Personal, Anticipated, and Relevant: Keep Your Email List Up to PAR

If you were to ask us why you get Ausoma’s newsletter, we could tell you that there are only two possible ways: you signed up for it yourself at the website, or you asked to be on the list.

We didn’t add you just because we wanted to.

We didn’t get your business card at a mixer, and add you to our list without telling you.

We didn’t sell you a book, and add you to our list without telling you.

We didn’t connect with you on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, or Bob’s Social Media and Lawnmower Repair, and add you to our list without telling you.

Your email newsletter is your most valuable marketing asset. Well, it’s how you access your most valuable marketing asset.

… more … “Personal, Anticipated, and Relevant: Keep Your Email List Up to PAR”

Tips to Build Your Email List

Sign Up Now for Our NewsletterEmail marketing is still going strong! It’s a very effective way to stay in touch with people who want your services or product. Since people chose to sign up to be on your list, you know these are people who want to hear from you.

If you have a solid social media presence, that’s a great place to start to build your list. Your fans and followers on social media have already shown an interest in you, your book, your business since they are following you. Take the initiative and invite them to sign up for your email list too. Here are a couple of ideas for messages you might send out on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn weekly asking your followers to sign up for your email list.

Sign up for our newsletter and receive your free report [title of report] [link where they can sign up for email list]

If you enjoy reading my blog, sign up for my email list for all the latest news & updates. [link where they can sign up for email list]

More tips to build your email list:

  • Your website should have a prominent invitation to sign up for your email list.
  • Offer a freebie for signing up for your list – a free report, tips sheet, or sample copy of a chapter from your book.
  • Add a signup box to your Facebook page. If you use Constant Contact or MailChimp, they have an easy way to integrate a sign up page with Facebook.
  • Include a signup link in your email signature.
  • Mention your newsletter in your book and invite readers to sign up at your website.

If you’d like to sign up for my newsletter, you can do so here.

What other tips have you found useful in building an email list? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.

Building Your Email List

building your email listMany solopreneurs believe that email is “old school” and that no one wants to receive email marketing messages any more. Wrong! Used appropriate it’s still a very powerful form of marketing. People who sign up for your email list actually want to hear from you! They chose to be on your list. Which is why it’s very important not to add someone to your list without their permission.

Even if you have a solid social media presence, you want to consider having an email list. You do not have 100% control over your social media profiles. If you aren’t careful and break a rule at Facebook, they can prevent you from adding new friends, promoting your posts, and can even delete your account.

So start building your list today. I recommend using MailChimp. Their free version will take you a long way.

Communication Mirroring

communication mirroringWe all have our favorite method of communication. Mine is email. One friend rarely emails more than three words, but will stay on the phone as long as I’m willing to.

Just like we don’t get to choose how we’re perceived by others, we can’t successfully shove people into our communication method. A prospect who emails should get an email, not a phone call, in return. While the email should be sent off just as quickly as you’d answer the phone (email-oriented types tend to expect email to be almost real-time) a phone call response to an email can feel pressuring and invasive.

On the other hand, if someone leaves you a voicemail, or you’re following up on a phone call, use the phone; email will seem impersonal to phone-oriented communicators. Email always sounds a bit less friendly than you write it; write a friendly message and it sounds flat and direct; write something that’s flat and direct, and it sounds angry and rude—especially to someone accustomed to the warmth and instantaneous reaction of a human voice.

And, yes, if someone writes you a letter, you write a letter. Even further, if they hand wrote their letter, do the same.

Be what people expect, not what you’re used to being.

**This is an excerpt from The Commonsense Virtual Assistant – Becoming an Entrepreneur, Not an Employee by Joel D and Sue Canfield. Get a copy from Amazon here

Planning Your Email Marketing

Planning your email marketingEmail marketing can be used in a variety of ways to communicate with clients and prospects:

  • Provide clients with information about the industry
  • Promote your products and services
  • Invite people to an event
  • Send out a monthly newsletter

When planning your email marketing strategies, you need to answer these basic questions:

  • What is the purpose of your communication and who do you send it to?
  • How often should I send out a communication?

The purpose of you communication could include:

  • Driving traffic to your website
  • Get clients to purchase a product
  • Get new “likes” for your Facebook fan page

Once you’ve defined your goal, you’ll know who you want to send your communication to.

The most challenging part of creating a newsletter is creating valuable content. You want your message to be education-focused. This will help build trust, loyalty and retention. Don’t just sell – provide value. The content should be interesting and relevant to your readers. Ask yourself, “How will this information benefit my readers?” 

Communicating more often is not necessarily better. It is more beneficial to send quality content in a quarterly newsletter than a monthly newsletter with so-so content.

If you’d really like to know what you readers want from you and how often they’d like to hear from you, ask them. Ask, “What topics would you like to see addressed in the newsletter? How often would you like to receive it? Weekly, monthly, quarterly?”

Take time to plan your email marketing so it’s most effective. Remember – it’s not how many people you send it to that measures your success. It’s how many people who actually read it and take an action such as:

  • Click through to your website
  • Call you for an appointment
  • Buy a product or service
  • Share your content via social media such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn

Please share your most successful email planning tips. And get more great tips in our book and Action Guide.