Your ability to grow your business is tied tightly to your ability to grow your database of qualified prospects and leads that are in various stages of the buying process – including those that are pre-problem recognition.
And the reason you want to grow and control that list is so that you can communicate with them.
For those that are pre-problem recognition, building awareness is important.
And for those that are in other stages of the buying process, getting them the right information at the right time so they buy from you is equally important.
And one of the more important ways of communicating with these people is email.
So without further adieu…here is a list of tried and true steps to growing your email list.
Add an invitation to subscribe in your email signature
From the simple text link in a personal email to the more eye-catching button in your current mass emailings.
With the personal emails, you can capture those you and your staff work with on a daily basis – including customers that aren’t subscribers.
And with the mass emails, especially those shared on social media, you can capture a great many potential customers.
Add Sign-up Forms to Your Website
Admit it – some of you just read this and thought “Well, duh!”
And some of you read this and thought “We need to make it easier to find.”
How many of you have a “Subscribe Now” button on your home page? Or even a form?
And how many have the subscription form hidden in the side bar of the blog page? Or on the footer of the site?
Collect Email Addresses at Event Registration
Asking for event registrants to opt-in to your email list is an effective way to build your list with people already exhibiting the desire to learn more from you.
Referrals from Current Subscribers
Ask your existing subscriber base to “share the email with colleagues” or “family and friends” – whichever is most relevant for your situation.
Ask at Events
Does your business attend conferences – or do you or your team present at conferences? If the answer is “Yes”, make sure you are promoting your emails and offering incentives to subscribe.
Take-Aways
On tables. Next to the register. Or just hand them out to people walking past your business.
Take-aways can be any size but postcard or 6×9″ seem to work the best. Include your business name, where to go to subscribe and an incentive to “subscribe now” – like a coupon for half off appetizers or 25% off apparel.
Facebook Ads & Your Company Page
Social media is a great place for distributing content – and it can also be a great source of subscribers.
The above image is my MailChimp form integrated with my Facebook Company Page so it’s all easy peasy to set up.
And then, of course, there are Facebook Ads. I recommend a stronger offer than “Subscribe” – perhaps focus on a lead magnet like a white paper if you are targeting businesses. And if you’re targeting consumers, there’s nothing like a strong coupon offer to capture subscribers AND drive some sales.
Contests
Another strong offer can be an entry to win something of value – for example, instead of offering a 50% off coupon, offer a couple of few dinners valued at $100 (just an example). This can be a great way to motivate current customers to finally subscribe – and to attract new customers.
Partnerships
Have you ever run a promotion with a business that targets the same audience as your do but offers products or services that are different than yours?
This can be a great way to “share customers” and generate new prospects.
For example, the local fitness center partners with a health food restaurant for an evening focused on exercise and diet. The evening is open to current members of the fitness center, customers of the health food restaurant and the general public.
Toss is a contest and you can increase attendance, capturing everyone’s email that registers for the special evening.
