of 3,000. Social sharing is a powerful tool for promoting your email list. Share selective material from your list on social media, including share buttons, subscribe links, and social media icons, as well as short takeaways that readers can easily share. This can turbocharge your subscription rate.

Offer Incentives

What are your prospects going to get out of signing up for your emails? Try to find something eye-catching, affordable and believable that will be exclusive to those who subscribe. Don't go overboard – we've all seen those "Get a free iPad!" pop-ups and you certainly don't want to be associated with spam and scams. But offering a free e-book download, a modest discount on some of your products, or an invitation to an event can work out very well.

Use Calls-To-Action

Landing pages are just as important as blog posts when it comes to getting prospective customers to subscribe. If your website SEO is good, then people will be reaching you after searching for a target keyword. If they encounter CTAs that mesh with their desires, they're more likely to be receptive to signing up for a newsletter. You don't want to put an identical CTA on every page, both for SEO reasons and because you'll lose freshness. Research which pages get the most traffic from visitors you want to reach, and target those for CTAs.

Let’s Get Started!

Setting up an email marketing list from scratch can sometimes feel like a bit of a slog. There's no doubt that it's harder work than maintaining an existing list, but the potential gains in terms of your business's reputation and profits make it well worthwhile. You have to start somewhere, so why not give us a call to find out more about the best approaches to take for your business?

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