As we saw in Part One of the List Building Bootcamp , your list is an important asset to selling your products or services online. It’s been said for many years in marketing that 80% of your sales will come from 20% of your customers. This is true, but you need to get that list of customers raving about you and buying over and over.
Starting that list and continuing to build it is what you will spend most of your marketing efforts on as an online marketer. And we’re here to show you that’s it not that hard. Now that you have your value propositions and offers ready to roll, let’s talk about the strategy for growing your list.
The most effective tool for growing your list is a direct response, lead generating website. Today’s consumer is looking for information to meet a need, fulfill a desire or to solve a problem. When you are producing content and sharing it for your target audience, you are going to attract people to you. It’s often called inbound marketing. You’re pulling the visitor in with information and asking them to give you a little information such as their name and email address to get a little more.
Let’s look at a hypothetical situation based on the example we used in List Building Bootcamp Part One. Remember our moms looking for a way to make money at home? Let’s explore the ways your website can help you build a list of these women who might be inclined to take pay for a course in setting up a home business. These strategies do require that you have a website, so if you need a tutorial in setting one up for about $20 in 30 minutes, watch this video from Susan.
Strategy One – Put an opt-in box on your website.
This box is simple to set up and requires that you use an email marketing manager such as Aweber or iContact. These two services allow you to set up autoresponder email campaigns to people who opt-in (or give you permission to contact them). You can then pre-program your email campaign to drip information to them that builds a relationship. For instance, using our example, you can send them a series of five to seven emails on what to look for in a home business opportunity. This content is free, but it’s personal because you’re writing it like you are having a conversation.
Strategy Two – Set up a squeeze page for your Facebook ads.
Facebook ads are cheap and can be completely targeted. Yes, it does cost money, but they are cheap and effective. Your squeeze page is just a page on your site that offers a free video, ebook or some other free content to get them to share their name and email address. You don’t want to ask for much more than this because it can scare people off.
Strategy Three – Use calls to actions in your blog posts.
You are blogging, right? If you’re not, start now. Blogging is a great way to build credibility, grab search engine traffic and build your list. Using our example, add a call to action that tells the reader to sign up for your free video series on spotting the best opportunities. You’ve provided them some value in your blog post, but if they want more they will share their email address and name with you.
Strategy Four – Add a signup box on your Facebook page.
Those same email programs we discussed in Strategy One have code and instructions to add an opt-in box to your Facebook page. You have one of those, don’t you? You need a personal Facebook page and a business page. It’s simple to set up and a great place to share your content and build a relationship with your audience.
Strategy Five – Write guests posts or ask your online buddies to cross-promote you on their site.
Building relationships with other divas who have complementary businesses (and lists) is a great way to grow your own list. You can guest post on their blog and use a call to action to sign up for your free video series or to download your essential guide. You can also run promotions for their lists and split the profits on products. This helps you build your list and provides value to their list.
Strategy Six – Offer free webinars or teleseminars.
These are great piece for your buddies to promote to their list. The beauty of free webinars is that you are providing attendees free access to your valuable knowledge. In order for them to attend the webinar, they have to register or get on your list. The most important part of this is that you need to provide value and no sales pitch. A sales pitch will turn people offer faster than anything. The pitch goes in the follow-up marketing. The point of the webinar is to provide value to build credibility and ultimately a list of engaged, prospective buyers.
The number one rule of starting a list from scratch is to offer value in exchange for your prospect’s information. Using multiple strategies will help you build your list faster.
Tags: building your list, Featured, lead capture, list building
Leave A Reply (No comments So Far)
No comments yet