5 REASONS YOUR EMAIL LIST IS STILL KING

It doesn't matter what you're marketing.  Whether it's widgets, or coffee, or professional services, the reality is that one of your most valuable (and under-utilized) weapons in your marketing arsenal is your email list.  

It's true, even as Americans complain about their email inboxes, your email list is still king.  More than twitter followers, or Facebook friends/likes/followers, the most valuable tool in your social marketing toolbox is your permission-based list of email addresses.  Here are 5 reasons your Email list is probably your most important marketing tool. 

1. EMAIL HAS A FAR GREATER REACH

According to a recent McKinsey & Co survey, email marketing is still 40 times more effective at reaching your target consumer, than Twitter or Facebook.  Part of the reason?  There are roughly 2.9 Billion people using Email.  That's almost 3X as many people as use Twitter and Facebook combined.  For most businesses, the chances are far greater that your target client has an email, then a social media account.  

2. EMAIL ALLOWS YOU TO CUSTOMIZE THE CLIENT INTERACTION

Email marketing gives you a far greater ability to create customized campaigns based on the interactions of your customers and potential customers.  Using software like MailChimp, MadMimi, or even more sophisticated tools like Hubspot or Infusionsoft, you can create intricate campaigns based on the type of email address (inbound lead, customer, referral, etc).  This gives you far greater control of your marketing and sales message, then you can accomplish on social media alone.  By personalizing, and customizing your email interactions, you greatly increase the opportunity to close new business among your target audience.

3. EMAIL IS PERMISSION-BASED

Sure, Twitter and Facebook are somewhat permission based.  They both rely on people to "follow" or "like" your organization, but a follow/like is far less of a commitment to you then a potential customer that gives you an email address.  That person is asking you to provide them with valuable content and messages tailored to their needs.  That level of permission is indicative of a much higher quality relationship than someone who simply clicked "follow" on Facebook.

4. EMAIL IS MEASURABLE

Social analytics has come a long way, but the measurement tools for email are still far ahead of anything you can use for social media.  Using some of the tools above, you can tell exactly who is opening your emails, what they do with them (click on your links), and what they do when they then visit your website.  Email also makes it easy to "test" different campaign messages, and measure the response, in real time.  

5. EMAIL IS PERSONAL

No matter what people say about their email inbox, the reality is that it's still the place where your potential clients communicate the most.  It's easy to skip over a twitter feed, or go days without checking on Facebook, but the average American checks their email as much as 14 times a day (according to some surveys).  The reality is that email is where the message actually gets to your potential customers.  The reason email marketing is still King, is that it's still the digital medium most likely to actually end up seen by your potential customer.

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5 WAYS TO BUILD YOUR EMAIL MARKETING LIST

If you’re running any kind of business, you need a way to stay in touch with your prospects and engage with your customers. And since just about every single person in the world has an email address, building an email list is one of the most cost-effective solution for doing that. If your not building a targeted email list, you are missing out on a huge opportunity.

Email has been around since the beginning of the internet, it is still one of the best ways to generate - and more importantly - cultivate, leads.  (See Why Your Email List Is Still King)

If you're struggling to build an email list or are looking for different ways to increase the size of your high-quality list, then listen up.  We’ve put together a few simple tips that will help take your email list to the next level.

1. Use Your Website
If you're already getting traffic on your website, make it easy for people to sign up for your email list from your website homepage.  If you want to encourage more people to sign up then provide a clear benefit or incentive.  For example, "sign up to receive special offers and promotions," or "sign up to get our weekly email specials in your inbox."  These calls to action give people a reason to sign up, and make it easy for you to grow your list.

2. Start Blogging
A great way to grow your email list is by allowing people to subscribe to your blog.  The people who sign up are people who want to hear what you have to say.  By creating content on your blog, that has value to your audience, you can begin to cultivate a list of potential leads just by making it easy to subscribe to your existing blog. 

3. Use Video
Video can be an extremely powerful tool to capture the attention of your audience.  In addition to simply providing content through your blog, using social channels like YouTube (the #2 search engine in the world), can expand your reach.  You can easily add an email sign up to a video by using Wistia or LeadPlayer.

4. Free Content
Offering free content, such as white papers or ebooks, is a great way to grow your list.  By providing valuable content that your customers can use, you can add value to them, while also cultivating quality leads.  Creating a landing page, and an email form, makes it easy for potential customers to download quality content, while providing you with information and leads for your list.

5. Host a Webinar

In addition to other types of free content, a webinar gives you an opportunity to provide valuable information to those who attend and a way to connect with them later.  By offering information that is relevant to your target customer, you can build a list of qualified leads to nurture through email marketing afterwards.  

Start building your email list now or you may kick yourself later for taking so long to figure out how important an email list actually is.  Need help?  Shoot us a quick email and we'd love to talk.  Or, subscribe to this blog for free tips, delivered right in your inbox (see how easy that was!)